I’m often asked ‘why do keep going back to the desert?’. My reply is always...‘because I fucking love it - it's part of my DNA'... I love everything about the whole experience. The heat, the sand and the pure hardship that ‘Marathon des Sables’ always delivers. Getting destroyed by the heat, illness or the legendary blisters are all part of the fun.
I personally love the deconstruction-reconstruction aspect that everyone who takes part experiences. And if you have taken part, you’ll know exactly what I mean as trying to describe it, is simply impossible.
I’ll be honest and say it’s taken me to the edge of my endurance many-a-time. It’s been both my Kryptonite and Krypton. It’s the ultimate test of mind over matter. Many an amazing athlete has been and failed to understand that the MDS isn’t a six stage, seven day ultramarathon - it’s an eleven day test of self-sufficiency and sheer bloody mindedness. And if you’ve got that firmly set in your mind, you’ll get to the finish. How fast, how slow and in what state? Who cares - you're a winner. First or last, it’s the same medal. The medal of success.
It marks for many the hardest thing they’ve ever done. Something that can’t be bought and only earned through pure grit and determination.
How you conquer the race? Well you can try every trick in the book. By being as light as possible, carrying 6.5kgs or running in a heat chamber for hours on end to acclimatise - or all the above. Mostly do whatever you can to try and convince yourself you can do it.
There are no short cuts to success, and you can’t buy experience - but the MDS is achievable for anyone young or old - you just need to be able to adapt to the moment, the next step or the next problem that presents itself. You learn a lot about yourself and just how deep you can dig.
It’s living life on the limit where there simply aren't any limits...
1,156 Marathons - 271 Ultras - 9 Guinness World Records - 16 Marathon des Sables
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