I am off on Thursday 10th May to Jordan, to do the 150 mile run with the organisation Racing the Planet.
The race takes place over seven days and during that time you have to carry all your own food for the week which is a minimum of 2000 kcal a day, as well as your sleeping bag, sleeping mat, toothbrush and toothpaste,sunglasses, sunhat, blister kit, change of clothing including a warm jacket, toilet roll, electrolytes, salt tablets, gels, headtorch and other mandatory items such as a compass, a whistle, a back up light, a flashing red light, hypodermic needles, safety pins, multi tool, survival blanket, sunscreen, compression bandage, alcohol gel (which I still haven’t got yet) and sun cream. Phew, and it all seems crazily heavy this time round!
I have a couple of bits that I can’t do without that are complete luxuries. One is a tiny folding brush smaller than the palm of my hand because my hair is a bit on the long side. It gets a bit knotty when you don’t wash for a week. But before you say; ‘chop it off’ … it needs to be this long, because then I can tuck it into the side pocket of my rucksack when I run, otherwise it gets annoying, obviously a reason to keep it long!
I also take one foil pouch with tuna, real tuna, not sucked dry into flaky smelly lumps tuna, that protests against softening when drowned in hot water, much like the dehydrated rice pudding which no matter how long you leave it, is still crunchy - but delicious moist tuna. You cannot begin to comprehend how naughtily luxurious this is, knowing your pack weight is only heavy because of that one pouch! It is worth the extra weight and it is worth the extra wait to eat it on Day 4 of the race.
So this update is really to help you if you are slacking or feeling demotivated with your own training, and to give you a boost (and a laugh) you can follow my progress on the internet by following this link and you will also be able to email me cruel things like, 'I am enjoying my ice cream, would you like some, oh, you can't ..'
http://www.4deserts.com/beyond/jordan/results
http://www.4deserts.com/beyond/jordan/email
Then when you try and talk yourself out of a training session, whether it is a run or a cycle or time in the gym, you can think, at least I am not as nuts as Wanda! All I am going to do is around an hour’s workout so I might as well get it over and done with - Wanda on the other hand, is off running on sand dunes in 30 + degrees Celsius, with a back pack, one foil pouch of tuna (what an idiot she is to take that extra weight) and a £1 hairbrush, several hours a day!
You really don’t have a decent excuse do you?
PS. A HUGE THANK YOU!!! to everyone that has sponsored me and supported Shelterbox. I am so nearly at my target!
You don't know how much it means to me to make this run count for something!
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