Dear all
Just came from the Prize giving ceremony and a great dream & adventure has come to an end . First of all I like to thank you all for the great support emails I received every night at the camp & through Yahoo emails!
Thanks so much - these mails meant a lot out there in the desert believe me! My tent mates got jealous if I had more emails then them .
Knowing that I am not running alone out in the desert but for a purpose & having all your support made it definetely easier during the hard phases in every stage (and believe me there where quite a few hard phases to get through)
I believe that after my wake-up call on the first stage I managed my water, my energy & my mental strength well over the next 5 stages & I honestly felt that if we could have ran a few days longer I could have improved even more - but then again we did not race for time or position (only about 20 - 30 runners really where in this to win) but we ran for survival & finishing. And finish we did!
The last stage was a 17.5 km sprint & knowing that my parents & Uli are proudly waiting for my at the end I only arrived about 35min behind the winner. Running through the villiage with my blown-up Aussie Hand & having the town people & kids cheering me on was a unforgettable end of an unbelievable week!
Today at the prize giving ceremony I found out that I ended up in 224th place out of 802 starters & covered the 245.3 km in a bit over 38hrs - the winner finished just over 19hrs!! We were told by MdS veterans that we can be proud, as we finished not only the longest but also the hardest & one of the hottest races ever.
I will now spend a few days with my parents & recover my sore feet & knees plus probably but the 4 kg I lost back on again. Taxi drivers in Ouarzazate making a killing right now as about 500+ tourist are in different stages of NOT being able to walk more then 20 meters.
It will take me a week or two to set-up & sort out all the photos & videos I took during my race but I will have them available soon for you to re-live my sahara adventure - thanks for your patience.
See you all soon back Down Under!
Markus
2 comments:
Truly inspirational Markus. Very impressive. You will have to rest up. I can't imagine how appreciative you must be to have completed this. What a quest you have done. Many happy endorphines for you, Mate. To see what you have seen and to help others see in the process. Very poetic journey.
I am happy to have sponsored you.
Cheers
Erik & Patricia
Markus, you are truly brilliant, and a huge inspiration to me. I congratulate you again, and wish you gute Besserung for the feet and knees, mate!!!!!!!! Dying to hear all your news in detail.
BTW, I've decided to run the MdS in 2009 instead of 2010!!!! Need to start serious training now - although we have den tiefsten Winter im Moment in Chur - Schnee, Schnee and more Schnee!!!!! Get home safely, and again CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Craig
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