MDS 2009 - Keith

Friday, August 15, 2008

The Devil O' The Highlands 9th August 2008

Well this was supposed to be a challenging but quite achievable race, particularly after all of the recent training we have been doing and the fact that it was ONLY 43 miles over familiar terrain., how wrong you can be!!

We arrived at the hostel early Friday afternoon and found it easy to settle in to our accommodation for the evening. We met Rab Lee at the local boozer where I found myself drinking plenty of juice to James and Jimmy's Guinness We were joined later on by our support crew of Andy and Kenney who wasted no time lashing down the lager with steak burger chasers. I opted for an early night and made my way back to the 6 bed dorm to get some shut eye, I set my alarm for 4 o'clock as the race began at 6 with a safety briefing just before.

I'd like to say I got a great nights kip but that would just be a lie. After what seemed like an eternity tossing and turning in my bed the alarm went off and it was time to feed. For breakfast it was 4 wheatabix with milk and honey and a litre of water. This left enough time to prepare the last of my kit and then it was off to the safety briefing with the rest of the 100 entrants.

The briefing was just the usual and we were also given our goody bag and race number. We saw some well kent faces as well as meeting a few new friends from the MDS forum website.

After a nervous toilet break it was straight to the start line and the off.


The first stage was a relatively easy flattish 6 ½ mile section from Tyndrum – Bridge of Orchy which Seamus and I ran together along with our mate George whom we met at the Cateran Trail race earlier in the year, he was going for the hatrick, that is the Highland Fling the West Highland Way Race and the Devil O' The Highlands all in the same year and amazing achievement if he could pull it off, particularly as he is about twice my age!!

I felt good as we approached the first checkpoint in about 1hr 4 mins, I scoffed some crystallized ginger which I was hoping would settle my stomach and we all pushed through the checkpoint in a few seconds.
Approaching checkpoint one

The next section was a steep uphill which we both walked, still feeling good we came down the other side of the hill towards Inveroran like two mountain goats. We then began the long climb onto Rannoch Moor. This section was slightly longer then I remembered it however the route was not overly taxing. We walked most of the uphill and then tried to maintain a steady trot across the moor.

It was about at this time only 2 ½ hours into it that I began to feel.... just not right. I had a bizarre sort of “slow vision” thing going on, like when you turn your head to one side and the world catches up a few seconds later, it was weird. I tried to keep the fluids going in as well as regular grazing on ginger/salted nuts / and energy gel.

By the time we started the descent down to Glencoe Ski Centre and checkpoint 2 I was feeling pretty rank. The rain was pouring down thankfully I caught sight of poor Kenney standing with our grab bags ready to replenish the stocks. I took a couple of gels for my bumbag and grabbed a bottle of powerade. We passed through the checkpoint without stopping. We have long since realised that so much time is wasted fannying about in checkpoints that it is better to keep moving even if you are only walking slowly. By this stage the time was 17 ½ miles in 3hours 10 min.

The next section was meant to be a bit of an effort, the Devils Staircase and descent into Kinlochleven. I had hoped to be strong walking up the Staircase and be able to push on the descent. I struggled along the flat to the Staircase and had a horrible time trying to get to the top. By the time we reached the peak my stomach was shot, feeling sick and tired we began the descent into Kinlochleven. Jimmy was adamant that he wanted to stay with me but I knew I was holding him up badly. We were also caught and passed by one of our forum mates Ivan who was competing in his first Ultra. The descent was worse the the climb and by the time I reached Kinlochleven I managed to greet Kenney and Andy with a projectile vomit beside the car.
Going Going........

Gone!!!

I felt instantly better but I knew the signs were ominous.
The time was 27 ½ miles in 5 hours 15 min – Not exactly what we were hoping for.

As we marched through Kinlochleven we passed Rab Lee and his support crew who had also witnessed my technicolour yawn, Rab offered his help by way of a bottle of cola, which I accepted, cola is used regularly to replenish sugars etc and I hoped maybe the change of taste would work??

As you exit Kinlochleven there is a steep climb which is probably worse than the Devils Staircase. Suffice to say I got half up and started to wretch as there was nothing in my stomach. It was at this stage my wheel came off. Well it didn't so much come off as was ripped off and thrown into a ditch. Total and utter frustration with my situation overtook me and I lost the plot.

