Friday 8 April 2011

great day 5 & 6 for Ray

As all of you that are following Ray will notice he has rocketed up the race positions to a staggering 374 out of the 900 runners. Day 6 is a rest day for the quick runners, a girl from Rays tent is still running yesterdays 51 mile race that started at 9am on day 5, he says yesterdays race was his toughest so far, he managed to push through non-stop in temperatures of 45C.
Ray said there were a couple of dark moments during the race but he managed to push through and finish in a great time. check out the website for his times its quite impressive & he was second to finish home out of his tent group!!!. Ray states one of his goals is to finish in the top 50% of all runners, its going to take determination and a lot of hard work but he knows we are all cheering him on. He loved the suggestion from Al who demanded he sprints for the finish line & says he will try. lol
No news on his blisters but he does say his feet and ankles have swollen up quite badly.   :O(
he really appreciates the emails he is getting as it helps him through some difficult times and cannot wait to see everyone on the 15th for a well deserved party.
Its a great idea to check up on how he is doing and video links at :-
http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php
on behalf of Ray i would like to thank everyone who has donated, if not there is still time on :-
http://www.justgiving.com/mds2011

thanks for your time. GO RAY GO !!!!

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Day 3 of Ray's MDS Challenge

Ray sent me a short email today as the queue for the emails was very long but here are the details.
"today was my best day so far as i ran 75% of the route", he said it was very tough with at one point climbing  1.6km.
 Bad news was it was ridiculously painful on his feet, he had to see the doctor 30 minutes into the race as both his heels blew up and he had 4 blisters all on different toes!!!  ouch
The volcano one from yesterday was a mess (a bit too much details here ) but he is hopeful they will be fine for todays 50 mile run. there may be no email tomorrow as he says he may be too tired to queue up again, he is over the moon for all the notes and emails he has been receiving so keep it up guys and gals as i think it is really helping him. You can send messages on the website below, select write to a competitor..
http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php
and don't forget the charity website
http://www.justgiving.com/mds2011
Ray is doing something really special here, its obviously not a normal thing to do so lets get behind him. He is taking lots of photos and video for his adventure.

Tuesday 5 April 2011

MDS day 2

Ray completed his 38km race. First thingin the morning there was a huge sandstorm which made the going even more tough, it kept up all day. there is a video on the site to show how bad it was. Although he says he had a better day than yesterday and managed to finish quicker over a longer distance, his shoulder feels a lot better especially as he found a new way to use his Baffin slippers.... yep extra thick shoulder straps. lol
The not so good news is he now has a "volcano like blister under his toenail", he hasn't visited the doctor yet but it could be on the cards this morning if it hasn't gone down. (we all know ray, minor ailments are never gonna stop this guy from his goal.... madman).
He even talks about looking forward to the other 112 miles left to do. He says there are 2 girls in his tent who are also suffering really badly with blisters so he can soldier on if they can. Ray has now moved into position 500 of 860 people which is amazing.
remember you can check his times, the sandstorm and a brief update on:-
http://www.darbaroud.com/ entering his race number 880.
and if you feel inspired to donate do it on here:-
http://www.justgiving.com/mds2011  it would be great for him to come back and we have pushed the total to £8000

Monday 4 April 2011

Day One of Ray's Challenge

Hi everyone, i'm Rob, a friend of Ray who right now is running the Sahara MDS for the Meningitis Trust.
He has asked me to update his blog with news of how he is doing so i will try to do him justice.  :OP
Day one went well having done 33km, through some rocky terrain and huge sand dunes up to 800m high.
Ray walked most of the way except for the first section, he says the temperatures were averaging about 33C so is drinking a lot of water. He is thankfully blister free but his shoulders are aching a bit from carrying the heavy rucksack, he calculates he will be losing about 800 grams a day with the food consumption and such.
He loved his first night under the stars and was looking forward to his 38km race today.

you can follow Ray by going onto:-
http://darbaroud.com/index_uk.php enter his number (880) on the Competitors list to check his times or click on roadbook to get a better understanding of what he is going through each day.

If after you have checked him out you would like to donate or help the charity please click on this link.
http://www.justgiving.com/mds2011 
Thanks for your time.  Go RAY GO !!!