The story of the 91 Km................. written by Rebecca

Well it may turn out to be one of the shortest ever MDS's but after I finished emailing you after Stage 2 we were all wrapped up in our sleeping bags about to doze off at the crazy time of 8:30pm when the rep came round to inform us that the next stage would be 91k! Oh good, sweet dreams all! Next day started with the usual water and map distribution, lots of general faffing about, taping feet, rushing to the outdoor latrines every mins and a whole load of banter. At this stage everyone in out tent was doing really well. Andy has tuned out to be a racing snake and is currently number 76. Dave is the fastest walker in the world and is beating most runners so far - we suspected this day would be good for him. Wasn't too concerned about the long day at this stage - planned to do it non-stop as you can make up a lot of places by carrying all the way through. So started off running with Karen, from yesterday, but we soon lost each other as I was feeling strong and wanted to run as much as possible to get as many km's as poss behind me early on. In hindsight maybe I started too fast but I still think it was good to make progress while I could. So ran a lot until CP1, and moved straight on to CP2. Stopped here for longer than planned to re-tape the feet. Now, on this day the top 50 competitors start at midday, 3 hours after us, as they finish so far ahead of us all. And CP2 is where they passed me - AMAZING!!! Was so cool to see them sprinting through with their teeny backpacks on. Plan was to run CP2 to CP3 as it was only about 11k and looked pretty flat from the map, so I headed off on my own pretty happy to be running solo at this point. But it turned out to be v soft and sandy so ended up walking it out. Bumped into some of the RAF boys and ended up walking with them - ended up having a friend in common (Nics!!). Felt a bit wierd at CP3 so sat for a bit and ate some snacks then saw Lucy and Steve from our tent. Steve wanted to chill for a bit as he was having some probs so Lucy and I carried on to CP4 together. I think somewhere here we aded an extra k or so as it began to get dark but the glow sticks illuminating the markers hadn't all been cracked yet, and we went off route for a bit before noticing we were heading the wrong way. The competitors were all given glow sticks to attach to the back of their packs for the night stage so as darkness fell you could see faint lights start to mark a trail in the distance and the head torches came out. For Lucy and I, CP3 - CP4 ended up being a 3 hour fast march in silence as we just gritted our teeth and fought it out. Even when we saw the CP in teh far far distance it seemed to never grow any closer. It was SUCH a relief to cross that CP mark and hear the beep of the electonic tag. You should have seen the state of us there!! Somewhere between CP3 and CP4 I started crashing and lost the internal fight with myself to do this stage in a oner. I stopped being bothered about being competitive and just wanted to sleep. In hindsight, after talking with Lucy today we think I just hit the wall and blew up. Should have been eating and drinking a whole lot more during the day than I did which such a schoolgirl error but lost some concentration on what I was meant to be doing and suffered for it. Managed to drag out and blow up my thermrest for us to sit on, off the the side of the med tent, and we both pulled on our warm kit. Tried to get some water on the boil to make food but it was so cold and windy it took forever! While the water was boiling Lucy and I were both leaning back against out backpacks, shivering and shaking, and generally feeling pretty miserable but everyone around was in the same or worse state. Huge queue of people sitting on ground outside med tent. Actually quite funny really - everyone staring at each other and looking back with totally blank faces - in darkness except for bright headtorches shining round everywhere, blinding if you look at them. Steve turned up here not long after us so we decided to move on together to CP5, having realised that we just couldn't stop yet with so far still to go. So off we trotted to CP5, leaving CP4 at 10pm, having arrived just after 9pm - a longer stop than we had planned. But with hot food in us and a plan of action we were a much happier bunch as we set off! The terrain between these CP's was comical. The most ridiculous up and down over sand dunes where we were scrabbling on all fours to try to ascend these dunes. With every step we would just slide back down again - tell you what - we warmed up pretty quick! I bet if we saw the route in daylight there would be a footpath on the flat about 50m off to one side!! This was followed but the steepest ascent of the whole event, up the rocky face of a moutain. Actually quite exciting but pretty high and I didn't fancy losing my footing. Had a few giggling fits as I heard swearing in a multitude of languages coming out the darkness above and below me. Getting down the other side was ok then it was back into the sand. Now, again not sure what happened but sometime around here I had my sense of humour failure. Was just tired really, but was starting to question what on earth I was doing. Fell way behind Lucy and Steve and agreed to meet them at CP5 or back at camp. But in the meantime managed to bump into another friend of a friend I had been looking for all week, Joe (thanks Cal). We stayed together until CP5 and the whole time I just wanted to sleep - but we knew we needed to make it in. Started off chatting but ended up in silence. Lots of struggling going on. Think we became a bit delerious as we started convincing ourselves we must have missed CP5 and be already heading to CP6. Just couldn't work out how it was taking so long. Hmmm, maybe it was just because we were going REALLY slowly!!! Eventually made it there at 2.30am. 4.5 hours to cover 15k - outrageous. Saw Lucy and Steve there who were talking about going on but I didn't care about the rankings then - just wanted to get my head down. 65k down, only 26k to go. Really wish I had taken some pictures at CP5 but was not thinking about my camera at all!! Just sleeping bags and bodies on the ground everywhere. Joe and I agreed to get 3 hours kip then carry on at 5.30 am at first light. Dust storm started so I spent 3 hours in the sleeping bag spitting out sand. Up again at 5.30 and on the track again at 6am. This is where my real troubles kicked in. As soon as we set off i started vomiting - I think maybe from sand and the electrolyte with caffeine I,d been drinking the night before. So with Joe,s bad feet and my vomiting every few steps it was a pretty slow start and unfortch a lot of people passed us. Joe was great to stay with me. I don,t remember much from this leg apart from the rocks. All sizes of flint, sharp-edged rocks that you kick with every other step. Agony. And the growing heat. Had my first emotional moment when a support vehicle stopped to ask if I was ok. Hmm, yes.....er...or maybe no??????!! oh well. Made it to CP6, had another emotional moment and had a short stint in the med tent. Only 12k to go. left CP6 just desperate to get to the Bivouac. Although remember the scenery looked good - a few palm trees around. Well, it was 2 hours or so of staggering in the hottest day I have ever felt but we finally made it to the Bivouac. Was so deydrated and dizzy didn't even register my hug from Patrick (famous race director) but picked up my water rations and headed over to my tent. the boys were amazing. Andy came out to take my water and give me a hug, Coops stripped my bag off my back, Neil made me up some Rigo and within mins I had my head down. Now I know for a fact that during that long stage I was thinking NEVER again. that is it. And nearly quit a million times, but it is amazing how quickly you forget. Hmm. Those rose tinted glasses, eh?! Chilled for rest of afternoon, boys made me some food and had feet sorted at Doc trotters. Last 2 people arrived at 8.45pm, nearly 36hours later. The whole camp turned out to cheer them in, with the camels right behind. I can't describe the feeling of that moment of togetherness. Very emotional for everyone, incredible. This arabic keyboard is driving me nuts. other messages will be short!!