I made a decision that I've never taken before during a race, I quit. I told Jimmy to F... Off and leave me alone and I collapsed on my backside and reached for my phone to call Andy and Kenney to return to collect me. While all this was going on Rab Lee also walked by offered his support and then realised it was futile, as he walked past he said that it “Was a brave man to quit at this stage” he obviously meant this with the best of intention, but I didn't see it that way.

I called Andy it a total state of confusion and actually asked him what I should do? Andy, bless his cotton socks suggested that I should continue to the top of the hill and make a decision when I got there. I hung up the phone and tried to compose myself. I'm not a quitter, I don't stop ever, but the total frustration of knowing that I am physically fit enough to complete these events, but my stomach won't let me bugs the hell out of me.

I decided to try for the top of the hill. I walked on quite slowly, I knew the route was reasonably flat from there on in but still about 15 miles long. When I got to the top my decision was made. Bollocks to this, I wasn't yomping for 30 miles just to stop with 14 to go, I wanted the t-shirt!!

I sent Andy a text and pushed on. I actually felt relieved that I was on my own as I didn't feel the pressure of holding anybody up. This wasn't the intention but just the way things worked out. So 14 miles to go flat then downhill, it went something like this,

walk a mile - wretch/vomit, walk a mile - sit down wretch/vomit – walk a mile wretch/vomit.......

you get the idea. I had made a plan that was to stick to 3.5 miles per hour walking. This would get me into Fort William within the time limit and gave me an achievable target to maintain.

After about 8 miles I stopped for another rest, because the midges were ferocious in this particular stretch I ended up sitting in the middle of a stream. I pulled out the bottle of Cola that Rab had issued me with at Kinlochleven. I decided to drink as much as possible in one go, for no other reason that to see what happened, I wasn't going to make matters worse!!

Well I managed time to take this picture before 30 seconds later projectile vomiting cola across the stream......nice.

I got up and kept walking.
With pretty much the entire field ahead of me I plodded down into Fort William. I had nothing left but I crossed the line and dropped into the park bench near to the finish line. I just felt numb. I finished 3rd from last and was completely underwhelmed.
My time was 10:51:23 for the 43-miles. At one stage I was on for a 7hr 30min finish that shows the impact my system failure has.

Jimmy James and friends we've made.

I was collected by Kenney and Andy and taken to the Hostel where I saw James and Jimmy. They both knew I was a bit fraught and it was at this stage that I declared that if my stomach problems were not rectified I would not be going to the MDS next year.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Day 1 - 16th July 2008

Wednesday 16th July 2008 Day one

So, I left you at a bit of a cliffhanger, partial slipped disc, intensive physio and acupuncture will I make it onto the plane or will I not??



I think the picture of Jimmy and James at the departures gate answers that question. I was the one taking the picture of these two fine specimens of athletes!! Jimmy having a caffeine fix looking like he's just fallen out of his scratcher, and James pondering the latest bit of uber kit (an ultra lightweight dry bag no less) purchased for the trip.

So, Wednesday morning saw me again lying on the treatment bench at Heal Physiotherapy being stretched and folded and stuck with about a dozen needles in an attempt to alleviate the pain in my back, (Thanks again Lynne). About one o'clock in the afternoon I collected James and Jimmy and we set sail for Edinburgh airport. The trip through was completely uneventful, and by the time the picture above was taken we were pretty relaxed and waiting to board the flight. My only routine was every twenty minutes or so, to stand up and complete about 10 back arches to ensure my disc remained where it was supposed to, much to the bemusement of the other passengers.

The flight itself was also fairly uneventful, we had managed to blag the "jump seats" at the front of the plane which meant I had plenty of leg room and was also able to stand up and stretch from time to time.

When we arrived we collected our bags and were met by our hosts for the week, Paul Bateson, course director, and ultra-marathon veteran, and Fulvio Villano, Fulvio has completed the MDS no fewer than 6 times and has won his age category on 3 occasions and finished 2nd on another, by half way through the course he would be christened "Sensai".

Our bags were loaded into the team bus and we were driven the hour and a half to Santa Cruz, in Alhama de Granada, Andalucia, the scenery became more and more mountainous as we left the motorway and threaded our way through the Sierra Loja Mountain range. We arrived at our base at about ten o'clock at night and were introduced to Barbara, Paul's partner and our hostess for the week, we all loved Barbara! We also met Rose a fellow MDS'r in 2009, Rose had heard about the training camp via the MDS forum site and had traveled from London to participate, Rose had only completed a marathon 6-7 years ago and this was going to be her first experience of ultra-marathon training, brave!

