Written a week after finishing the (252.8km!) Marathon des Sables 2024, this is my story from the desert. 

Excuse the slightly graphic bits 😬.

Firstly - I finished obvs 😎

No way I wanted to put myself through the huge amount of training and expense to do it all again if I DNF'd. Kudos to those that do. I walked practically the whole race as I didn't want to risk my knees blowing up. The cut offs are generous so this was no issue. 

I can say I feel I had the full MDS experience 🤣. Got a little bit sick, feet got a little bit beaten up (but not too bad), didn't eat much food but feel like I consumed A LOT of sand 😶. Loved camp life (mostly) and had the best tent (77) mates. We laughed a lot. Was uncomfortable though with little sleep. 

I was feeling slightly queasy at Gatwick airport before we left for Ouarzazate. Was amazing to be on a flight with a couple of hundred Brits all going out to attend the same event. 

When you arrive there's a 6 hour 😩 bus journey from the airport to camp with one toilet stop. You are given water plus a paper bag containing one very large orange, a bread roll, couple of bits of cream cheese, a cake, biscuits, nuts, dates, orange juice and a tin of fish? 🐟🤣. 

Given I was feeling a bit ropey the long journey was hell and with a big queue for the loo at the half way stop I literally only just made it into the toilet (hole in the ground) before explosive diarrhoea hit. Not what you want when you haven't even made it to the startline yet. I apologise to the queue, but I couldn't leave for a while 😶. 

Settled in camp and got to know my tent mates who included 17 times (now 18) MDS finisher Rory Coleman and a lovely lady Jen Franklin who I'd never met before but we had a lot of fun each morning dad dancing to 'Born to be Alive' at the stage briefings.

Admin day went smoothly

My pack weighed 7.5kg which was more than I wanted but a lot less than some people. I ate all the food I had taken for the Friday and Saturday pre race which turned out to be a good thing as I barely ate anything for the rest of the week. 

SUNDAY, Stage 1 - 31.1km, 282m

I felt strong and happy out on course during this stage. I found I couldn't consume all the race snacks I had but apart from that it was really plain sailing which made me think that MDS was gaslighting us with a gentle intro and things were going to get MUCH harder.

Unfortunately after I returned to camp I didn't feel so good. I'm assuming a combo of the heat plus the bug I had kicking off again. The heat in the tent was stifling so I spent hours crawling round camp trying to find cool places to lie and try to get my nausea and sickness under control. I lay on a flattened cardboard box beside the water tent repeatedly vomiting then covering it with sand. Had to ask a lady to move so I didn't puke on her shoes.

My tent mates were lovely asking how I was and offering to help but I just wanted to be on my own and not talk to anyone.

I honestly thought my race was over right there. I couldn't compute how I could find the energy to line up for stage 2.

I knew I would need to fuel ahead of stage 2 if I was going to even try so I raided my food stash for all the mini Cheddars I had lined up for the rest of the week and managed to get a couple of bags down. 

MONDAY, Stage 2 - 40.8km, 550m

I lined up at the start still feeling nauseous but amazed I'd found the energy to even give this stage a shot. I'd managed to consume another 100kcal bag of mini Cheddars for breakfast and I had just under a marathon ahead of me. I knew I wouldn't be able to eat all the race snacks I had lined up for the day so I gave myself permission to just get on board whatever I could. I nibbled on an oat bar and managed to get another 200kcal during the whole of the stage. 300kcal in total to fuel 40km in the desert 👀.

I felt nauseous all day and I vomited out on course at the bottom of a jebel. I sicked up a whole Precision Hydration 500mg sodium tab totally undigested. This was a surprise and a game changer for my hydration strategy. From that moment on I put half a SIS hrdro tab in each of the 750ml bottles I was carrying and I opened and poured the contents of the PH sodium tabs straight into my water to make sure it was getting into my system. (In hindsight I may have taken on too much sodium so I will get a sweat rate check before my next 'hot' race).

