Esther, I am not dead.

2016 Marathon des Sables

Stage 1. 21 miles

Hello from the Sahara! Uff da. Day one was hard. I saw you in the dunes and in the sun and in the WIND! Hardest 21 miles I’ve ever done. Huge Hollywood movie dunes. Up and down. 360 degrees. Sand that swallowed my feet. So punishing. And beautiful. Sustained 30 mph wind (still blowing as I’m writing this from camp. Scouring the small amount of my exposed skin. 110 degrees fahrenheit. Salt lines on my face. I drank and drank and drank. Still thirsty. Incredible adventure. You got me through this. I felt great for the first 10 miles of dunes. Crazy beautiful. Drinking it all in. Mile 15 was a low energy point. I had to dig. I thought good thoughts about all of you. They gave us tea at the finish. I have chocolate! and beef jerky! I have six tent mates. My buddy Andrew from NYC, and new friends from Ireland, Utah, Dallas, Colombia and Morocco. Keep sending me good thoughts. 26 miles tomorrow. Onward. Peace. -Kent

Stage 2. 26 miles

Bonjour mes amis! Twenty six more miles in the books! Hotter today. Less windy. Good day. We ran mostly in salt flats, up small jebels (hills) and in oueds (dry sandy river beds). Thank you for your notes. They print them out for us at night. Lew/John, this is like a super hot, sandy adventure race. Tell Charlotte my body is very uncomfortable! Jack, surf-running down the dunes is just like what we did from Stella Point to Barafu. Rose, I won’t pet the scorpions, but I have seen many geckos. Connor, my clothes are filthy! Justin, I have sand everywhere. I will bring you some home. Esther, I am not dead so Rex you cannot yet have my car. Curtis, I am so jonesing for a cheeseburger and margarita at A&B Burger. Tonya, I’m pretty sure I got in a plug for Hope for Gus on French TV. Do you take donations in Euros? Jonalie, I haven’t had to call the ambassador. Marc, let’s do this next year. Mom and Dad, all is well. Life is precious and short. Choose to be happy. Do adventures. Peace. -Kent

Stage 3. 23 miles

Hello. Stage 3 was very hot and it hurt quite a bit. Lots of sand dunes again. I’ve learned a number of things over the past couple of days. I’ve learned that in the Sahara, heat comes both from the sky and from the ground. It is better to run on the rippled, wind blown sand rather than the smooth sand. The rippled sand has a crust. The smooth sand is like powder. I’ve learned that camel dung and black Saharan beetles are about the same size, but the beetles move. The race people play AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’ at the beginning of each stage (which is kind of funny). I’ve learned that I’m all set with sand for a while. Even after a long day of running in the sun, hot Moroccan tea at the finish tastes awesome. Just about everyone who does this race is a little crazy. One tentmate is rowing from NYC to Ireland. Finally, I’ve learned that a body can take a very large amount of punishment. And still be (mostly) ok. I’m nervous about the 52 mile day tomorrow. Send good thoughts. Peace. -Kent

Stage 4. Long Day 52 miles

Bonjour! L’etape le plus difficile est fini! The hardest stage is over! 52 miles. Okay, so that was really hard. We started running at 8:15am. Andrew and I finished just after 1am. The morning had a different feel to it. People were more nervous. They weren’t talking much. The race started normally — run, run, run, then we climbed a 2000 vertical ridge (beautiful), descended, and then run, run, run across miles of salt flats. They said it hit 120f. Then sand. Miles and miles of sand. Running in the sand is HARD! Time goes by… darkness… headlamps. We kicked it up the final 10k and rambled to the finish. The sun is a vicious, patient animal. I think we might now be friends. My pack and I, however, are not friends. It was 25lbs (w/ water) at the start. It’s probably down to 10lbs now. I am carrying 2500 calories per day of nutrition. I’m guessing we are burning 6000 calories each day (?) from exertion and heat control. My pack and I are both lighter. Marathon tomorrow. Peace. -Kent

Stage 5. Marathon Day 26.2 miles

Today was a good day. A fast day. We didn’t have to save energy for the future so we were able to start faster and burn. It was great. Three miles from the finish, we exited sand dunes and could see camp. Andrew turned it on. We flew. I thought I might have a heart attack. We passed a Moroccan with a mile to go. Crazy. He didn’t look happy (he shadowed us then passed us back right at the finish). Non-timed charity stage tomorrow. Then re-entry. And cheeseburgers. I will write a final email tomorrow from Ouarzazate, but for now I’ll just say thank you to everyone who sent notes, good karma, thoughts and prayers. They all helped. Also please check out www.hopeforgus.org to see the good work Tonya and Steve Dreher are doing to help put an end to Duchenne muscular dystrophy. I probably haven’t emphasized enough how much this has been a people experience. I will remember running 160 miles through punishing heat, sand and wind, but I will remember my tentmates more. Peace. -Kent

Post Race

Hello and thank you! Last Marathon des Sables post. We have just gotten back to civilization (sort of). The hotel in Ouarzazate, Morocco. We are back in the land of refrigeration, running water and actual beds. I really appreciate all of your comments, notes and thoughts. Thank you again. MdS was a fantastic experience. Very hard. Harder than I expected actually. I’m sure this sounds dumb to say about the Sahara, but there was more sand than I expected. So much running in the sand. Just punishing. Great people from everywhere. Ridiculous sunsets and windstorms and stark desert beauty. Lots of time with new friends and lots of time in my head figuring things out. I’m happy that we’ve been able to help out hopeforgus.org and perhaps accelerate the date when Duchenne muscular dystrophy is cured. Looking forward to seeing all of you back home. Peace. -Kent