Around the table, Fulvio, Rose Jimmy and James.

On our arrival Barbara had prepared a light supper as we went through the "ice breaking" process. Our accommodation was perfect, "the lads", the three of us and Fulvio stayed in the main house, Fulvio and I had a room each, Jimmy and James shared a twin room, soon to be christened the "Greenhouse", not only due to the heat but by the time 5 days of sweaty kit and bodies had been allowed to germinate there were all sorts of items growing in there!

At this stage Fulvio who is a very quiet considered and humble guy, had begun to pass on some information and tell tales of his experiences in ultra marathons it was quite clear that this guy was an amazing athlete.
It was one o'clock in the morning before we retired to bed.

Day 2 - 17th July 2008

About six o'clock in the morning I was awoken peacefully from my slumber by the dawn chorus of chickens, fighting with the birds who were obviously giving a donkey some grief as he was arguing with the local rooster!!

Anyway, the light was streaming in and as I opened the window I got my first proper view of the surrounding area, it was fantastic, mile after mile of rolling hills covered in olive groves.



We all assembled at the breakfast table and after polishing off some wheat-a-bix, cold meat and bread, yogurt and honey and fresh coffee we were handed our information packs. Each pack contained our itinerary for the week as well as biography's of Paul and Fulvio and some good advice regarding foot care, hydration and kit selection. Also in the pack was Fulvio's kit choice and nutrition selection he uses for the MDS, (more about this later).

After an input from Paul regarding the plans for the week we prepared ourselves for our first run. We were excited and raring to go, today was to be only a warm up of12.5 miles allowing us to become used to the heat as well as gauge our fitness levels.

In order, Jimmy, Paul, Fulvio, Rose, James and Me, at the start of the warm up run.

My choice of kit for the day, was my now favourite New Balance MDS1100 trail shoes, Bridgedale socks, Underarmour heatgear shorts, Nike over-shorts, Railriders Adventure Shirt, Raidlight Sahara Hat and 2.5 litre Camelback filled with water. I also carried some SIS Go gels, Enduralyte Capsules, salt tablets and a mix of sweets, (Skittles, gums, and jelly beans)

The run itself was really enjoyable, we followed the riverside for about 4 miles before climbing steeply to the top of the range of foothills, we then trotted over the foothills to drop back into the small town of Santa Cruz. Within about one mile of starting the run the heat started to take effect and by the time we paused briefly at a road junction I was already soaked in sweat, it was only about ten thirty in the morning and the heat of the day was only beginning to build.

A selection of photo's from the days run...

And they're off!!

Team Hotrunning, running hot!

We start to climb to the top of the foothills.

A nice close up of a handsome sweaty bloke!!

Typical scenery of the area.

The welcoming sign as we entered Santa Cruz.

Back home, Barbara supplied us with large amounts of fresh watermelon, and then she volunteered to launder our running kit, did I mention we loved Barbara??

The stats for the day were 12.5 miles in 2 hours 35 mins. 2000 calories burned. The time reflects the number of small rests we had en-route, this was to allow the group to stick together.

After cleaning up and having some lunch we assembled in the house and were given an input by Fulvio as to what kit he uses in the MDS and what foods he takes. This input was amazing. We have spent hours researching what we should take and how we should pack our rucksacks etc, at best I was anticipating a pack weight of 10kg's, Fulvio has his kit down to 7.5 kilos. His ethos is, keep your pack weight as light as possible, look after your feet, and maintain good personal management as nobody else will do it for you.

We compared kit choices and he pretty much whooped our selection as far as weight was concerned all except one thing, my knife was lighter than his, VICTORY, let's hear it for the Swiss Army Card!! One thing that did strike me was that Fulvio is an amazing competitive athlete who enters the race in order to win, to this extent he races at the absolutely limit, to illustrate this point he declared during the input that he does not carry toilet paper as this is additional weight, anyway why carry toilet paper when you can use your HAND??!!!

Fulvio demonstrating his home made adaptions to his front pack to stop it bouncing while running.

After the input, we chilled out at the poolside before gathering for our evening feast, salad, Salmon and Vienetta ice cream, pretty much hit the spot!

After dinner we walked into Santa Cruz and enjoyed one small beer before returning and retiring to bed. A Good day!

Day 3 - 18th July 2008

Today was the start of the serious training. Our route today would see us cover 20 miles and climb over 3500 feet through gorges in our first real encounter with serious heat.

