Marathon Des Sables
Rock Falls and Blisters
David Campbell / 04.05.2005
Temperature – Too High!
Terrain – ridge walk, flat basins, tough climb, dunes
Day 2 I really struggled mentally. The high of starting the event had worn off and I had tried to prepare by saying that day1 was the warm-up, day 2 much longer, but still not a hard stage, stage 3 (dunes), stage 4 (50miles) and Stage 5 full marathon after the previous stages, were the toughies.
It emerged that day 2 was one of the hardest stages, with a bag that was still very heavy, little wind and temperatures soaring well into the mid forties. Oh this is not to mention the climb that was put in after 20miles, some 500 vertical metres of scrambling. There were loose rocks raining down and by the time that we were on the ascent there was only one way up and you were moving as fast as the single file would allow, while those above you occasionally dislodged stones. It was unnerving to see the blood on the rocks (we found out that one of the lead runners had had to retire with a broken leg from this hill and another competitor had broken their nose).
Strangely, I enjoyed this as it had taken me 20 miles to snap out of a very negative frame of mind. It wasn’t just that I was grappling with the enormity of the event and how I would ever get round considering I had no idea how my body would react to the terrain, distance, heat or ravages of calorific deficit. The biggest problem was that I know you have to try to stay as stable as possible as it’s not your body that gets you through, it’s your mind, so I was beating myself up for allowing these thoughts to creep in and that was what was really getting me down.
SleepMonsters
