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March 29, 2007 The long stage is over and unfortunately, it has been marked by a tragic event. A French runner has died. The race organizer, Patrick Bauer, called the runners into the center of the tent compound for an announcement today....which is a rest day for the faster runners. This has never been done before, so I immediately felt a feeling of dread. Then I was hoping that perhaps they had a treat for us, like cans of coke. But it was not to be. He stated that a French runner in the top 50 had died after he finished the 70 km stage. His tentmates could not wake him up. A doctor was called and he was pronounced dread. The entire camp has taken the news very hard. You can tell the race organizers are devastated. Patrick Bauer was in tears when he made the announcement. The entire medical team was standing by to help out anybody that had difficulty in dealing with the announcement. The runners were all shocked. I had to cry. It is absolutely devastating. I was thinking about his family and how awful this would be for them. We observed a few minutes of silence for him, and I was wondering if he was looking down on us...and if he was, what was he thinking? Would he be thinking go hard everyone, enjoy the rest of the race, don't worry about me. Or would he be feeling badly for his tentmates, who become your second family while you are out here. I just cant imagine how difficult that would be to carry on. It is hard enough to cope with when someone in your tent has to drop out. Everyone just feels sick about this. People are carrying on, but a pall has settled over our numbers. AS for me...I started the long stage with a badly sprained ankle the size of a baseball, and dark purple. The doctors want me to get an x-ray done when I get home. They provided me with all kinds of drugs, and I was popping Advil all day. I walked the first 10 kms with a walking stick for support. At the second check point, I threw the stick away, and was able to run. It was a medium difficulty day...dunes, rocky terrain and one mountain climb and descent. I did not feel any pain because of the drugs, but from taking so many, I was fighting nausea the entire day. Believe it or not — I still can’t — I had an amazing run. I finished the day in 16th place out of 104 women, and I am now in 17th place overall for women. I really am in shock, because I thought the race was over for me. I arrived at camp in the evening, and by then it was absolutely freezing. I crawled into my sleeping bag and tried to stay warm until morning. It is warming up today and everyone is now nursing their wounds. I am going to the Medical tent after this to get more medication to get me through the 42km stage tomorrow. Hopefully I can pull out another strong day. The last day is just 11 kms, but half of that is dunes. It is in an area called Merzouga, which has the highest dunes in Morocco...so it wont be a fast spring to the finish. At the finish I will have my world record. I am curious as to how I am going to feel. We will take buses back to Quarzazate, and then we will be able to drink, shower and eat...in that order. I will write again on the finishing day, Saturday, to let you know how it all went. In finishing, I would like to send my condolences out to the family of the runner who lost his life doing something he loved. God bless him and them.
March 28, 2007 Marathon des Sables I was planning on giving you a play-by-play of each day here. But I have decided to give you my overall impressions of the race so far. The Marathon des Sables was my very first desert ultramarathon. I raced it in 2000.I have participated in it every year since...so this is my eighth consecutive year competing at this event. I am the only person from North or South America to do so. I will probably go for 10. This race gets better every year. This year has been the best desert race I have ever done. There has been a huge improvement in every aspect of this race since last year...it is unbelievable. Morocco is still the same as ever, simply beautiful. The local people are very warm and friendly. The course has been very tough...but is simply stunning. So far we have had a wide variety of challenges. Sand dunes, rocky terrain, gravel, sandy and grassy plains, and towering mountain ranges. The staff and volunteers have been exceedingly friendly this year. Many of them return year after year and have become friends of mine. There are athletes here from around the world...about 750 people. There are about 104 women. They group our tents by nationality. So Canada, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand are all in one area. We all get to know each other really well. It is a great group this year. I have never had so much fun at this race. I have eight people in my tent...one U.S. guy has already had to drop out though...so now we are down to seven. Two Canadians, three from the U.S., one from England, and one from Australia. We are having a blast. We joke around a lot, and talk about food of course. I am also having the best race of my MDS career. Every day I have been happy with my performance. This is a 150 mile stage-race, as you know, and it is divided into sis stages. I have now completed three stages. Tomorrow is the long day, 70kms. I have some bad news though. I badly sprained my left ankle today, there is the possibility it might be fractured. So it is all taped up right now, and the doctors have me on morphine. Hopefully, I will get a good nights sleep, and be able to have a decent day tomorrow. It is going to take a lot of mental and physical strength to try and run with my ankle like this. But I will give it everything I have got. The main goal after all, is just to finish. So, wish me luck, and I will write again on my day off, Thursday.
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