Day 2 Report

A rude awakening at 5.45 by one of the race marshals gave us serous cause for concern. Apparently today was due to be "unusually hot". What on earth could unusually hot for the Sahara mean I wondered? In the event I needn't have worried; 34 degrees with a light breeze. Not that unusual then. But it still meant a start half an hour earlier than we expected.

MORE...

Today was the day most of us had feared more than any other; Dunes Day; 15 km through the Merzouga dunes, the highest in Morocco. We had a 2k run across stony tracks to the foothills (foot dunes even) followed by the main dunes towering hundreds of feet above the desert floor; Definitely the most spectacular sand dunes I have ever seen; However, usually I like to look at the scenery, not become part of it; My slog across was fairly uneventful in the end, though not as uneventful as some poor runner whose rucksack collapsed half way across, spilling the entire contents over the sand; I was glad of the breeze, in these circumstances a breath of air takes the edge off for sure;

On arriving at the second checkpoint I was surprised to see my wife arriving shortly after; Equally surprised, she said, at the same time as me "What are you doing back here?" She left the CP before me, the first time she had overtaken me in a race; Not that I'm bothered about it of course; but I caught her up again several kilometres later.

After a tiresome 15k of stony track we hit more dunes, the sting in the tail of the day - another 9 km of them, before a well-earned finish; Today we saw the sad retirement of one unlucky Brit who had been unwell for a couple of days; he had spent last night on an IV drip but hoped to recover today; He started the stage but was forced to retire at the first CP;

I finally met "Man with Spade", whose real name is Oliver, a Countryside Management undergraduate at Newcastle Uiversity; He was unable to explain the reason for carrying the spade but we did see him digging a sort of sandcastle with moat outside his bivouac - there must be a plausible reason for this - we'll see.

Save the Rhino again did sterling work and again received applause all round on arriving at the Finish.

Most runners seemed to agree that the dunes had been the most fantastic part of the day just for the sheer sense of awe felt by being in their midst; it was a real privilege to be there, even if incredibly hard work; My injuries seem mostly to be sore shoulders caused by rucksack strap chafing, although blisters are becoming a more common complaint now; I have been very lucky so far, Charlotte less so, with blisters appearing on toes and her heel; Still, only only about 190 kms to go now;

For what I suspect is the first time British runners now outnumber French runners on the race, showing just how popular the race as become; I'm beginning to think that most of the Brits are 27 year old bankers from SW London;

Personally I found today as exhausting as it was beautiful; as long as that continues I'll be a happy runner; in running terms this is truly challenging terrain, and much much tougher than I remembered; John Hunt a retired engineer from Essex who is celebrating his 60th birthday this year and thought he'd do something special for it, namely the MdS. I asked if he had any more events planned; he laughed hysterically and replied "ask me in five days"

:-)