Breakfast was Wheat-a-bix and toast with peanut butter.

Today I would use my OMM rucksack with water bottles, one containing water and one with a product called ZYM. This is very much like Nuun and was given to me by Paul in order to test it to see if I coped better with it. I would also christen my Raidlight walking poles, or as I like to call them now "Life savers!".
At this stage I'll mention that I recently bought larger water bottles than I had previously used. I had been using 600ml bottles, however I was fearful of running out of water as such I ordered 800ml bottles. Now I needed to adapt the bottles to make them "usable". Part of these modifications saw me source plastic tubing to use as straws from the local aquarium. Looking back I think this was to be a major mistake which I will cover shortly.

Ready to go, you will notice the size of water bottles I carry to Jimmy and James, as well as the green straws.

Anyway, we started the route from the house, today as before, Fulvio would run with us but Paul would shadow us in his van and supply us with additional water and rest stations at various checkpoints. After about one mile we hit a significant hill which had a 1 in 10 gradient, Ouch!



The views from the top were fantastic and worth the effort,

We then descended into the next valley, this was quite a fast descent and was fairly easy going on tarmac road. It was at this stage that Jimmy and James began to pull ahead of me, I didn't mind as I was determined not to be forced into an uncomfortable pace. I was trying to drink as much as possible but again found this quite difficult particularly as the water and Zym was now warm.

Pictures paint a thousand words so here are some more...

Walking towards the second checkpoint, I'm beginning to suffer with the intensity of the heat. Jimmy and James were ahead of me and Rose had been given a lift in the support car to the second checkpoint so was also ahead.

This is Rose and Fulvio making their way up the mountain gorge, the heat radiates all around you and can become almost overwhelming.


Words are hard to find to try and explain how bad I was feeling at this stage, blind crest after blind crest, intense heat, horrible warm water which had a strange taste, it's fair to say that at this stage I started to question the whole MDS project. At the end of the day when I examined my Garmin 305 GPS and heart rate monitor at this point it had recorded my heart rate at 194 bpm, I WAS WALKING!! Without my walking poles I doubt I would have made it this far.

It was Paul who took the photograph as he was standing beside the van. I have never bailed out of an event yet, today was to be my first. I walked past Paul, never said a word and climbed into his van, he got the message.

Paul drove the route to the next checkpoint, we soon passed Jimmy and James, who were looking quite tired as well, then Rose and Fulvio who were keeping a steady pace. We arrived at the checkpoint and place where we would have lunch. A carpet was laid out under a tree and I sat down and tried to drink as much as possible.
I took this photo while waiting for the others to arrive.


This is Jimmy also arriving at the checkpoint, he was suffering as well, mainly with trapped wind and the heat.

We ate our lunch and I began to feel a bit more human. We knew that the ice had been truly broken between each other when Jimmy felt confident enough to drop a 10 second four tone fart, and declare "That's better". Much to Rose's disgust, unfortunately this was only the opening verse as James, Fulvio and I added a couple of extra verse's and Jimmy coming back in with the chorus, Blazing Saddles had nothing on us!!
Rose managed a wee smile, however this was quickly erased when, having declared her utter fear of snakes, James thought it would be a good idea to throw my cooling neck scarf which you can see on the photo's, at her. Not only did Rose jump three feet in the air we all got a fright, class!!

After about 45 minutes we readied ourselves and I felt strong enough to continue, we had about 9 miles to go most of which was downhill. As I have previously mentioned I was really struggling to get the fluids in. Only after another couple of days did it dawn on me that it may have been my drinking straws, the piping I had bought from the aquarium was meant for a fish tank, not necessarily to be made into a drinking straw and in 40 degree heat. As such, my warm water also tasted of rubber, nice! Stupid mistake, but lesson learnt.

As I began the descent, my stomach was also troubling me, a combination of trapped wind, and warm rubber water sloshing about. It was a brilliant route down the mountain with spectacular views of the valley and town of Zafarraya.



By the time I was 3km from the finish I was wretching and holding back on being sick. I made choice to abandon the route. I was doing myself no favours, this was a training camp, I had four more days to run, what good would it have done to push myself so hard just now? I got into Paul's van and was medi-vac'd to the finish line, a pub in Zafarraya.

