---

A Day of Rest

David Campbell / 07.05.2005

I awoke after a few hours to find that I was using the running shorts and top that I had worn to run since the start of the race as a pillow…after I peeled these disgusting items off I had a little grin on my face. For the first time, I had nothing to do but eat and drink and rest.

The Berbers weren’t going to take the tent down around us at 6am, there was no foot prep, no porridge and I had a couple of sachets of cappuccino that I had kept secret from Tom and we both had a little miniature of single malt each … the day was looking rosy!

I cast a glance over the other tents and realised that although I was the last from our tent in, other tents were still completely empty. I rolled over basking in the glory that we were one tough stage away from finishing. All of a sudden it seemed attainable. I dozed for a while. Then the wind started!

Sand Storm

We spent the rest of the rest day getting showered with sand and dust and grappling with the flapping tent.

There was a marked difference from the first few days. When there was a sandstorm in the first few days, the tent had promptly evacuated in a communal effort to get stones and generally make the tent fast. Now we gathered our belongings together to the point that if the tent blew away our possessions wouldn’t go with it, and pulled our buffs up over our heads and tried to ignore it.

At one point the tent collapsed so I crawled out from underneath, took a picture, then as there were no Berbers to help us, crawled back underneath, noting that although claustrophobic and warm, at lead sand was no longer getting up my nose!

See All Stories On This Race