I was gifted a book named Epic Runs of the World over the holiday, and when I flipped the page, the first thing I saw was the toughest foot race in the world, the Marathon des Sables. I thought, “I wonder if I am able to tackle this obstacle.” I did some calculations in my head and based on my prior experiences in endurance sports I could feel that I should be able to complete the race. I consulted with my wife, and granted that she knew very little about the complexity of this particular race, she gave me the thumbs up.
My interest in participating in this race was to understand the human mind in the situation of deprivation and scarcity. The 777 Marathon and something like MDS perhaps could be similar in intensity, but very different in racing. One of the reasons it’s considered the toughest foot race is we have to carry seven days worth of food, clothes and everything we possibly need to be self-sustained and run 270km through the Sahara Desert. Well I am back and alive so I will cut the details of each day’s race but I will give you an interoception of how I overcame the obstacles.
It took me a while to really refine my “WHY” to do this race. I sat with it and went in solitude to find my answer. At last I thought of a few reasons why I should do this race. Competitively, I wanted to do this race and finish top 100 overall and top 10 in my age group. Emotionally, I wanted to understand what it’s like to flee from existence and search for a new home, for example as a refugee. Personally, I was interested to understand my quest of life, to have better understanding on the dark days or in an extremely difficult state physically.
To a certain extent I was able to understand my quest and my ability well over the course of seven days. I was able to finish the race – I think 92nd position overall, gender 85th, and 6th in my age group out of 214 males and females. We had to barter to stay out of hunger and we all supported each other and decided to move forward with the race despite so many reasons to quit. It was astounding, and I came back with a big smile realizing that what I was looking for was belonging – and I found it right at home. There is something I look for in any race, whether I will find people who are in a similar place as I am. Perhaps they are in a quest of looking for likeminded people or looking to connect with other athletes who are in a similar boat. I am always seeking to belong somewhere. This race made me understand that I belong where I am seen and loved.
In relation to the Boston Marathon, I was sure that this race was going to be a time of connecting with people and crowds, enjoying how the city comes together to help every runner reach the finish line and truly appreciating what my body is able to do. In general I realize that many of us participate in the race coming from abundance, and scarcity is hard to accept. I ran MDS with a 2400 calorie deficit from the first day and cumulatively I was at about 15,000 calorie deficit by the end of the race. The race organizer emphasized that we must have 2000 calories worth of food for each day, so I had 600 calories of breakfast, 700 calories worth of lunch, and 700 calories of dinner. While running each stage I was using about 2400 calories on average except the 100k day I used my food from Thursday. Whereas, over the weekend prior to the Boston Marathon, many runner friends and I absorbed an extra 2000 to 2500 calories. So the reason I was able to finish the Marathon well wasn’t because I had great training, but because I was able to adapt and stay connected with my mind and body until the end.
From the experience of running 315 kilometers in under two weeks what I understood better is that if we allow ourselves to observe our behavior and not react or interact with those possibly damaging thoughts we will truly have a better understanding of who we genuinely are and be able to peel off the layers of mental, emotional and psychological patches. We have the potential to understand our true nature, which is covered by expectation, anticipation and many forms of stimulation we accumulate over the years.
