The MdS has been a magical event for me - again!

I did not know how I would react to the desert this year having completed the race in 2016 but I am delighted to say that I loved it all the more. There is something beautiful about living a simplistic life of wake, eat, run, eat, sleep repeat for a week. The surroundings are just so breath taking. This year the moon was out which for the start of the week hid many stars but lit up the sand and then on the last night there was no moon but just the most stars I think I have ever seen in one time, if someone exists up there they sure know how to create something magical.

There are so many stories from the desert  that I would need to write a book to fit them all in so I will focus on a few.  

This year my best friends were my new mates in tent 107, as ever an eclectic mix of personalities and stories from ex army and SAS to successful business people and a guy who actually died for 20 seconds whilst training for this race two years ago, needed CPR to get him back and now he was running his dream. Not only that but he was the quickest in the tent!  

The ex army guys have set up a wonderful charity that coaches late teens who may be interested in the army with self respect, fitness and a bit of academia so that they can believe in themselves, find better opportunities for their future and be generally happier and more useful individuals for the rest of their lives. Its not all about the army though as only 30% end up there, the rest are just better humans in whatever they choose.  https://www.mpct.co.uk/   Such a worthy occupation. Much of what I learnt from my tent mates made me feel somewhat sad that maybe I should have done more for others in my life, perhaps that’s another reason that I do what I do now?  

Yet again, everyone in tent 107 finished the race, that was certainly not always going to happen with two of the tent requiring drips to get them rehydrated, a totally smashed up Achilles that was extremely painful with every step and blisters with disintegrating toes in abundance yet it was clear from day one that we were not a tent of quitters no matter what. The final tent member, an amazing running coach with nearly 1,000 marathons under his belt was recovering from a life threatening illness that had him on a zimmer frame still only 6 months ago. I know it was additionally hard for him but somehow he found the inner strength to get through every day, we all drew on his presence and achievement to help us finish every day  

As the majority of the tent were Welsh we had to have Welsh bunting with a massive flag around the tent and were woken every morning with “Bore da”, that said being adopted Welsh for the week was not so bad.  

In keeping with MDS tradition, every day of the race starts with the original desert runner who set up the race 32 years ago, Patrick Bauer, playing air guitar as the speakers blast out “Highway to Hell” by ACDC. By the end of the week you either come to love it or hate it. It is so surreal singing happy birthday every day to those unlucky enough to spend it in the desert and then jigging to ACDC before embarking on many hours running in the hottest, sandiest, mountainous place most of us have ever run in. I have attached a picture of yours truly on a flat piece of sand for a change!  

One guy had had a stroke, somehow he managed to complete the first day just inside the time limit effectively dragging one side of his body with every step. He was not able to continue but I hope will take great mental strength from completing the first day and having the bottle to actually line up on the start of day one.  

The long day is always the one that everyone fears, a double marathon where this year the temperature reached over 60C in the afternoon followed by seemingly endless dunes over night although the bright moon gave a wonderful glow to the horizon all around. It was there at about 2-00am where I fell asleep whilst marching through a rock field. Next thing I knew I had hit my head, chest, hand, hip and knee on rocks with blood everywhere. They have great doctors and I got patched up at the next check point and then plodded on to the end, cost me 30 minutes though! My ribs have not really recovered still and feel quite bruised although I am sure they will mend.  

Those of you who have had the dubious privilege of reading my blogs for over a year may remember Duncan Slater, he is the man who lost his legs serving our country in Afghanistan. Last year he so desperately wanted to finish but on day 4 he was pulled out as he had swelling and infections that made it totally impossible to carry on (although I think he would have crawled if  they let him). I am proud to say that Duncan and I have become friends since we met in 2016. We had many long chats this year sharing our personal challenges (mine pale into insignificance compared to his though) and this year with a hell of a year of training behind him he managed to finish the whole race, the only double amputee ever to do it.  Seeing him struggle through the race to the finish was pretty emotional for all 1,200 competitors. After the first days his stumps had swollen already causing issues. One day we climbed a mountain, it was cling to the rock stuff , pull up on ropes with a steep drop below and little firm footing . Many able bodied people were in a mental mess doing it so I have no idea how Duncan did, his attitude and commitment goes way beyond anyone else I have ever met in my life. As I said earlier, proud to call Duncan a friend, absolute legend and I know he will inspire many more in his life, I have attached a picture of Duncan and I at one of the starts, he has the hair!  

My final desert story is aimed to perhaps make you think about what else you could do for others (apologies to those of you who already do much). In 2016, one of the few sad thoughts that I was left with from the desert was just how poor many kids are there. It is not unusual for them to be working by the age of 5. I met many that year who all seemed happy often kicking an excuse for a ball around, they knew all the “big” football teams but had nothing their clothes effectively rags.  

