Sunday dawned clear and warm as would any other day in the desert of the Empty Quarter. The 3 hour bus trip the day before and arriving a few hours before sunset helped to reinforce what an amazing environment we were in. Sand dunes surrounded us and sand dunes the size of mountains no less, with ridge lines, gullies, valleys, saddles etc the same terms one would use to describe mountains. These dunes literally were mountains. After a 5am wake up, packing up camp which was made all the easier with the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2 tents we were using, then some breakfast it was time to prep our feet. This part of the race we had heard more about than any. “Look after you feet”, “you have to keep the sand out”, “make sure your feet are free from sand” as one looked around it was easy to see that others based on previous experience or advice were taking the same advice. Everything from gaiters to bike shoe covers adorned people’s feet. From just above the ankles to just below the knees, who would know what would work and not work, either way we were about to find out. The desert trek entailed 120Km of moving from east to west and slight deviations to the north and south to collect optional points. As teams ran off into the desert at 7am a long day (or until 5pm the next day) lay ahead. Each team had to bank 8 hours of rest during that time, rest that had to taken in 2 different locations and could only be used at checkpoints. We quickly moved into some big sand dunes and soft sand which made travelling difficult at times. Travel was aided by the footprints of teams ahead of us (which became more spread out as the race unfolded) and the GPS to guide us from point to point. Points 2 and 3 came and went with 3liters of water per person available at checkpoints 3, 4, 5 & 6. Points 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A were all optional but came with time penalties if skipped and with no water access. Travel quickly became a combination of either soft sinking sand up or down hill or across vast flat salt basins where the temperature really soared. The heat quickly became an issue for all teams and every team took and used their quota of water at the early points and during the day. We made good time to 3A however travel was never easy with packs that had large amounts of mandatory gear, tracking devices and satellite phones along with times when team mates were in tow on the bungee. However we have big hearts and strong backs and while the environment and surroundings were something new we had each been in similar physical situations before. As we collected 3A to 4 the heat really kicked in. We were hoping to be off our feet banking our 8 hours during the heat of the day however it never paid off. We rolled into CP4 in the late afternoon out of water, and tired. Many other teams had chosen this same spot and the water was a welcome sight. We rested here for 4 ½ hours moving in and out of sleep and eating, raising our feet and hydrating along with getting to know the other teams around us and laughing and the silly things we were doing. We left CP4 30mins earlier than we anticipated due to the wind picking up and team mates getting cold and soon trekked off into the night up yet another sand mountain to collect CP 4A literally only a few kilometers from the border with Oman. After 4A we moved across some relatively easy ground on our way to CP5 to encounter a huge sand dune that literally went straight up… a cruel way to get to our next checkpoint. We made it to 5 and 5A relatively easily by now having the ¾ sized waning moon to aid our travel and navigation. We arrived at CP6 shortly after dawn now a full 24 hours into the trek. We were forced to bank our remaining rest time here and rested for 3 ½ hours before moving onto the final CP. While it was nice to be off our feet and hydrating again the sun was now rising in the morning sky and the temperature was climbing. When we left 6 having used our 8 hours the day while still young was hot. We moved quickly out of CP6 over another sand mountain and through a basin picking up several teams along the way. As we approached CP6A this was the first hint I had of real fatigue setting in. This was displayed by a dry mouth, light headedness, and a little nausea. I managed to ‘pull myself back from the edge’ with a triple dose of Nuun which seemed to fix, however delay what was to come. We pushed through 6A knowing we were now on our way home, up the valley over ANOTHER sand mountain to cold drinks, fruit and a chance to take our shoes off and assess the damage. As we moved I was quickly slipping back into a bad place and nothing seemed to be getting better. Food wasn’t helping, my mouth was continually dry and at my worst was fully embracing a rapid pulse with very short breaths and elevated heart rate, sweating had ceased, a desire to sit down and sleep, some vomiting, blurred vision, staggering steps and general fear that something bad was about to happen to me. What made it worse was we were only 2 ½ km from the end I was still unsure if I could even make that. No amount of verbal encouragement was helping and I was sinking further and further into a bad place. In the end my team mates… as always came to the rescue. My pack was taken from me (with the comment… “Wow your pack is heavy”) I was put on tow, put my head down and counted steps, raising my head every 50 paces or so to delightfully see our achievement. Once we crested the dune we could look down on the TA, this was the boost I needed, even opting to take back my pack (“I have way too much pride to have someone carry it into the TA”) as we moved down the last big sand mountain to the TA our resting place for the night and much needed hydration, food and good times with team mates and new friends.

-Paul