Occasionally I would keep one bottle with pure water when I needed a break from the tabs. I also carried a seperate 500ml bottle which I used to pour on myself to help cool down. We were given additional water at checkpoints to pour on the back of our necks which was heaven.

With my change in hydration strategy and a miracle, I somehow made it to the end of stage 2.

I managed to get another couple of hundred Kcals down that eve as I was very conscious of what was coming the next day.

My shoulders and back were really suffering from carrying the pack so given I was barely touching my food, I did a ruthless cull of that, my sleeping mat and anything else I could get rid of to lessen the weight. 

TUESDAY, Stage 3 - 85.3km, 1154m

Just a little double marathon day 🤣.

Felt way better than day 2. My pack felt more manageable. Managed a little breakfast and not feeling quite so nauseous lifted my spirits immensely and despite being depleted energywise, I was mentally ready for tackling this beast. This stage IS the MDS as far as I'm concerned.

There was a 35 hour cut off for this stage which gave the option of powering through or taking breaks if you wanted to. Before I got ill my plan had been to go non stop or take minimal breaks. I had assumed it would still take me around 24 hours to walk it.

The first half of this stage would stand alone as an event in itself. Lots of climbs, a very long stretch along a very narrow ridge with scary (for me) drops either side and an incredibly steep drop with a scramble and sea sick inducing descent of a deep sand dune. This was probably the most brutal but beautiful terrain and they shoved it into a 53 mile day 🤣.

A couple of kms out from CP4 (27 miles ish and half way) we crossed a hard baked flat area which felt like a dried up lake. The sun bounced off this thing and basically fried you. Quite a few DNFs occurred during the first half of this stage including 2 of my tent mates sadly. One who got helicoptered off the course. He is ok thankfully (And lining up for MDS 2026! - Go Lloydy. Sarah revisited and completed MDS 2025 along with another warrior woman, Maria!).

I was managing myself pretty well but could see soft dunes straight out the back of CP4 and in my depleted hot state I decided to take a break from the heat and do the 2nd half when it was cooler. I stayed there 4 hours 🤣. Not quite my plan but I figured I may as wait til the sun had completely dropped. I had the best time at CP4. I chilled, snoozed, chatted, ate a little, hydrated, cleaned my feet. Loved it! When I got going again I felt the best I had all week.

I completed the remaining marathon in the pitch dark and mostly alone. Was pretty hard to navigate if you lost sight of other people's torches in the distance as the markers were about 300m apart and my head torch was failing (even after 2nd set of batteries).At one point I saw what I thought were headlamps but while I was debating following them I realised they were donkeys eyes glinting in the torchlight 🤣.

It was a hard slog and I had to do some mental gymnastics playing weird word games with myself to keep going. I had no phone or ipod to amuse myself with. At one point I had 2 songs playing in my head at the same time which was difficult to deal with.

The sand in the air was horrendous and I really felt I was damaging my body inhaling it. A buff over my face helped a little.

I was tired, my body was eating itself by this point, my mouth was filling with ulcers and my lips were burnt (despite SPF50) but I got it done in 23.5 hours including the 4 hour break. 30 mins ahead of my prediction. I rocked up in camp at 5.30 am having set off at 6am the previous morning.

The rest of that day I rested as much as possible and tried to consume some food from the little I had left. I had been a bit too brutal with my weight reducing session so I turned into camp rat dropping heavy hints about being hungry and happy to take anything of people's hands that they were happy to dump. The lovely lady who DNF'd from our tent gave me her blow up pillow and also left a bag of snacks (thank you Sarah). I ate a full pack of fruit pastels in about 10 seconds and felt so much better.

We were given a can of coke each which tasted like heaven and helped my calorie intake to fuel the next stage. Another marathon! 

THURSDAY, Stage 4 - 43.1km, 390m

For me, the stage AFTER the long stage on a multi day race is always the hardest as that's when I feel most depleted. This one was no exception. I can't remember much about the first 20 miles apart from there was a lot of undulating dunes and soft sand and I could feel my body was just getting by on vapours now. It was unsurprisingly hot!

