Thanks for taking the time to visit my Marathon des Sables, Stroke Association, JustGiving page.

The Marathon des Sables

Never one for small challenges, I have wanted to go back to do the Marathon des Sables, ever since my feet recovered from the last time I was there in 2008. The MdS is a 150 mile run over 6 stages across the Moroccan Sahara desert, during which the temperatures are likely to exceed 35degC during the day. The race is run with around 1000 'like-minded' competitors carrying all their supplies throughout the week of the event, through varying terrain ranging from rocky outcrops, dry river beds, mountainous peaks and vast expanses of sand dunes. Although unknown until arriving in the bivuoac, the stages also vary in length from the final 'easy' 18km, to the 42.2km standard marathon distance and the dreaded double marathon 'long' stage of around 80km.

Official Site - http://www.darbaroud.com/en/

UK Agents - http://www.marathondessables.co.uk/site/

The Stroke Association

About a year ago, my wife Liz, experienced a frightening and disorienting 'event' over a period of days which was eventually diagnosed as a stroke by the teams of doctors at the Royal Surrey Hospital (RSH) in Guildford. After extensive tests, and scans over a period of days, they found the problem had occurred because of a hole in her heart she'd had all her life - apparently 25% of the population are walking around with such a defect and this is a major cause of strokes in younger people, because clots find their way 'through' the hole directly to the fine blood vessels in the brain where they block the blood supply and cause a problem.

Within 2 months my wife had had an operation to place a small device, an occluder, in her heart to fill the hole and several months later she is living a normal life, thanks to the support from the stroke teams at the RSH. 

The mechanisms for strokes are still not clearly understood though and much more needs to be done to improve the care for those survivors of strokes who have to learn to live with the effects of a stroke. In the UK, strokes affect 1 person every 3 minutes, and although there is a perception this is an problem that affects older people, around 25% of all strokes happen to those under 65, with 400 children a year affected. In 2010, stroke was the fourth largest cause of death after cancer, heart disease and respiratory disease.

Charity Site - http://www.stroke.org.uk/

About Me

I was last in the desert in Morocco nearly 5 years ago. Since then I have completed many other ultramarathons, but this is now my biggest challenge. In August 2010 I pushed myself a bit too far in the Colorado Rockies and paid the price with a broken leg. After 2 operations, plenty of metalwork and a full year later I was finally allowed to run again 😊

Over the last 18 months I have been training my body to run again and my surgeon and physio, who were originally looking to ensure I could walk unaided, are understandably pleased with themselves and over the moon.

My Blog Site - Obsessive Ramblings

How You Can Donate

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So please dig deep and donate now.