About Me

I have been running since I was 12 or possibly even earlier, I can't really remember. Initially it was an effective way of avoiding being made to play other sports at school! I kept it up when I was at university but it was only towards the end of 2010 that I got into endurance running when I decided to enter the Seville Marathon in February 2011. That was supposed to be to be a one off... It turns out that this marathon running lark is quite addictive... A succession of other races have followed (which I'll cover in another post), and now I've ended up entering myself for the Marathon des Sables in 2014. Hmm..., this should be interesting!

I am a fairly typical runner of average ability, not really competitive, except possibly with myself. My interest and enthusiasm for this sport has increased hugely since joining my running club the Manchester Frontrunners where I have made many good runner friends. 

This is me on top of Robinson in the Lake District after a very impressive hail storm (you might notice my legs are a little pink - hail stones on bare legs hurt!):

... not exactly your tall, lean and strong runner type!

I wanted to find a way of ensuring that I kept a bit of a record of both my preparation and of the event itself. Hopefully this will also be a useful tool to keep myself focused on the end goal, especially when I forget why I am putting myself through all this! 

There are many blogs and other websites out there detailing the experiences of people training for and completing the Marathon des Sables, and from these I have taken quite a bit of inspiration over the past year or so since entering.  A particularly good one is justajog.com by Kate Lee.

My musings are therefore unlikely to be ground breaking, but this is my contribution to the pool of information out there. I have absorbed a huge amount from what other people have generously shared, and it has helped my motivation enormously as well as providing me with very valuable insights over the last year or so.

I hope this account will provide at least a little useful information to others mad enough to be considering entering the MdS or similar events, and some insight into my motivation for others who can't comprehend why on earth someone might want to run 150 miles through the Sahara with a heavy pack on their back!