I’ve been thinking about what challenge I can do to launch Tough Girl Challenges, and the Marathon des Sables keeps popping up and one I’ve come back to time and time again over the previous months. I’ve watched the James Cracknell documentary, read books written by other competitors who’ve done the race and visited the MdS website countless times.
It would be a fantastic challenge to aim towards and what a first challenge for me to do. It would be the perfect challenge to launch Tough Girl Challenges. It’s a huge race and 2015 is going to be the 30th year.
The only issue I have is it’s an incredible difficult race to get a place in, people sign up at least two years in advance and places get booked within the first few minutes when they become available online.
I spoke to one of my friends who did it a few years ago and he said it was one of the most amazing experiences he’s ever done and he gave me the encouragement to go for it.
I thought I may as well see if it could be a possibility. Who knows they may have had a few drop outs. What’s the harm in sending a few e-mails and making a couple of phone calls? So that’s what I did, I e-mailed the race organizers and asked them if they still had any places available for the 2015 race. They came back to me straight away, saying they’d literally just had someone drop out that morning and if I wanted the place it was mine.
I honestly could not believe my eyes when I received that e-mail. I wasn’t expecting to actually get a place for the race next year! I had to re-read the e-mail a few times before it sank it. I had a place in the MdS if I wanted it. Here it was my opportunity to do the Marathon des Sables, the toughest footrace on earth.
Advantages
I love having a big physical challenge as a goal and having something to train towards.
It’s got gravitas and it’s a perfect challenge to start with
It will be a once in a life time experience
I’ll be able to write about and share my experience with others.
Disadvantages
My fitness is now more strength based than endurance.
I’ve not done any running for a very long time.
It would only give me six months to train for it. Would that be enough time?
Cost of the race would be £3,650 plus insurance, kit, food etc
It’s moments like this where your decisions do shape your destiny. Do I say YES and go for it, or do I let the fear win and say NO? What do I do? Yes or no? Do it or don’t. Life comes down to those moments in time, when you’re at a crossroads and you need to decide which road to take.