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A Year’s Preparation

Tom Bell / 03.04.2005

It’s almost a year to the day since I slipped into my running shoes, signed on the dotted line and naively set out on my first 3 mile training run along the river Thames. Now there is just a week to go before we fly to the heart of the Moroccan Sahara and the start of our 150 mile odyssey often referred to as the ‘toughest footrace on earth’.

We don’t know how our bodies and kit will perform on the day, or rather throughout the week, but I can tell you what we’ve done as preparation to get to the start line. In a word, it’s been tough. Neither Dave nor I are natural runners so we have had to condition our bodies the hard way. At the peak my training I was running approximately 10 miles a day 3-4 times a week, depending on work commitments, with a longer run at the weekends. On top of this there is the constant fundraising to plug away at.

Miraculously even with this intensity of training both Dave and I have remained pretty injury free. Only a brief spell of shin splints, a bout of tendonitis in my left ankle following the Thames Meander (54 miles with packs from Reading to London) have put a dampener on things, oh and the usual Christmas over indulgence!

The charity angle and the healthy competitive rivalry that exists between Dave and I has kept us focused. That’s not to say that we haven’t wanted to chuck it all in on several occasions. Both Dave and I have had moments where we couldn’t stand the sight of one another and found refuge in a pint of beer.

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