The previous day had taken its toll with around 60 people pulling out over night. Tent 56 arrived at the start line of stage 3 with it full complement, ready to tackle the 30km ahead of us. Like many people I had began to turn my attention towards the long day that would follow and decided that I would attempt to conserve energy.
The organisers spend a lot of time planning the route for MdS. The effort they put in truly pays off as each day had an entirely different feel to it and showcased different desert environments. This year, because of covid restrictions in the run up, the organisers hadn’t been able to recce a new course so it was decided that we would re-run the 2018 course.
Day 3 took us north east away from the bivouac and immediately up and over some hills. The course then flattened for a few kilometres before climbing again to run along ridges. We then turned back south west and tackled Jebel El Otfal again, this time up the steep sandy side and down the granite slabs. If the Jebel didn’t take enough energy out of us we then had to cross the dunes from the previous day, finishing with 7k of flat stones plateau. Today would be known as the ‘hilly day’.
The technical paths along the ridges that we ran along were stunning, with a precipitous drop down each side. The wind was still blowing a hoolie (you wouldn’t want to lose your hat here, see Tops Tips 3) so I was conscious about taking extra care not to trip. I picked up a trail of large bright red drops of fresh blood on the path which certainly focused the mind.
The surface underfoot had changed in the hills to a shale type consistency. Along with the constant climbing and descending this meant that my feet were moving side to side in my shoes more than they had done up till now and I began to get a hot spot on the side of my second toe. I am pretty luck with feet usually - im pretty convinced that the biggest factor in wether or not you get blisters is the shape of your feet and mine are pretty normal. I used injinji toe socks, as the only blisters I ever got were between my toes, along with Two Toms Blister shield. After stage 2 my placing in the race was beyond my wildest expectations and I started to eye a higher place finish. I gambled that this hotspot would be manageable and decided not to stop and sort it out.
The long plateau towards Jebel El Otfal was back into the strong headwind. One of my methods for dealing with the long flat boring parts of the stages was to catch up with someone similarly paced and strike up a conversation. These chats would make the distance to the next feature fly by hearing my new running pals motivations and journey leading to the Sahara.
The climb up the sandy side of Jebel El Otfal was tough, with the sand getting softer and deeper the higher we went. At the very top was about 50m of deep sand were a rope and been fixed in place to help you up. As we bunched up towards the top it was like walking the wrong way on an escalator as the runner in front the pushed the sand back towards you, making forward progress only by pulling yourself up the rope. The effort to the top was intense but rewarded with a majestic view out over the plateaus, and the knowledge that there was only 10km left of the stage. I settled into a nice rhythm following Olive from Amsterdam through the dunes. The day was still windy as we crested the last hill and the finish line came into view. I remember bracing myself incase I found a flattened tent once again.
This time Tent 56 was upright. I set about adjusting the tent and collecting rocks to pin the windward side down. I checked my toes and had a single blister on where I had felt the hotspot earlier in the day. Since I had made good time and the camp was still relatively empty I decided to make a visit to Doc Trotters, the camp foot care specialist.
As you enter you are triaged and given a number. You clean your feet whilst sitting atop milk crates and then you can lie down in one of the 4 tents, listening carefully as they shout numbers out in french. Here I found the source of the blood trail earlier in the day. Another Englishman with a large cut centimetres from his eye after a fall on the rocks. My number was called and a lovely french lady drained my blister with a needle then injected molten, hot lava back in (it’s possible she injected iocene but I’m going with feel). With my feet dealt with I walked back to tent 56 via the email tent.
Whilst I did bring my phone with me, mostly for music and photos, you don’t really get reception in the bivouac so the email tent is your only way to communicate. Each competitor is allowed to send one email to one recipient per day. Incoming emails are printed off and delivered once a day to each tent. In a world where we are so used to short, instant communication there was something nice about the anticipation of waiting for messages from friends and family. One of my favourite emails was from one of my sons, 10 year old Finley, who was in Morocco with my wife. The first message was excitedly telling me about the souk and how they sold daggers. The following wanted to know if I thought that daggers would be a problem at airport security on the way home…
By the end of the day tent 56 were all accounted for. Chris and Barry had sone nasty blisters that needed some special Doc Trotters treatment and Ross was still struggling to get food down but looked in better shape than the evening before. Tomorrow, the long day.
Top Tips number 4
Foot care. You need to look after your feet, obviously, but there is no one size fits all method. I had a small foot care kit with me that consisted of a few sterile needles and tape. Doc Trotters apply a red liquid, called iocene to your blisters and if I went again I would take a few vials of this. Regarding hots spots - you need to be able to judge wether or not to stop and tape up any hotspots. With the location of mine I got away with it but by far the biggest reason people drop out is because of bad blisters. At the end of the week I saw one competitor in the hotel with both feet heavily bandaged walking on crutches. Look. After. Your. Feet.
You don’t have to follow the people in front of you exactly. Going up the Jebel on day 3 I had spied an easier route up in the rocks rather than the sand but instead followed the line of people in front of me which I think you considerably more energy. The race rules say you shouldn’t make any significant deviations from the course but I would argue if you can still see it then it’s not too far. On the marathon stage of my race heading into some high dunes, athletes in front of me were making a huge shortcut, at least a few hundred metres. A few of us didn’t want to risk a time penalty so continued ahead and got back on course (everyone behind following). In the end the race organisation didn’t hand out any penalties to those who cut the course in front.
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