Les Marathon des Sables

Take one crazy Frenchman, a thousand adventurers, mix'm with six marathons, seven days and toss in a desert, what do you get?  The Marathon des Sables (Marathon of the Sands, MDS or Sahara Marathon).

Considered by many to be the toughest footrace on earth, MDS is a self-supported run covering 240km/ 150mi (about 6 marathons) over 7 days in the Moroccan Sahara. 

now that's my idea of a good time!

Alan, my Ironman UK training partner, turns 40 in a few years and wants to take on an extreme event to ensure he’s in better shape than ever (which is saying a lot b/c he is pretty fit now).  What better to prove mental and physical fitness than a 7 day jaunt through the desert?

Runners apply through their country of citizenship with each country granted a specific number of slots.  Given the lottery system, there is no guarantee we could run together in any given year, so we decided to start applying straight away.

Shortly after applying, I find I've been given a slot for the 28^th running of the MDS in April 2013!  Excited? YES!  Nervous, scared, anxious? YOU BET!

self supported, max bag weight of 10kg/ 22lb 

A bit more on the race.  Self supported means runners carry everything they need for the 7 days (run kit, sleep kit, food with cooking tools, etc) except water, which is provided by the organizers at various checkpoints.  The course varies from year to year, but will be circa 240km/ 150mi in 6 stages over 7 days generally split as follows:

- Days 1-3/ Stages 1-3, roughly 32km/ 20mi each

- Days 4-5/ Stage 4, double marathon 84km/ 52mi

- Day 6/ Stage 5, marathon 42km/ 26mi

- Day 7/ Stage 6, half-marathon 21km/ 13mi

bivouacs for racers to sleep

Nights are spent in bivouacs put up by organizers with everything else (“pillows”, “sleeping mats”, etc) brought and carried by competitors.

Beyond this, I’m in the dark.  Still a year away, plenty of time for research and questions.  Here's a few links if you'd like to read about the 2012 race.

- 2012 MDS site

- Friend of a friend who ran 2012

- Random blog from a UK runner

Oh yeah, Alan didn’t get a spot for 2013 but is trying through a charity.