James is running the Marathon des Sables!

Oh dear, what have I let myself in for?

It all started with a documentary featuring James Cracknell who ran the Marathon Des Sables in 2010. I thought to myself if James Cracknell could do it then so can I!!

I then started looking into the race myself, the Marathon Des Sables is a race for only the brave and stupid, it entails a 150 mile running race across the Sahara Desert including many of those miles up and over sand dunes stretching across 6 days. Temperatures reach up to 50ºC with the possibility of encountering scorpions, snakes and desert spiders as big as a dinner plate. All of this with carrying all your supplies for the week including food a sleeping bag and medical kit in a backpack weighing up to 10kg.

Before I knew it I had applied and also dragged one of my unwitting friends along for company. The only difference is that him agreeing to come along involved a little more alcohol than my decision. We both applied in August 2011 and managed to get a charity place for the 28^th annual Marathon Des Sables in April 2013. Perfect I thought I have 18 months to prepare but it’s surprising how quickly time goes. I have been training hard to get up to normal marathon distance ready for the London Marathon this month, still a long way short of the amount of training I have ahead of me.

The hardest part so far has been dragging myself out of the warm house into freezing temperatures many times a week over the winter but hopefully as the weather starts to improve for the summer I can train in weather very slightly closer to the conditions I will face next year.