It was a standard, normal trip home from work on the train. I was reading MX and saw an article about a "crazy race across the Sahara desert". Having participated in the Oxfam Trailwalker 3 or 4 years ago, this article caught my attention.
Trivia moment - did you know that the word SAHARA in Arabic means "desert"?
Anyway, I came home and started investigating this apparantly crazy event. The more I saw, the more I liked it. This was what I have been looking for. Why? Let's look at a few reasons.
- adventure
- exercise
- something different
- exotic
- sunrise and sunset in the desert
- challenging myself
If you have ever had the privilege of spending the night in the desert, you would understand what I mean.
I raised the idea with Donna and she, though a little hesitant as she thought about it, soon was quite keen on the idea. I reckon she thought it would at least be a way of getting me out of her hair a little. So I had Donna on board within an hour.
Next came the question I had for myself about whether I could actually do it. The diabetes was by far the main question. Type 1 diabetes, even though it's not talked about much in polite conversation, is a serious, serious illness and cannot be treated flippantly. Having come close to death once already, and ambulanced to hospital numorous times over the past 34 years, I am well aware of the dangers that trying something like this imposes on me. There is no question about it; I am challenging serious consequences by entering this event. And because I have no intention of suffering those consequences, I had to work out how I could possibly participate.
BTW - I am not a hero or an "action man". I am simply someone who enjoys a good walk and enjoying the beauties of the natural world.
There are three things to balance when living with type 1 diabetes. They are exercise / rest, medication (insulin) and food. When doing this event, the first is totally outside of my control. Walking 240km is way beyond a normal level of exercise, so that made it the most uncontrollable of the three by a long way. The medication is the most controllable. I can vary my dosage as much as I need to, to suit the conditions. The food is in the middle. So the food became the focus of my attention.
The question became, can I carry enough food to supply my needs for the whole event? As one of the criteria for the event is that you carry all of your food for the whole event, I needed to work out whether I could actually carry enough. Carrying "normal" food was, of course, out of the question. I have to keep the weight and the volume down. Try loading all of the food, every morsel, that you eat in six days into a bag and then put it on your back. I think you'll find it is frightfully big and heavy. I considered the idea of having rice, but that would require cooking time, a stove, water etc. Plus, and very importantly, it would end up being exceedingly boring. So rice was out.
That left the idea of dehydrated food.
Further investigation has determined that dehydrated food is the best solution. For six days I can get the carbohydrate I need by eating dried fruit and vegetables. I won't get the nutrition to stay healthy, but then neither does anyone else in the event. The nutrition becomes relatively insignificant. For me it's the carbohydrate I need, and I can carry enough of that in the form of dried fruit and vegetables.
Trivia moment - I have learned that the elite performers in this event eat / drink olive oil. Apparantly that has twice the energy value of carbohydrate food. YUK says me.
Finally, before mentally committing myself to the event, I needed to find out whether the organisers would even allow me to participate. The Marathon des Sables is a huge, highly organised event involving many, many people. I need to be confident that I will even be allowed to be part of it. I have sent off many emails trying to find out who to talk to. After trolling through the web site, I found a phone number I could call in London. My French really sucks, so I needed to speak to someone in English. Eventually, after a couple of phone calls and a week in time, I was able to speak to a nice lady. She told me that she would follow up with someone in Paris and I might hear in a couple of week's time.
And that's where I am today. I am still waiting to hear from Paris that they will allow me to be part of this magnificent adventure. Until I do, I can't allow myself to become too excited.
Being diabetic certainly has some down sides. |