This picture was taken when everyone had finished I look like a ghost and sank 4 bottles of fat coke in quick succession. Jimmy said he hadn't felt great either and put it down to drinking too much NUUN. I asked Fulvio how he felt, he had barely broken sweat, I realised at this stage just how high my heart rate had soared - 194bpm, Fulvio said his maximum heart rate for the day was 119 bpm!! He is not human!

The days stats:-
16:53 miles
4 hrs 19 minutes
3511ft ascent
2208 Calories
164 average heart rate
194 Maximum Heart rate

At the end of the day we walked into Santa Cruz collected a bit of shopping, and had a drink with Fulvio, we walked back home and enjoyed Barbara's lasagne,have I mentioned how much we loved Barbara? We watched the latest official MDS DVD before retiring to bed.

Day 4 - 19th July 2008

After yesterdays performance, I was hoping to have a better day of it today as we would be walking on one of the most scenic routes in the entire area.

The day didn't start well, I managed about 4 hours sleep, a combination of mosquitoes in the room and that flaming rooster, I swear it had a snooze button attached to it. It went off bang on 6am, 6 or 7 cock-a-doodle-doos then nothing, then 7am 6 or 7 more then nothing til 8am, if I had had a gun I would have used it!!

Anyway, I got up and had breakfast, wheat-a-bix and 2 boiled eggs on toast. My legs were a little fatigued but other than that I was feeling fine. I was making a concious decision to drink plenty of water.

We drove to a nearby petrol station and collected one of Paul's mate's Tony. He was a fireman in England before he decided to move to a better climate and start again, he was considering the MDS next year and wanted to put in some training.

We then drove about an hour to the far side of Granada to the start of our 14 mile 6605ft of ascent trail for the day.

Again pictures tell the story,

The troops at the start line.

Crossing a 100 meter suspension bridge.

The path follows the river which has eroded it's route through the mountains.

Winding our way through the narrow gorge popular with rock climbers.

We hug the side of the cliff as we climb from the gorge floor.

One of our best photos. You can see how narrow and steep the path is, not for the faint hearted!!

So it was at about this stage that I began the usual symptoms of bloated stomach, grump nature, any steep sections were almost impossible to climb, and farting like a trooper. By the time we got to our first check point I felt pretty grim. Not only were these symptoms a problem but I was now letting my head contribute to the misery. I was so annoyed with myself for feeling this way, with no obvious answer to the problem that I started to get myself into a vicious circle of despair.

Checkpoint 2 hours into the day and already feeling pretty gash.

We pushed onwards and ever upwards occasionally passing a much welcomed stream that I could soak my head in, words can't describe how good it felt to have cold water poured over my head.

By the time we reached the summit of the mountain, I was back at the stage of wretching, more commonly known in Scotland as "The Dreh Boak".
That's me in the middle staring at my feet.

We pushed on another 3km and arrived at our half way check point, a restaurant which served tapas. My stomach wasn't up to much so I feasted on dry bread and a small pot of Pringles, I also drank about half a litre of fat coke and half a litre of lemon Fanta as well as half a litre of water. I had decisions to make. Paul gave me the options of, staying here and waiting for him to finish the hike and drive back up the mountain to collect me, walk along the main road which would be the quickest way to the van, or continue the hike which was mainly downhill and stay with the group. Option 1 would have been a nightmare, just waiting in a restaurant on my own for about 4 hours - No, option 2 would have meant I was walking on tarmac for 12km into town, boring - NO, option three was the only one for me. As before I was beginning to feel better so I opted to push on. I felt strong as we walked back over the mountain to the gorge and were rewarded with some stunning views of the gorge floor,

This was the dirt road we followed to the valley floor, the temperature became hotter and hotter the lower we went.

The path the contoured along the side of the mountain back towards the car park.

Some of the terrain we crossed was as close to desert conditions as you could get, some of the terrain was almost like a moon landscape.

As we continued along the path Fulvio announced that his temperature gauge had tipped 41 degrees - HOT! The longer the day went on the worse I became until I started to almost panic, I remember distinctly announcing that "I have to get out of here!" I marched on, my poles were invaluable at this stage, as we rounded another corner my heart sank as I saw a long climb to the corner of another blind summit. I trudged onwards before stopping halfway along the climb and sitting down.
This was probably my lowest point of the entire trip, it is an unbelievable feeling when you are in this predicament and the only way out is to keep going. I am glad James took a photograph, this is my favourite photo of the entire trip. The reason is I only have to look at this photo to find all the motivation in the world to get training, lose some more weight get my hydration management sorted and respect the difficulty of what we are attempting to do next March.