I vividly remember the last 10km or so as I felt totally depleted. I was struggling to keep my heart rate from going above max and this caused me to worry in a way I never have before in a race. I was REALLY concerned that I might collapse at any moment. I'd spent 20 mins at the last checkpoint trying to motivate myself to carry on which is the only break I'd taken all week apart from the long stage.

Another lady from our tent was there threatening to DNF. She was exhausted, crying and really just looked beaten. I left her in the care of the checkpoint staff convinced she was going to DNF but some time after I made it back to camp, I saw her come over the finish line with Rory Coleman and some other tent mates of ours. My god she must have dug deep. She also went on to finish the race ultimately (smashed it Katie!). 

The last bivouac location was awful. We spent two nights here. It was on a flat plain and the wind would pick up regularly chucking sand in your face and basically everywhere. The tents were open sided so there was no escape. If you dropped a side you just baked inside.

Both nights we had sandstorms around 1am. You had to make sure your kit was secure so you didn't wake up and find it gone. A missing gaitor could finish your race. I slept in sunglasses and two buffs so my eyes, nose and mouth were covered. Still I had sand crunching in my mouth and don't ask about the state of my nostrils all week 🤢.  

FRIDAY, Stage 5 - 31.4km, 252m

Pretty early on in this stage I felt something sharp jabbing in my foot. I figured I'd picked up a thorn on my shoe so I stopped and took my she off but couldn't find it. Every 10 to 15 mins or so this thing would stab me out of the blue and I would say some pretty choice words. I tried again to find it but couldn't so I basically got through this stage being intermittently stabbed.

Back at camp I still couldn't find the thorn so I realised it must be embedded in my foot not the shoe! Sure enough, after some hunting I found it but I couldn't see well enough in the dark tent to get it out. I could have gone to see the medics but I feared their butchery more than the thorn so I decide I'd rather cope with the thorn.

SATURDAY, Stage 6 - 21.1km, 160m

The final stage. Thank f***. I treated this half marathon with the same respect as all the other stages. There is relief but it's still a long way and still plenty of opportunity for something to go wrong. And of course old thorny was still stabbing me every 15 mins 🤣.

I was feeling pretty good so I ran off the startline for the first time all week. I ran a bit then ran walked my way to 10km or so before I couldn't cope with the thorn stabs at a run anymore. I death matched the rest.

The sight of the finish line in the distance was something else. The emotions and relief were pretty overwhelming.

I finally crossed the line and when the medal was placed around my neck I just rested my head on the Brit volunteer (James) who handed it to me and balled. I balled when I was handed my water, balled when I was handed my food pack for the bus and balled some more with my head resting on a railing. Lots of tears. 

Happy, exhausted, smelly, dirty, thorny feet ridden tears...

Fishing MDS is a 6 year long dream finally achieved. I really doubt I'll ever do it again (she said in 2024 and now nearly 2 years later...🤔)  as I finished and that was my sole goal. 

I feel I've put myself through the hardest thing I'll ever do event wise and I have nothing to prove to anyone, especially myself. I feel I have permission now to do events that are perhaps hard in terms of miles but a bit more comfortable in terms of living conditions. MDS is really pretty grim 🤣.

Thank you again to everyone's that's supported me, especially my husband who married a none runner. Little did he or I know what was ahead 🤣.

And thank you to the race volunteers. You're all heroes. We literally could not do it without you 🙏. 

38th MDS STATS

• 252.8km (the longest MDS ever - it was in 2024 anyway!)
• 2788m ascent
• 1009 signed up
• 867 started
• 781 finished
• 27% women
• My final position 572 🙌
• 24th of 44 in my category
• Time taken 57:59:23
• Kcals consumed 5k'ish
• Kcals expended 20k'ish
• Max temp 52c
• Avg temp 38 - 40c (I think)
• 1 camel spider
• 1 deceitful celebrity (ask me about it🤥)