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The 20-Year Race Blogs 2024
2
PostsThe 20-Year Race (2024) blog posts from Bryan Murphy
24 September 2024 08:15 am (GMT+03:00) Kuwait, Riyadh
Another stage down.
Slept well through the night and reapplied heel cap for my heel blister. Started well and ran the first 10kms or so.
A race like this is a constant series of trade-offs and lesser of two evils decision. Do you walk or run? Well with the heel blister it was less painful to run than to walk. But then you’re trading off the heel blister vs the toe hematoma.
Had to stop halfway to checkpoint 1 to reapply Vaseline to feet and they’re were already chewing up. Compared to other deserts I’ve ran through it’s much more humid - which means more sweating, more skin softening and more blisters.
After CP 1 it was all uphill and loose sand - almost impossible to run through but thankful for the poles. Spectacular scenery through Wadi Rum and spent most of the rest of the stage with Jean-Philippe, one of the runners from France. Temperatures again felt comfortably in the 40s in the sun - 112F+.
Got to camp in 6 hours and 20 and got feet fixed up again.
Still feeling strong - but feet are a worry. From this point oni t’s really a race against time - against your willpower, enduring pain and your body letting you down. But ultimately you just need to knuckle down and grind it out.
23 September 2024 08:07 am (GMT+03:00) Kuwait, Riyadh
Tough day. This kind of thing can be very humbling. I did a good amount of training and felt strong and ran the first two checkpoints pretty comfortably. And then bang - uphill and deep loose sand. Now obviously this is a desert ultramarathon, but there's ¨sand¨ and there's ¨sand¨, and this was definitely the latter. It was very difficult to run and the pace dropped to a march at best.
Long checkpoints and wide open terrain but blinding sun and crushing heat with no breeze. They recorded 36C / 104F but it definitely felt hotter than that.
Forecast for tomorrow is more heat, more “sand” and more hills. So will just need to grind it out for the next few stages. Hope the heat eases off a bit. Still suffering jet lag but hopefully I’ll be tired off to sleep through tonight.
Tomorrow Stage 2 - need to focus more on food and fluids as it’ll be another grind and I’ve already picked up a heel blister.
More to follow…
Comments: Total (1) comments
Jo H
Posted On: 25 Sep 2024 04:03 am