After James had emptied about 1.5 litres of water over my head and shoulders I got up and kept moving. Another 2km and we were back at the van. As I entered the car park my body finally let go and I lost the contents of my stomach all over the car park. I poured myself into Paul's van where I sat in a daze all the way back to the house. We stopped at the filling station to drop off Tony, all I could do was go to the cleanest filling station toilet I've ever been in and "spew my wringer" again.

The days stats;
13.67 miles
6hrs 3 min (inclusive of stops)
1769 calories (not sure how accurate this?)
Ascent 6605 feet
Average heart rate 135bpm
Maximum heart rate 167bpm

I had a quiet night, and after a few hours rest I managed to eat some of Barbara's' pasta and meatloaf, did I tell you we love Barbara!
As the others marched off to the pub for a half lager I went to bed, I knew I had taken myself further than I had ever been before, for me, tomorrow would be a day of rest.

Day 5 - 20th July 2008

I had already decided that this would be a day of rest for me. I knew the plan for the rest of the week was to complete a 50km overnight camp on Monday, so given yesterdays problems I wanted to rest, reflect, and be ready for the big one.

I had a bit of a long lie, no thanks to that bloody rooster!! When I woke up I was exceptionally thirsty, a combination of dehydration and the slow release salt tablets I had been taking. I waved off James, Jimmy, Rose, Fulvio and Paul as they made their way to "Hells Path" for a days trekking. I stayed indoors being waited on hand and foot by Barbara. I watched TV a mixture of the Da Vinci code DVD, Fulvio's trophy DVD's from other ultra events he has competed in and the Tour De France.

About 13:00 I went for a relaxing swim and had a great chat with Barbara, shortly after we enjoyed a hearty lunch, leftover meatloaf, omelette and salad. I returned to the sofa for a siesta and continued to drink copious amounts of ice cold water. It was just what I needed.

My reflections on what had happened led me to conclude that I simply had not been replacing the fluids lost from day one. This was the first ever multi day training I had participated in. I thought about what Fulvio had told me about looking after your personal management, and I thought I had lost a lot of fluid day one and never really caught up with replacing it. Day 2 exacerbated the problem and by day three the wheel had come off. It was interesting, I didn't feel tired muscularly only systemically. This meant to me I really had to focus in on hydration and nutrition.

By the time the troops came back from their days hike I was feeling good and listened eagerly to their stories, a bit envious but I knew I had made the right decision.

Thoughts then centred on the next day, 50 km to stay in a Bedouin style tent over night and be entirely self supportive. The day after would be an easy 10km to finish the training camp. To say I was nervous was an understatement. James had a bit of a word with me saying not to let my head over take reality and just wait and see what happens.

Barbara prepared roast chicken for tea and again we ate well. Did I mention we loved Barbara??

Kit was prepared and an early night was the order of the day.

Day 6 - 21st July 2008

So, today was going to be the big one, as close to MDS conditions as possible, 50 km's to a Bedouin camp-site carrying all the kit we required with only water being supplied. I was nervous, very nervous. I tried to stay focused on my preparations and decided that I would aim for each checkpoint one at a time.

We loaded the van for the hour long trip to the starting point at Jayena. The privilege of being 65 years old and weighing 60kgs means you can travel in the boot!!


This was us at the start line, ready to go this time I was wearing my Raidlight front pack for the first time, you'll notice our sleeping mats strapped to the bags as well. James's mat was cut down so it could fit inside the pack.

We set off at a good walking pace realising it would be a long day. Uphill pretty much straight away to a quarry.
Feeling strong at the start.

The three of us pushed on to the first checkpoint, with Fulvio and Rose a bit behind. This would be the pattern during the course of the day, it emphasises the requirement to only go the pace you are comfortable with whether that is faster or slower than others.

After the first checkpoint we had a long flat meander across agricultural ground to our second checkpoint at Agron.
In the zone and feeling ok.

Checkpoint at Agron, the bar was a welcome site, and a few cold Cokes and Fanta's were sunk here. Not what we'll get in the desert but, hey ho this was meant to be a holiday??

We left Agron and made our way towards our third checkpoint at Cacin. This route was a lot more undulating with a particularly steep climb about halfway along. By this stage Rose was making use of a bungee cord attached to Fulvio's backpack. This is a tactic used commonly throughout ultra racing to give different members a bit of a rest by being assisted. I'm not sure if Rose found it an assistance or if Fulvio was forcing her to run when otherwise she would have walked. Any how it worked for them.
Fulvio and Rose with the bungee cord.

