Morning of the long day started early with a planed start time of 0730 camp time for most runners. If you are in the top 50 you start 3 hours later in order to make sure that even the quickest have to spend some time on the course in the dark. I had been taking about 2 hours in the morning to get ready so got out of my sleeping bag earlier then previous days.
The weather was good, the wind had calmed and the later start meant that it was still reasonably cool heading to the start line. Enough so that I kept my warm top on. With the front 50 runner still in their sleeping bags and my race position to that point 130th, I thought that I would be near the front as we set off. To my surprise I seemed miles back with what felt like at least 250 runners in front of me. What was their race plan? Was I missing something?
We set off through a valley on stones tracks with the first sign of any kind of civilisation that week in the form of basic stone buildings. I settled into a slow jogging pace alongside Olive and chatted for a bit about our strategies for the day. My plan was similar to Olives, run steady downhill and on the flat, power walk on anything resembling a hill or soft ground. Some people had talked about making use of the cool morning and going hard till midday then walking when the temperature picked up. Perhaps that’s what the runners in front of me were doing?
We exited the valley and the vistas opened up unveiling a magnificent salt flat. I don’t remember large sections of the stage, and it’s difficult to think through it chronologically especially the first half. I remember the start. I remember seeing two bemused touring bikers who had stopped to look at a thousand mad people running across a salt flat in the middle of the Sahara. There was a long section somewhere around checkpoint 2 of soft sand, made more uncomfortable by the left to right slope so that your ankles began to ache, that was hard to forget. I remember seeing some clouds which had virga (rain that evaporates before the ground) coming from them and thinking to myself how no one is prepared for rain, before feeling a fleeting few spot of rain a while later.
I also remember the race leader Rachid El Morabity passing me near the 43km mark as we ran across and extensive oued, despite the fact that I had enjoyed a 3 hour head start…
I was approaching CP4 at 47.8km feeling great. I had put some headphones in for the first time that week and was moving fast. “Only 40k to go!”, I remember thinking, “I’m nearly there!” My plan had been to have a meal on the course. Unlike my camp meals which I had hot (there is whole debate about hot vs cold food but I’ll cover that in the kit discussion) my plan was to put cold water into the food bag and slip it into the black fabric pouch at the back of my pack and leave it for a while to warm in the sun and rehydrate. But I was going so well and feeling so good, and only had 40 odd k to go, would I even need to bother having a meal?! At CP4 I decided since I needed to attach the glow stick that I had been issued at CP3 I would prepare the food as well. After an extra 2 mins in the CP I carried on.
Shortly after CP4 I had to have a quiet word with myself. Yes I was getting there but there was still almost a marathon to go which would be utterly miserable if I stopped looking after myself. I left CP into a long section of dunes and was starting to feel a bit rubbish for the first time that week. Had I not prepared my meal I would have been in a world of pain. I decided that since I was walking in the dunes anyway I would get my meal out and eat en-route. I had chosen a vegan Cajun spiced cous cous as I thought this would be the most palatable when eaten cold. It was absolute magic, like my body was absolutely craving the kidney beans and peppers.
I finished my food and and thought i’d keep walking for 15 mins - I was still in the rolling dunes though I could have run on the downhills - after which I was sure with would feel better.
By now the shadows were getting long with the sun on our backs. Today had been the hottest day so far, in part because the wind had dropped completely. As I continued through the dunes I remember seeing a motorbike sitting atop one. As I past by, in the shadows of the bike was a father, mother and toddler and just sitting, enjoying the sunset - literally in the middle of the desert. (I can't guarantee I actually saw this rather than hallucinated it as it was a fair distance in!)
One of the features of the long stage is that you will be in the desert at night. For me it began to get dark around the 70km point. I was treated to a stunning sunset whilst running along a high, rolling plateau. I remember catching an older, lady runner, maybe in her 50s. As I approached she tripped and fell, I checked she was alright but could see that she was already in tears. It turned out she had lost her glow stick, the one issued hours and hours ago at cp3 that we were required to affix to our packs at night, and was distraught at the thought of receiving a time penalty after having made such great progress.
As the desert turned to dark I found my groove and was moving faster than I had all week. For a while navigation was easy as we were following a path. The course was marked by more glow-sticks (different coloured apparently to the ones we carried) but the rolling nature of the course meant that you couldn’t always see where the next one was. I was properly cruising along now, so much so that I was passing people and being confused for one of the elite runners who had started 3 hours behind but were occasionally passing people.
