The MdS is over. What a fantastic experience despite the initial concerns arising from monsoon conditions on the way to the first campsite.
We were evacuated from camp to a town called Erfoud and had to sit it out there from the Friday night till the race eventually started on Monday morning. We heard reports that it had last rained during the race in 1997 for a half hour. This was big rain and lasted more than a half hour.
The hotel we relocated to was fine although we ended up 4 to a room due to the sheer volume of miserable runners. Not entirely true, most folks were obviously disappointed but spirits were still high especially at the buffet meal times. I had a couple of brief periods of feeling very sorry for myself. Two years since first signing up, plent of cash splashed, training very hard(relatively speaking) and it looked like there was a chance of The MdS 2009 not happening at all. In the end we had a modified version of 125 miles over five days instead of the intended 150 over seven.
The consensus seemed to be that a tougher route would be welcomed because of the shorter event. The organisers took this on board. Planning the route for each stage had to be taken day by day as much of the intended course through usually dried out lakes and wadis would be impossible due to the amount of fallen rain. A land rover belonging to the organisers had been lost to the flash flooding but this was more than put in to perspective after we heard about a local person dying in the floods. Fortunately our grief reaction was helped to progress by the fact that we hadn't a clue who the person was. Heartless?
The camaraderie at the event was terrific especially from my companions in Tent 70. I absolutely loved going through the dunes(it's what you want in desert experience) however the improvised MdS also took us over some pretty rough stuff underfoot, particularly during the final legs of the longest long stage ever in the history of this event. Stage 3 was 91km(just shy of 57 miles) and i'm sure i kicked every rock in that part of the Sahara desert with the same sore toe. Here's me after 14 hours and 40 mins. I'm sure i could've gone quicker!
The final stage was official marathon distance and seemed to be all uphill. Later that evening we were treated to a performance by the Paris opera and a can of beer.
Overall, my performance delighted me. In previous marathons/triathlons I have finished around the top third of the field. Here it was position 147 out of 812 starters. I was very fortunate in that i didn't get the gut bug so many others had plus injury niggles were minimal and not effecting my performance. Now i've got a multiday stage race under my belt i think i could creep further up the leader board with further attempts provided illness and injury is kept at bay. Unfortunately i am crocked at the moment and due arthroscopy on my dodgy right knee. No running but plent of cycling. I'm pretty sure i've got another comeback in me though.
