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On the move again
Eventually at the end of the afternoon, we were able to start out
again. So once again, I set off in the late afternoon making headway
into the night. The visibility of the second night also not ideal,
as the sandy haze made the sky dark and the batons difficult to
see, also with many dunes some of the batons behind the dunes, it
was not so reassuring. When you light your lamp against a dune,
it is like coming up against a barrier like a wall! I was never
afraid out there alone in the night, except once I flashed my beam
onto something and it turned out to be a dead dromedaries, so I
cried out in fright and felt so silly. So I went all through the
night and finally in early hours of next morning, I slept for one
hour at a check point. I had covered about 52 km the second night
in the dark and over many dunes.
 At
this stage of the race you have one thing now going through your
mind and that is to push on and try and finish as quickly as possible.
So you just plough ahead. There were beautiful landscapes at this
stage which I don't think I will ever forget, climbing a long steep
desert escarpment and seeing miles of dunes and incredible geological
shaped mountains.
Final stage
The very last leg of the race was the hardest. It was on the Thursday
afternoon and my back had totally seized up. I think the belt of
my pack had gotton too tight as my tummy had swollen from the constant
drinking and liquid foods and I had not thought to loosen it. So
I got a big swollen muscle across my back and I was finding it very
hard to keep in an upright position.
The last 8km were amongst villages and it seemed endless. I was
having a real struggle to get to the finish line and kept having
to stop even though I was at snail pace walking, to try and stretch
myself and alleviate the pain. Fortunately, a large group of people
joined up in the last 4km and encouraged me every step of the way.
Among them men that had already finished, villagers, the race organisers,
the staff from the Auberge and the race medical team. What a good
feeling to finish that race.
First woman
I was the first woman, but the two sisters were not far behind.
The only other fourth woman competitor had abandoned and of the
four of us, she was the one I would have said looked the strongest!
Of the 30 competitors, half abandoned due to the tough atmospheric
conditions which is, apparently, very unusual to have such heat
at this time of the year.
I recovered very quickly after the race and was up and in the
shower about 25 mins after arrival, the next day my back swelling
had gone down and no pain. The day after the race I actually felt
fine, ended up joining a 4x4 trip to an oasis. We first climbed
a monumental dune in the heat with the jeep and had tea at the top,
then we went down into this oasis which was like out of a movie.
You leave a wall of heat and walk into a sort of sensation of absolute
paradisical freshness, the smell of water and sounds of water trickling
over rocks and palms etc. Then there were pools of water with small
little fish in for bathing. Blisters and all we all climbed in and
floated in the pools for about one and a half hours. Very quickly
though on leaving the oasis you are hot again. On Saturday evening
evening we had a super folklore show and prize giving ritual with
traditional dress and a feast of lamb offered. The whole village
came for the occasion. Running in Mauritania as a women is extremely
moving all the village children learn you name and the desert human
telephone wires spread it far and wide, so that after the race I
felt like a celebrity. For them it is very unusual to see a woman
running and suffering from the effort at the end.
Consumption during the race
40 litres of water
9 Bolinos
12 soups
6 Hot chocolates
6 packets of crips
An energy bar every hour
Cassandra's training tips for such an
event
Running in the desert under extreme heat conditions, is not something
you can simulate by running on a treadmill in a sauna for example.
Coming from Winter in Paris the heat certainly is a big shock. However
I was raised in South Africa and I think my body adjusts better
than most Europeans to dry intense heat. I also don't transpire
a lot. The desert terrain is also not something you can train for,
unless you live near the beach. Soft snow is about the closest to
soft sand. Also there are a lot of dunes you have to tackle and
so I incorporated some stair running into my workouts which I think
really helped to strengthen my legs. For this kind of race I think
you have to be mentally very strong as well as fit, there is of
course a very strong desire to quit when you have blister pain and
patches where you feel sick or weak. I do all my running alone and
so I am used to pushing myself, in this kind of race you have to
like your own company a lot and keep self-talking real positive
all the way!
Contacts for the Mauritanienne 200
Race
Next edition of the race to be held on 7 -14 March 2004
Internet :
perso.club-internet.fr/jppmds/Mauritanie.htm
e-mail :
jppmds@club-internet.fr
Time-to-Run Women's section |
