Debbie's Marathon des Sables Diary 2013 - Part 2!

105km down, 126 still to go.....

So far, Debbie has crossed searing sands, suffered blisters and bruises, and discovered the wonder that is mint tea.

Her adventure continues...

Stage 4 – 75.7km - Taourirt Mouchanne to Oued el Jdaid

(AKA The Big Nasty!)

Slept badly, began with queasy tummy and nausea, slogged the first 36km feeling sick so forcing insufficient intake of water, salt and calories .. temperature 54C - reached Check Point (CP)3 and collapsed in medical tent with heat stroke and dehydration - my lowest point of the week .. took 2 hours to rehydrate enough to get back on my feet - staggered every step of the remaining 40km on verge of D and V. Extremely hard to maintain hydration.

Crossed 10km of sand dunes between CP4 and CP5 around midnight, amazingly twinkly night sky. Buddied with 2 American guys as nervous about my condition and erratic visibility of glow sticks which disappeared amongst the mountainous dunes (biggest height and distance of dunes all week). Navigation to CP5 assisted by Star Trek-esque laser beam pointing into the night sky, visible for 20 miles. Managed hot food at CP5 but collapsed again at CP6 taking refuge in sleeping bag for an hour.

Set off on last 10km around 4am .. quite surreal as shuffling alone, following pin pricks of marker glow sticks - when I felt lonely I could turn and see a tiny trail of head torch lights behind me. Dawn and sunrise were beautiful and the sight of camp made me weep .. finally hobbled over finish line around 7.20am. Learnt later that Laurence Klein, favourite to win ladies, had retired from race at CP4 with heat stroke..

Rest Day
A can of chilled coke - bloody miraculous!!
Rehydrated fully and doubled my salt intake.

Stage 5 – 42.2km- Oued el Jdaid to Erg Znaigui
Feeling so much stronger, temperatures still over 50C but fully hydrated and no nausea. Remained on double dose of salt tablets. Doused my Union Jack with water and draped over my shoulders to help ward off baking heat. Realised I was maintaining quicker pace as didn't recognise those around me. Finally glimpsed the Finish Line, seemed to take forever to reach and so euphoric on crossing the line I ran past Patrick Bauer waiting to present my medal and had to be ushered back .. Tent buddies probably have it about right naming me Dipsy!! Ranking = 483 .. saved my best for last!

Final Ranking – 736

Charity Stage - 8km – Erg Znaigui to Merzouga
8km of sand dunes on Saturday in support of UNICEF, rather weary but enjoyed waving my flag decorated with Luke, Katie, Max and Toms' names .. finally managed to feature in the official photos - the Union Jack is such a distinctive flag!

Debbie will be in the Sarsen office on Friday to collect her cheque for Facing Africa.

Debbie's Marathon des Sables Diary 2013 - Part 1

“Huge thanks to everyone for such fantastic support - sponsorship for Facing Africa is now up to £11,564.51! Tremendously appreciative of your good luck wishes, emails in the desert and congrats messages .. the highlight of each day was crossing the finish line for a cup of sweet mint tea and the tearful anticipation of emails from home ...”

Known simply as the MdS, the race is a brutal six-day adventure across one of the world’s most inhospitable locations - the Sahara desert. The rules require you to be self-sufficient, to carry with you on your back everything except water that you need to survive. You are given a place in a bivouac to sleep at night, but any other equipment and food must be carried.

There are 6 stages in the MdS, each with it's own challenges. It starts with a 37.2km hike from the start at Ihrs to Khermou in Errachidia......

Stage One - 37.2km - Irhs to Khermou
"Biggest challenge was weight of 10kg pack, struggled with searing heat, adapting to typical terrain, mixture of ascents up djebels (a hill or mountain in an Arab country), mountain passes, sand mounds, camel grass, rock, crevasses, sand dunes … 1st blister (left instep), hands like 2 bunches of bananas .. glad to reach bivouac for first cup of legendary mint tea!"
Ranking = 732

MdS 2013 bivouac

Stage Two - 30.7km - Khermou to Jebel el Otfal
"Most technical day with greatest ascent = 1000m: my favourite day for the views from the high mountain ridges .. 2nd, 3rd and 4th blisters plus 2 bruised big toenails .. feeling stronger by using poles which helped offload weight of pack and enabled my Saharan shuffle to increase a little in pace, gave me better balance scrambling over rocks and boulders, helped reduce swelling of hands.
Ranking = 625

Blisters 2, 3 and 4!!

Stage Three - 38km - Jebel el Otfal to Taourirt Mouchanne
"Acclimatising better to heat, pack and terrain. 5th blister - oh the joys of wonder drug paracetamol! Feet and ankles grossly swollen, prickly heat unpleasant but everyone suffering so time to grit teeth and keep going.....".
Ranking = 594

The MdS route covers many different types of landscape.

105km down, 126 still to go..... Check back on Monday to read the rest of Debbie's account of her epic Saharan adventure!