Day Seven
The end of the competitive section of the MDS was marked with an evening of prize giving and Paris Opera. For reasons unknown this was all set up some distance from the camp. As a result I spent around 30 minutes hobbling down, watched the prize giving and started hobbling back before the opera on the grounds I may need all night to get back to my tent. The sounds of the opera singer drifted over the camp and provided quite a surreal soundtrack to my last night in the desert. I didn't see the opera singer so I have no idea what size she was but even if the fat lady was singing it wasn't quite over yet...
Unlike 2013 we were still self-sufficient on the last day so I had to face the last round of the granola challenge in the morning. Fortunately I had tried to keep the weight of the last days calories to a bare minimum and so only had 100g of granola to contend with and a similar quantity of macadamia nuts to eat during the last stage.
The last day of the MDS was changed in 2013 to be an untimed ‘charity’ stage in which friends, family and sponsors could take part. Patrick had judged this to be enough of a success to repeat the format for 2014. I would have to say I didn't meet anyone among the competitors that was hugely enthusiastic about it. I did think at various points it might be nice to spend some time trotting through the Sahara where I wasn't being timed but by the time the opportunity arrived I really just wanted to be clean and have a nice cold drink. On the subject of nice cold drinks I forgot to mention that I was rewarded for my willpower in not visiting the restaurant on Day Four with a cold can of Coke, which the organisers kindly gave us all on Day Five.
There were a few other annoyances with the charity stage. The first was that we all had to queue up for an unreasonably long time to be given a very cheap blue cotton t-shirt with ‘UNICEF’ on it that we would have to wear for the stage. Would it really have broken the MDS budget to have given us a decent technical t-shirt that wouldn't instantly become soaked in sweat as soon as I put it on? Also those of us that were still technically competing in the event were kept milling around for what seemed like forever while the ‘family, friends, sponsors, etc.’ were gathered together and provided with water. This, followed by another very long speech from Patrick, almost led to rebellion as a countdown from ten was started by some of the runners towards the front of the start area while Patrick was still speaking. However eventually we were allowed to depart for a slow amble through some dunes.
The walk was pleasant enough; I spent some of it with my tent mates and some of it talking to Sue, who was still wearing the donkey ears which had allowed me to spot her on the rest day. This time she actually knew which Colin I was but seemed happy to talk to me anyway.
By the time we reached the finish line our tent group had split into two - this was in no way indicative of any falling out between tent members but simply caused by the fact that some of us were able to move much faster than others. It wasn't a deliberate act but by this time I, and I suspect most of the other members of my tent, didn't have much left in the way of mental capacity and so keeping track of seven other people was beyond my limited thought processes. I was part of the second group and the four of us crossed the line together, handed in transponders and flares, and went to find a coach.
I will skip over the coach journey, suffice to say not only were we not on a coach with the other half of the tent but we were also on a coach predominantly filled with French people. This was absolutely fine until they started singing…
I will also skip over the hotel check-in process, if only to save the blushes of those that had clearly failed to even slightly organise this part of the event. I ended up checked into two rooms, one of which was very nice, and after a shower, and another shower, then a third… went to find cold beer and hot food for the first time in over a week.
As you may have realised I found the end of the MDS a slight anti-climax. If the charity stage is to stay it needs to be better organised so that it can be given a more upbeat feel. The prize giving and party the night before could have been held in the middle of the camp, possibly accompanied by more Coca-cola and even the odd beer or two maybe to create more of an atmosphere. However to be fair it is an evolving part of the MDS and as such perhaps it will be better next time.
Epilogue
The event is what it is and so I’m not going to dwell on how I think it could be improved, it has to be considered in its entirety, if you want to do the MDS that is what you get. I will however dwell on what I could have improved with regard to my part of it. Firstly - you've probably already guessed - the granola would definitely not be part of any future MDS adventure, not in the industrial quantities I was trying to eat it in anyway. I would probably replace it with cereal bars, nuts and seeds. I know that isn’t in many ways dissimilar to the ingredients of granola but it’s a world away when you are trying to eat it, trust me, I know!
My only other food issue was that, whilst not taking electrolyte tablets was a good decision, it would have been nice to occasionally have something to flavour my water with. Apart from the mint tea and my daily recovery shake I only ever had lukewarm water to drink. This may not seem a problem and it wasn't a huge one, but some variation would have still been a big boost.
I didn't miss having a stove. It might possibly have been good after the long stage as I had to delay my meal until the next day when the sun came out, but even if I had had a stove I would still probably have not bothered with it and stuck to the Peperami and cereal bars I had for my ‘evening’ meal that day.
As far as the rest of my equipment went I had no real complaints. The lightweight pillow would have been a lot more of a problem if it had been windier. As it was I always had to stuff it into to my sleeping bag if I got up in the night to be sure it would still be there on my return, however the only way to avoid that would have been to have had something heavier.
Whilst on the subject of weight, if there was one piece of advice I would give to any future MDS hopeful it would be keep your pack weight down. I'm fairly sure that some of the Day One drop outs could have been avoided if they had had lighter packs. My guideline would be definitely no more than 10% of your bodyweight (or the 6.5kg minimum if you are less than 65kg). Don’t forget on the start line you will have an extra 1.5kg weight in water and around 0.5kg of flare, road book etc. I did take an optimistically large number of Wemmi-wipes. By Day Two I realised that being clean would be something that happened to other people until I was out of the desert. This doesn't mean I neglected hygiene - that would have been a very bad move - just that much of my body was permanently covered in fine sand. I also took twice as much sun cream as I needed. I proved this by losing one tube within the first 5km of Day One and still having enough for the week. I could have done without the MP3 player too, I don’t run with music and apart from half an hour on the rest day I didn't use it.
My sleep system worked perfectly. A fiver’s worth of foam was a more than adequate mat and I was never cold in my very expensive sleeping bag. As previously mentioned keeping the pillow under control was challenging but it did the job. The night of Day Two was actually the best night’s sleep I’d had for weeks!
So how do I feel about it now I’ve had time to reflect? My overriding feeling about the MDS is one of great achievement. As those of you that have followed my blog from the beginning will know I put a lot of effort into this journey, both physical and mental. It’s immensely satisfying to feel that it paid off - or I got lucky, I’ll never know. A top 200 place is so much more than I ever dared hope for and my performance on the long day was everything I wanted it to be.
Would I do it again? Absolutely, I enjoyed it. I'm not sure I've met anyone that can really comprehend that but I did genuinely enjoy the event. Not every minute of every day - I could have done without the ‘river’ episode for a start - but as a whole I enjoyed it. My biggest concern about doing it again is whether or not I could do as well. I need a 10% improvement in my performance to move up to top 100 which I guess would have to be my target for next time.
However, regardless of whether there is a next time, this is where our journey ends. Thank you so much to all of you that have followed my journey, whether you have been there from the beginning or if you joined along the way, thanks for staying until the end. There will be more adventures and I may continue blogging under a different title but the MDS journey and blog is at an end - I hope you enjoyed it, I did!
No comments:
Post a Comment