Saturday 26.3.2011
The first time I'm running my 14km track with the fully loaded real backpack incl. Everything. I am shocked to feel the weight. How will I manage to run with this even a marathon , not talking about sand, heat and 210km more?
Tuesday 29.3.2011
Last preparations: I'm trimming my foot nails. Not too early and not too close to the race. A nail that is cut too short, fresh or sharp will certainly provoke a blister. In the evening I run a last check with my list, I am cutting away the edges from the alu food packs. On Saturday one of these things poke through my backpack and now I have a hole in my back just beside the spine.
I do now create the individual daily nuts and raisin packages and number all of my food according to the day. Do I manage to get to my mandatory 2000 Kcal a day? I recalculate again, and well it seems that I need some more energy bars just to be sure. Now everything comes into the backpack in the right order- last day first etc. All the stuff fits in again. Ok everything out and into the suitcase, I leave the clothing in the pack and the mandatory stuff that airlines allow onboard. Hopefully my suitcase doesn't get lost. I want to know what to eat.
Wednesday 30.3.2011
The 2nd session of reflexology at 9.00h. This feels good. I chat a little bit with the lady about running and preparation of the feet.
A last small training run at noon. Cool, no effort at all. Now I am confident , everything goes well, I have no pain on any part of my body, even the palm of my right foot seems to be ok.
Thursday 31.3.2011
I took off the whole day. At 9.30h it's time for the hairdresser. Target cut: marines. Together with my son we're in Lausanne. Cool she never took off that much hair from the back. I don-t think in fact that there's anything left. My son looks gorgeous with his new cut, long hair with some gel. We're having a croissant and a coffee and driving home. We meet my wife at the restaurant La Croix Blanche in Lavigny. What do people say? No alcohol, light food etc? Well we go for filet de perches with a good white wine. Huguette and Lea have joined us. What a pleasure. Now it's time to say goodbye to Lea as school continues, I go home with Huguette and Romeo, prepare my stuff and at 4.00h Daniela comes to bring me to the airport. I quickly buy some earphones for my Ipod, I need some good sound in the evening-no way I'll listen to it during the race.
Check in done, we meet some more runners from Zurich. Bye bye Daniela and thousand thanks for your support until now. One thing is good: when she was recently asked if she was worried about me she replied “ no why should I? He is well prepared and knows what he does”. I hope she was sincere and that she is not too worried. Since this morning I am not that sure anymore- should I have trained even more? A good bye kiss and up to the gate.
Calling Michael and Marc- they are having a last meal at Burger King. Now I meet all the other racers and we meet and greet. Funny. Nearly everyone has the Raidlight backpack, only one guy has already done the MDS and all others are virgins.
We take a last shot in the airport and board the Royal Moroccan Airlines flight to Casablanca.
Yess. It seems that the revolution has not hit Morocco and that we can start. A short flight and then we need to wait for the transfer flight in Casablanca. It is funny, all these runners from many nations. Japanese, Italians, the Austrian and German team, Spanish people. We eat some crisps and drink water. Now we meet the “Kleiner Held”. What a surprise. We thought that had be the bodybuilder animal, instead he is more or less my size. A nice guy, he presents us to his colleagues.
1.4.2011 Saturday
At 5 we are awake due to the muezzin calling for prayer. Oh no I would have loved to sleep. Last preparation and down to the breakfast. Simple but good. Some toast, tea, hot chocolate. I take my time. Now the bus comes. We get in and wait. For what? Well we're told that only twelve of us can stay, this bus is for the English. OK let-s wait. Our bus arrives All of a sudden I am missing my sunglasses. NO NO NO please not the sunglasses. I'm running back to the room-nothing. Down to the bus, taking out the suitcase, emptying it-nothing. Horror...I empty my backpack and there they are. Ok let's go. We make a stop at the Ibis to gather with the others and then drive south eastwards.
There we go now for the dinner. A long waiting line and we enjoy our first Sultan tea while waiting. We start to love the Germans who do not respect the line. To our surprise there is good food and we even have the choice between wine and beer. Many people stick to water- do they always refuse themselves pleasures? Our team raises the first toast to the first night under an incredible clear sky and enjoys the beers.
The first night under our tent is tricky. I am not all used to sleeping on the back and on my mattress I do not have right to move, otherwise I fall off. I think this will get better if I am more tired, this night I do not really manage to sleep well. On top of it it comes to a surprise to many of us that the next day we'll have the technical and medical control , eat again and then sleep another night. If we had read the instructions we would have known about it.
Sunday
Sunset is around 5 and you wake up right away. Although I put in my ear buds I could hear the others. Maybe my earphones will be better the next night. Around the breakfast we are informed when we are to present for the controls. We're lucky it's around 10 for us.
Breakfast is good. Boiled eggs, Cacao, apple compote and the mandatory Sultan tea. Right after we all spend our time preparing the backpack for the last time. Is everything in? I already put my food in the right order when we stayed in the gazelle, others take the food separately and tell us that we are supposed to present food in a separate bag to facilitate the calories check. I decided not to do so, having a list should be sufficient. Last fine-tuning-do we really need all of this? Some stuff stays in the suitcase, some is offered to comrades or to the nomads that are around the tents. This is also valid for me, I eat the rest of one package of dried bananas and offer some dried food to the Japanese. What shall I do with the 5 sausages I bought before leaving? I decide to keep them as additional calories and for the pleasure. I want to keep at least 2 for the Ultra stage-don't forget that pleasures are rare.
Final preparations: let's put up some sunblocker. We have to wait in the line which is in the full sun. In the end it takes us 1hr of waiting time. A short control of our passport and starting numbers are handed out-against our suitcase which leaves us now. My mobile phone and passport are dropped in and then it is gone. I do not even want to try to have a call anywhere during the race although we are told that there may be places with a signal and that we are not allowed to call on the track or at the basecamp.
Many people have revised their initial intention and have kept a sweater for the night, my choice of the Bionics jacket with the Swiss flag was right. This morning I have purchased a fossil for my girl and added some beautiful stones to the suitcase.
At the control everything goes fast. You show your calories list, medical certificate and EKG , they ask you if you're ok and if you agree that your data can be used anonymously for scientific statistics, you get your emergency flare, the card for water with a pull rope, 100 salt pills and the transponder for the foot as well as the brown bags.( No neither body bags nor bags for a brown bag lunch, plastic bags that are used for the toilet , a very clean and hygienic invention) That's it. Nobody was interested in the weight of my bag or in the content; the organization trusted my form about the content of my bag.
Not everyone was that lucky. Some had sent the certificate to the organization, others were missing the EKG and still others did not use the official form for the certificate. This brought them either an expensive in desert exam and or penalties before the start. He who can read is in advantage.
Back to the tent and wait in the heat. Now we fully depend on us, on our choice and our preparation. Note: my digestion is still good although no more 100% solid. Lunch is served and I follow Martins recommendation not to eat the salad and to be on the safe side. A great meal: pita bread, cantadou, yoghurt, water-no more beer what a pity.
Now back to the tent, the time is endless wait wait wait..Some of us are reading, some others repacking the backpack. Mine is ready and I'll not touch it again. Martin tries to fix the charger cable for his Iphone, he bought a solar charger and wrecked the cable today. Gerardo gives him his cable and JOSEF (that's how we call Martin now) wrecks this one as well..