This year I thought about what I could do to make a difference so asked the parents of the kids in the football team that my 12 year old plays in to give me their sons old football shirts that they had grown out of. Thanks to many mums and dads I left the UK with about 20 premier league shirts  (and a couple from AFC Wimbledon just to confuse them!).  Three hours into the coach journey to in the middle of the Sahara we stopped for lunch. Within minutes two boys appeared from nowhere begging for our left over food which they of course got plus all the spare food we had. I dug out two shirts and gave them to them. If you could have seen the smiles on their faces at that moment, priceless. Once in the desert, my kit already was one of the heaviest at 11kg (I had a lot of food!) so I decided I could only carry 1 shirt or I would have never made it. On day 4 I bumped into a small boy and two girls. I gave the boy the shirt, again the same reaction and for the girls, I had been carrying around bright hair bands that my wife had bought  to give out before I left, more smiles. I would be surprised if anyone had ever given them anything before. Back at the hotel at the end of the race I still had plenty of shirts so I set off on my own to what I considered a poorer area of the town we were in. I met two women begging with children strapped to their backs. Again, clearly had little and looked ill. I produced the shirts and apologised that they were probably too big for their kids however again, massive smiles as they indicated that they could sell them for food so I just gave them all of them as it would have been too emotional for me to walk away with any from them. It just reminded me how lucky I have been all my life as I have never been hungry or not had anything I really needed. For next year I will start getting the shirts earlier in the year so I can take more (yes that does mean that I plan to go back to the MDS again!).  

Enough about the desert, “what next?” I hear you all say. Well you may recall that my next planned event was walking 15 marathons in 15 days from Exeter to Newcastle with Jeff Stelling from Sky Sports to raise funds and awareness for Prostate Cancer UK.  Many of my friends and colleagues have already signed up to join me for a day or two but there is room for more if you fancy it? On the back of that however a few guys from Nat West in London/South East wanted to do something but logistically could not make any of the 15. So they set up their own walking marathon from Stratford to Richmond, a full 26.2 miles on 19th May. 60 of them have signed up and they have already raised a significant amount of money. I will be walking with them as I need to get a few more miles in to get to my 1,000 miles this year having missed a race in January but more importantly to thank them all for thinking about my favourite cause.  

The day before that I will be on BBC2 at 9-00 in a programme called “A time to live” which is about 12 people who have effectively “terminal” conditions but are living life to the full (No idea why they asked me then!). I get about 3 minutes and apparently am third on plus a bit at the start so save the date if you want something to do on a Wednesday evening! The film is hopefully inspirational, you tell me on the 20th?  

Then of course, the day before that I am off to the garden party at Buck Palace with my wife to see the Queen. I still pinch myself that someone thought my charity stuff is worthy of such an honour and it is a day I know that we will never forget being proud Royalists.  

The following week with a good friend, I have my annual golf day for Prostate Cancer UK, I believe we are full but always on the look out for raffle/auction items! Two days later is the GIG that guys from my office here have sorted, again a sell out (Note to self, need to book Wembley next time!) and then the following week 15 marathons on the spin.  

Back to proper running in July with 230k in Al Andalus in Spain, very hot and very hilly, that will be tough and then Fire and Ice, 250k across Northern Iceland carrying everything for the week again, just like the MDS just colder! That lot will leave me around 64 miles short of my 1,000 for my running year so will need to find a race or two to get those miles in before the end of October. That said, I would like to draw the 1,000 to a close as soon as I can after Fire and Ice so I can officially launch my 2018 plan. All I will publically say at this time is that between the two events I have in mind I will experience more extremes in temperature (over 100c of change) than I have ever before and cover more miles in a month (over 500) than I have ever run/walked before, watch this space(I may be looking for a corporate sponsor as it is going to cost a few quid too!).  

Of course everything in the future requires my health to be stable, I have a few challenges of late, I am about to have my first bone strengthening infusion next week as the drugs I am on is damaging them (hoping I avoid the pain side effect if nothing else on that one!), my collateral damage from radiotherapy has come back with a vengeance so seeing a consultant about that shortly which will no doubt be followed by an uncomfortable procedure. Finally, my blood scores slightly went the wrong way yesterday at my 2 monthly check up, not disastrous yet but not what I was hoping for. I was talking to someone earlier about mental strength and toughness, but that is not me really. My mantra is more about never wasting a day feeling sad or cross if things are generally ok and seeking then chasing short term dreams although I remain far from perfect. Things have been generally ok all my life so I regret those historic wasted days when I had negative emotions. I cant change that now but I can make sure I have no regrets moving forwards.  

There is a line in a Julian Lennon song, “Saltwater” that I heard again recently which has in some way better shaped my thought process on how I should live my life which is “What will I think of me , the day that I die”. There is much I want to do to think the best I can of myself at that time (rest assured I am still hoping that is some time away so I should be able to do loads!) maybe consider what would you think, there is always time to make things better you know.  

So many people have made my recent life possible and enabled me to perhaps make more dreams come true, I could write a whole email just thanking them all, in fact just by me knowing that you have read this (well done for  getting this far!) makes me feel good about what I have done and am trying to do. I do want to make a handful of big thank you’s to everyone at RBS/Williams & Glyn/NatWest as they have collectively proved how brilliant they are both as an organisation looking after me and a collective of individuals, my family and I would not have had the positive emotional experience and memories made with out you guys, Prostate Cancer UK for how they have supported me emotionally and as ever my wife and family, just amazing.  

Next update in a month but may send you all a reminder re the documentary the day before it goes out, thank you for anything and everything you have done to help me and my favourite charity.  

If you do not wish to get any further updates from me please email me back and I will take you off, I wont be offended, similarly, please feel free to forward or use anything I have written to anyone if you wish.  

Have a great day and smile often.  
Kev