The path came to an end and we started to run across an oued with channels running diagonally across the path in such a way as to properly confuse your navigation. It’s a balance between having your torch on bright and using your surroundings of having it on low and having more chance of seeing the next course marker. I remember setting my sights on a runner in front of me and really putting a shift in to catch him. I saw him take a wrong turn along one of the oued channels and started having the thought that this was brilliant as I would now be able to overtake him, another quick word with myself followed and I called out to bring him back on course - it wouldn’t be fun to loose the course at night.
The final 5k was tough physically, I was pushing quiet hard as by now I was pretty much done and wanted to get into my tent. The air was full of sand and dust so it was Buff over nose and mouth time and lots of self congratulatory pats on back for bring the photochormatic lenses so I could still keep my glasses on. The finish arch is lit up brightly and I could see it from about 7k out - buts that’s actually a long way! The terrain was rolling and I remember coming into he final stretch thinking how mean it was to put the finish at the top of such a steep hill. I would notice in the light of day that it was barely uphill at all. I finished in 12hours 30 minutes and crossed the line feeling elated in 80th position of the day. I really had just ran 86.4km in the desert.
I had my tea and recovery shake, found the tent, cleared the big stones from under the rug and pinned down the tent edges with boulders. I couldn’t really feel my feet at all and was slightly concerned that that might not be a good thing but after a quick inspection all was good. I tucked myself into the side of the tent so as to not be in the way when my tent mates got back and went off to sleep, free from any snoring for the first time that week.
On the long stage people will arrive throughout the night and into the following ‘rest’ day. The sappers arrived at sometime in the early hours, followed by Pete and then Chris. By sunrise there was still no sign of Ross and Dom but now we all had the measure of Ross’ resilience and sure enough they came in around lunchtime having had a few hours sleep at one of the checkpoints.
As we approached the cutoff time for the stage on the evening of the rest day, the staff alerted the bivouac that the last competitors were approaching the line. It was an incredible sight as the entire bivouac turned out to the finish line to cheer Abdelkarim El Hayani, who was runner the whole event barefoot!
Everyone will have different experiences of the rest day. For some it will be rest but for many it will be anything but. To be honest I don’t really remember too much about it. I definitely washed my clothes, as I had done earlier in the week using a cut open half of water bottle, a few soap loaves and as much water as I could spare. Everyone is absolutely filthy by the end of the week and no-one would bat an eyelid if you hadn’t so much as rinsed your clothes but it certainly gave me a little boost, as well as something to do. I ate a proper lunch instead of just running snacks, stretched and tended to my feet which were in surprisingly good shape with only 2 small blisters.
The water cards we carried showed a mysterious can emblem alongside the numbers of litres we would be rationed for the day. After much speculation come evening, we were all issued an ice cold can of Coca Cola. This would have been magnificent on its own but when accompanied by a drop of rum, courtesy the sappers it was magic. One of my treats I had carried with me had been a fairly large packet of pork scratchings, despite some serious cravings for them on the long day I decided to hold off so I could share them out come the right moment. When the bar opened with the sappers rum and red wine, we all stood around a camp fire and enjoyed rum and coke, a few drops of red wine and pork scratchings.
Top Tips Number 5
The long stage needs slightly different kit prepared before the start line, some of which won’t be needed until much later on that day. For instance, I made sure my meal and spoon was easily accessible. You will need your torch at some point too. I also made sure I had a zip tie out so that I could attached the glow stick to my bag with it. Do not rely on the little hook on the glow stick as it will fall off.
It is a long stage, break it down into smaller chunks, check point to check point. I remember hitting that last 5km and just thinking, this is now only a Park Run, easy!
It is a long stage, conserve your energy. You might be feeling great in the first 10km but you have to save yourself. I made conscious decisions to slow down early on in the day when I was moving fast but saw my heart rate up at 155bpm. I decided to keep it below 150bpm at least until the final 20km.
Fuel yourself - even if you don’t feel like it. Running in the desert for such a long time isn’t something we aren't used too and you probably won’t feel like eating - but a deep dark hole awaits if you don’t. If you do start feeling rubbish its probably because you need to eat. I was pretty good at eating snacks consistently throughout the day but for me a meal was the ultimate pick me up.
When considering food, make sure you don’t just take sweet snacks. My body started to crave salty fatty snacks as the week went on. I actively looked forward to treating myself to a pepperoni and pork scratchings were considered to be 3 star Michelin snacks.
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