Team hotrunning on another hill.

When we began our descent into Cacin the temperature was noticeably hotter. Upwards of 45 degrees. We arrived quickly enough at the tavern in Cacin,

Enough said!

We left Cacin in the knowledge that we only had about 10 miles to go, however this would include the steepest climb of the day. The three of us walked along beside the river and I couldn't resist one last dunk before the hill,
BLISS!

The climb seemed to be endless, James and Jimmy were able to stretch their legs and soon dropped me. After a short stop halfway up I pushed on. I felt tired but nothing to the same extent as two days prior. After about an hour of climbing I reached the last checkpoint. I didn't really want to stop, so I paused briefly and then kept going.
The endless hill. You can just about make out James and Jimmy half way up.

After the last checkpoint Paul drove on ahead and prepared the camp-site for us. He had constructed a Bedouin style tent and picked and amazing spot not far from the house in case any problems developed.
You can see the tent on the right hand side on the edge of the hill.

As the three of us marched on, I was quiet other than the occasional moan as I became closer and closer to my usual symptoms of fatigue. It was at this stage it dawned on me that the horrible water was being tainted by my straws. What an idiot!!
Anyway all downhill to the camp-site, James and Jimmy again pushed on and I fell a few hundred yards behind them. As I approached the camp-site the brain let go somewhat and I was overtaken by a feeling of total exhaustion,
The last few yards.

Already removing the pack to collapse in the tent.

When I stopped, I crawled inside the tent and promptly started to hyperventilate. Thankfully Ray our next door neighbour and medical officer for the camp was on hand to deal with this over reaction on my behalf. I think it was the relief of finishing and yet another way in which my body protested about what I was doing.

I calmed myself down and we awaited the arrival of Rose.

We settled down for a night under the stars and began to prepare our food. Expedition foods freeze dried curry and chilli. It was actually very nice. Another tip I learned was that I was sick fed up drinking warm water, however warm flavoured water was ok, e.g. camomile tea, or Oxo cube was brilliant.
All home safe!

Remains of our cooking.

We settled down for the evening, not a great nights sleep due to the rocky ground we were on however I managed a few hours.
Stats

29.5 miles
8hrs 35 minutes
4478ft of ascent
3350 Calories
No HR as I decided not to wear my monitor.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Day 7 - 22nd July 2008

After our intermittent nights sleep, we awoke feeling happy that today would be our last in the searing heat. After a breakfast of chicken korma, and chilli con carne we packed up and dressed for another jaunt up some hills. The reason for our breakfast selection is this, for the return of calories and fat and protein, you get more in a main meal than you do in a breakfast meal. Because there is no weight difference between the portions you get more nourishment from the main meal than breakfast.

So camp was dismantled and we set off for a surprisingly short trot across the foothills. I think we were all feeling a bit excited at the prospect of returning to the house and a relaxing afternoon that Barbara had organised for us.

This hill was just around the corner from our campsite, what a way to start the day!

Another illustration as to the severity of the climbs, and the beauty of the landscape.

This is the view of our base-camp, and the surrounding area.

This photo was taken during the final descent back to base-camp.

The last kick to the finish!

Stats for the day
5 miles
1hr 25 min
966 feet of ascent
603 calories

The final pose for the camera, this time with the hero of the week, Barbara, in the back row.

At the end of this run and the difficulties I had endured over the course of the week it left me with only one last thing to do....


Finished!

The rest of the day we spent relaxing at the local health spa and enjoying a full sports massage. Followed by....you guessed it a huge feast laid on by Barbara, have I told you how much we love Barbara??

We spent the evening talking with Barbara, Paul and Fulvio, then we moved next door and enjoyed a few beers and some fantastic brandy with Ray and Dawn. It was a great end to probably the hardest week any of us have experienced.

The following day we awoke had breakfast before saying our farewells to return to the airport and flights home.

I went out to the camp confident in the preparations I was making and my progress to date, however I came back much more focussed and respectful to the MDS, as well as 3/4 of a stone lighter, and with a renewed enthusiasm for the training.

I highly recommend the training camp, and in Paul, Fulvio and Barbara you have a wonderful team and support crew whose knowledge of ultra-running is truly impressive.

Cheers
Keith
www.hotrunning.net