On 3 April I’ll be attempting what is considered the toughest foot race on earth: Marathon Des Sables Legendary.
When I type that into a sentence it makes it feel a lot more daunting… but there’s no time for doubt with just five weeks out!
I wanted to do a write up on the motivation behind the race, especially with the newly secured foundation that I’ll be raising money for – the Mortgage Industry Mental Health Charter.
So, to start things off, what is the Marathon Des Sables? Translated to English, Marathon of the sands.
The MDS Legendary is a multi stage ultra marathon through the Sahara Desert, Morocco.
We’ll be covering around 270 kilometres over the course of 7 days with no support other than water and shelter in a temporary desert village.
This means that everything we need for the duration of the trip is carried on our back, including food, clothes, healthcare, sleeping set up and anything else.
To add to the adventure, this year is the 40th anniversary of MDS so they have increased the long stage to 100km (normally around 85km). The route and distances are only released to participants on the coach trip from Marrakech out to the desert but it is likely to look like the below:
Stage 1 – 32km
Stage 2 – 40km
Stage 3 – 32.5km
Stage 4 – 100km (over 48 hours)
Stage 5 – 42.2km
Stage 6 – 21.2km
Other than the race distance and that I’ve never run longer than 50km before, there are other factors that give the MDS Legendary the title of the toughest footrace on earth:
- The heat – Probably one the biggest physical changes going from training in around 5 degrees and rain in the UK, to 30-50 degrees running in the scorching desert sun.
- Changing terrain – Rugged rock, soft sand and 300m high endless sand dunes sometimes in the dark make it difficult to ever settle into a rhythm
- Backpack weight – 6.5kg minimum backpack weight to survive on doesn’t sound too intense, but over the course of 270km and 7 days this can quickly start to feel heavy
- Blisters – The biggest reason for drop outs. The heat, sand, moisture and friction is a recipe for some nasty blisters. Foot care is one of the highest priorities for a successful run.
I heard someone say that this is a ‘mental challenge disguised as a physical challenge’ which really resonated with me.
I know that my body is physically capable, it’s so much more resilient than we think, but 6-16+ hours in the desert everyday is a lot of time to be left in your own thoughts. Any weakness will be amplified which means that staying mentally resilient is perhaps the biggest obstacle to overcome.
As well as general hygiene, sleep deprivation, snakes, spiders, scorpions, sand storms, kit malfunctions, hunger, dehydration and an endless list of other risks you start to question why you ever signed up to such an event.
So, why did I enter this event?
Well, there’s a few reasons.
The one that sits deepest is the fact that I can. Not in the way that I’ve done the training and everything else, but the fact that I’ve got the physical and mental capabilities to do so.
We live in a world where we take good health for granted, we abuse our bodies with bad diet, too much screen time and poor life choices.
There’s a lot of people out there that would do anything to live how some of us do and so I feel like I have a responsibility to make the most of what I’ve got, while I can, and I feel fortunate to be able to do so.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY
Another reason is actually led by fear. My biggest fear is getting to 85 years old and looking back on my life with regret or knowing that I could have done more.
My current definition of a life well lived is seeing how far I can push my body and mind; with physical events, social connection, business and experiences.
Life has become so easy now that you could spend your whole life on the sofa with your phone, which makes something like this so important to me.
There’s no short cut, no app or AI that can do this for me, the only way is by doing the hard work and pushing through the discomfort.
MENTALLY CLEAR
On top of this is the physical side which keeps me mentally and physically stimulated. I’ve had my own business for nearly a decade and while over time there is a lot of progress, it’s usually incremental compounded growth played over an extended period.
I’ve found that physical challenges give me a positive feedback loop with clear growth in a shorter period of time. This not only keeps me fit but also keeps me mentally clear and I think is a key component of being able to manage everything that comes with growing a business.
There’s then some smaller, but still important, reasons.
I first saw this event around 10 years ago and thought that people that do it must be extreme athletes and it’d be impossible for me, I want to take this on and make my younger self proud.
My girlfriend and I will be settling down soon and I can imagine we’ll be having children in the next few years so training for something like this becomes very difficult.
Spending nearly two weeks completely switched off from the outside world with no signal and using it as a detox before the next chapter in business and life.
Experiencing the incredible scenery and landscape we’ll be travelling through. Meeting other likeminded people crazy enough to take this on.
There is now an even bigger reason for running which wasn’t originally planned.
Naturally, whenever I spoke to someone about the event I was asked if I was running for a charity and my response was that I was running for myself and my own personal achievement.
There wasn’t a charity partner close enough that I had the passion to raise money for and it feel sincere.
That was until I met with Michael Craig of Brilliant Solutions at the start of the year. He pushed back and said that I should use this as an opportunity to raise money and awareness, which I wholly agreed with but explained that I wanted to genuinely care about who I’m raising money for and not do it for the sake of it.
In Michael’s wisdom, he then suggested an introduction to Jason Berry who helps run the Mortgage Industry Mental Health Charter.
A phone call with Jason and I was in, the foundation resonated with me and it was something I wanted to get behind.
Something that really stood out was how moving home is one of the most stressful times in someone’s life and mortgage brokers (and other property professionals) take on the emotional toll from their customers on a daily basis.
We’ve been working with mortgage brokers for the past couple of years whilst growing Convi and I’ve seen first hand how much customers rely on their broker for support and guidance.
Mortgage brokers are naturally empathetic people and therefore any emotions their customers have they also take on the burden, on top of always being available night, day and over weekends it is a intense environment to live in.
Our clients and the industry as a whole has given us so much and working with MIMHC gives me an opportunity to give back to the community in a meaningful way.
With this in mind, our target is to raise £10,000 which is a challenge in itself with just five weeks to go. But if I’ve learnt anything in this training block – anything is possible.
To support me in the event and raising money for MIMHC you can donate using the link HERE.
Sharing, liking and posting about it is also just as valuable for us to reach a wider audience and is greatly appreciated.
Here’s what your donation will contribute to
- Develop mental health awareness among employees using activities and advocacy.
- Encourage open conversations about mental health and the support available to employees who may be struggling.
- Provide employees with good working conditions that encourage a healthy work life balance and opportunities for development.
- Promote effective people management through line managers and ensure there is a focus on physical and mental wellbeing as well as performance.
- Routinely monitor employee mental health and wellbeing through surveys and regular contact with managers.
- Have a named contact for Mental Health Support.
As a way for me to contribute outside of the race, any client that instructs Convi for their conveyancing during the time I’m running (3rd – 10th April) we will be donating £100.
This has given me another level of reason ‘why’ and something that is greater than just myself.
I decided to take on this challenge just five months ago and it has already changed my life. I’ve thought about it every single day, multiple times a day.
It’s impacted all areas of my life and it’s now close to crunch time.
Over the next five weeks I’ll be brining everything together:
- Kit all tested, prepped and packed
- Nutrition plan in place, minimum weight for maximum calories
- Heat acclimation sessions
- Training dialled in and taper leading up to race day
The hard work is done in the training and preparation. I want to enjoy the event as much as possible so the extra effort and sacrifice now will (hopefully) result in a better race result.
None of this would be possible if I didn’t have an incredible group of people around me.
Although I’ll be running on my own, it’s certainly not been a ‘solo’ race. My partner, the Convi team, friends, family and clients are all responsible for getting me across the line and I know it’s what I’ll be thinking about for a large part of the race.
I’ll be documenting as much as I can and can’t wait to see how much we raise for MIMHC.
If you’ve got any questions about the charity or the event, please get in touch. This has been a dream of mine for so long so I’ll take any chance to talk about it some more!
