one week to go

Picture from my trip to Utah: Canyonlands National Park ~ Island in the Sky... It reminds me of the vastness that is the Sahara Desert.. 3,630,000 sq mi!!,,, I mean come on - that's HUGE!.. I'm only going to run about 152 miles or so - that TO ME sounds a lot better! lol..


Originally uploaded by Ray Wise

A lot of questions have been asked just lately as people get the idea of what I am actually about to do - well there is a program on the Discovery Channel tonight (24th April '11)at 9pm that will explain everything!.. look here for a glimpse.... http://www.discoveryuk.com/web/toughest-race-on-earth-with-james-cracknell/videos/highlights/ .
Training wise everything is on target now - little adjustments are being made as mistakes or missing items come up.. it's a mine of discovery for myself as I go into the unknown. I guess this might sound a bit dramatic sometimes but until you have actually prepared or taken part in something like this you will never really know. Truth is - I CAN'T WAIT! I'm really excited about the prospect of pushing myself to the limit and that bit extra that will be needed..CHARITY: I'm running for the Meningitis Trust - you can donate easily online from the following link : http://www.justgiving.com/mds2011
Race information.. I am number 880 and can be followed or emailed from the organisors website : http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php
Routine: I go away on 31st March to Ouarzazate in Morocco. Transfer to hotel and check in for the night.. 1st April we leave for the desert - possibly a 7-8 hour coach ride into the Sahara and the bivouac (campsite).. The race actually begins on Sunday April 3rd - and from when we wake on this morning we will become self sufficient !!... Race lasts until Saturday April 9th,, after which we are transported back to the hotel and I return to the UK on 11th April..

NEXT: After that I have arranged a party on 15th April at the Chapel Bar in Angel..
FB: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=191174047575454 Address: 29a Penton Street,London from 9pm - 3am!

Packing the Rucksack

So hear we are with only 10 days to go until I embark upon my MdS adventure.. We thought we would have a little practice to see if everything would actually fit inside my rucksack and of coarse not be so overweight that i couldn't even lift it!!
So here we go... Everything has been minimised, packaging removed etc in the hope of making things lighter and sizeable... expect for the Beans - which I would like to take but are too bulky and heavy.... :(


All my hard work on nights before actually paid off! This meant separating pills from boxes, and making up small packs of items instead of throwing everything in together!! Not a great idea?!
I WILL be taking the front pack! There is not way I'm going to cope without it.. We also filled up with 2 litres of fluids so that I could feel how heavy everything was going to be...

Finished product above!! Here are the weights....

All bags & drinks weigh in at 12.7kg! OMFG! lol... I need a Sherpa!! Now you receive some extra items to carry including a heavy'ish flare.. so we reckon it'll weigh about 13.5kg on the first day!

HOWEVER.... Drinks weighed 2kg.. this will go up and down obviously ... PLUS each day I'll be eating my way through the food so that will go down in weight too :).. My main food meals weigh in at 4kg for the lot... aprox 570g lighter per day!.. I actually reckon on losing about 800g or so per day... Sounding any better?... Thought not... Ok - there WILL be pain but I am not going short on food just because I can't handle the weight!... Enter the double edged sword ;)

ps - some of you are wanting to know what I have taken with me- I will be doing a list before and after the race which I will post on here.

What have I learned by this...? UP the weight I carry to work every day for a start!.. It needs to be 10kg at least!.. The Front Pack HELPS!... it pulls the backpack up and balances out the load - I've kept it fairly light but it definitely helps distribute things more evenly... I've also learnt I may be walking for the first day or i'll be stretched out of that place in no time..lol..

OTHER: In other news I'm running again - and touch wood - all seems to be back on track with the training.. I'll do another update later this week that will concentrate more on that..

Ray..x