Marathon Des Sables - 23rd Edition 2008 • Page 5 • Collecting General • The Acaeum

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Marathon Des Sables - 23rd Edition 2008
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Badmike
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:33 pm

brute wrote:I could only find the link from the main (non-English) page, so I sent message from there.

French page looks like it has some links to French blogs about the event, but can't read a word.

Mike B.

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lucyjoyce
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:51 pm

Videos here: http://www.darbaroud.com/fr/html/mds/23 ... 080330.php

What's with the bright red shoes? In the still photos lots of folks are wearing them. Wonder if they have some special "sand please don't burn my feet" protection? Can imagine Al running through the checkpoints. I feel ridiculously lazy now.

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error. - John Kenneth Galbraith

lucyjoyce
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:31 am

Email from Al:

g`day guys! phew. well the 1st stage is done. shaun we were spot on with the
course mate. today we did almost 32km thru the merzouga dunes, then some
flats & then back into the dunes. pretty hellish, but i got there in about
8hrs or something. i walked most of it with a spanish guy called Marc 1 we
didnt understand each other much but still had a 5hr convo about allsorts.
really nice guy. my friend luc also joined us too. he is from guadeloupe, so
it was good. i am very tired but glad i got here. blisters on back of both
heels, so it could be worse. i hate the sand. this was very hard for me.
anyway i want to go recover. love to the kids. missing u so much xxxx
missing everyone. hope ur all ok? plz write n say hello. bye for now! Alan

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error. - John Kenneth Galbraith

Prufrock
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:45 am

Has anyone been able to send an email from the english page? I have not. I can find the right place on the french page but my one year of french in high-school is letting me down. Would really like to send Alan an email but have failed to find the english portal. Help Please.

Martin

Kingofpain89
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:38 am

Prufrock wrote:Has anyone been able to send an email from the english page? I have not. I can find the right place on the french page but my one year of french in high-school is letting me down. Would really like to send Alan an email but have failed to find the english portal. Help Please.

Martin

Just go to this page: http://www.darbaroud.com/uk/html/mds/ge ... ecrire.php

Select number 530 (Alan) from the list before you send a message though.

You don't like your job, you don't strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way. - Homer Simpson

Prufrock
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:53 am

Thanks John.

Message sent.

Martin

Plaag
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:41 pm

Email from Al:

hey guys. well thats stage 2 done. was very tough today. temp went up
to 46c
for at least 4 hours. feet very sore & have some awesome blisters n
legs are
sore too, but i am still going just about. walked most of the day with
2
friends luc from guadeloupe and my mate westy. great company & just got
it
done together. tomorrow is another day. keith sullivan pulled out.
totally
gutted for him, but the rest of the guys are still in there. going slow

tomorrow. dont care about time, i just want to finish. take care
everyone &
plz write some words of support. i really need them. thx for the
emails.
very lifting for me. jess & sass love you loads. kaz hugs. mum n dad
missing
ya. bye for now. al

ShaneG.

I reject your reality and substitute my own

lucyjoyce
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Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:31 am

Stage 3 email from Al:

hey guys. have to be quick. just got in. hellishly hard n dark when i got here. both heels are totalled. in tons of pain. despite all that, as soon as i saw the bivuoac from 5km i ran in!!! glad i got here to fight another day. thankyou so much for the emails. u have no idea how great it is to read them! shaun. long day .75.5km, marathon 42.2 stage 5 and 21km into tazarine to finish. your yellow wristband has seen some adventure lemme tell u! tell driza bone, great shirt. missing everyone but glad to fight another day. hanging in there by the skin of my teeth but feet are very bad. take care everyone. long day tomorrow so watch as u wont hear from me 4 a while. oh, and westy is a damn hero. Al

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error. - John Kenneth Galbraith

Improv
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:04 am

lucyjoyce wrote:Stage 3 email from Al:

hey guys. have to be quick. just got in. hellishly hard n dark when i got here. both heels are totalled. in tons of pain. despite all that, as soon as i saw the bivuoac from 5km i ran in!!! glad i got here to fight another day. thankyou so much for the emails. u have no idea how great it is to read them! shaun. long day .75.5km, marathon 42.2 stage 5 and 21km into tazarine to finish. your yellow wristband has seen some adventure lemme tell u! tell driza bone, great shirt. missing everyone but glad to fight another day. hanging in there by the skin of my teeth but feet are very bad. take care everyone. long day tomorrow so watch as u wont hear from me 4 a while. oh, and westy is a damn hero. Al

Just did a quick calculation on the race leaders time.

He did stage 3 - 75.5km in 6hour 32min. Thats just over 5 min per km in the middle of a fricken desert

.

I did a 10km run today and my pace was about 30sec / km slower than his. Frick! :evil:

"... and may I remind you that this ain't the end. I can still kick some ass." - Tom Petty

AdderMcOne
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:10 am

But that guy was probably being chased by snakes, scorpions, and Al !
('...ain't no way Al's gunna beat me.!)

"Don't tempt me, I can resist anything but temptation"

Plaag
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 6:31 pm

From Al:

hey guys. well today was a real struggle. the blisters i got on the 1st day really affected things as at least half was over sand. was good to see folk doing well. everything was working fine - was just the blisters on the back of the heels which affected everything. still, never mind. just two more stages to do, then i hang up my shoes for good. i finished the stage running the last few km in with Rich. was pretty good! anyway i am ok. hopefully things will go ok the last few days. miss everyone back home-will be back soon. take care for now. Alan.

ShaneG.

I reject your reality and substitute my own

Plaag
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:07 pm

From Al:

hey guys!!! well thats my 3rd ever marathon done! just 17km tomorrow & its in the bag! heels are still incredibly bad. my little toe on left foot is going to lose all the skin, nail & everything. pretty damn painful. tomorrow will be a painful time but i wil stomach it for that short time & anyway, u want to see some of the pain here. pretty scary. spirits are high & we`re almost there now. gonna sign off cos i am starving. just ate apple n custard. food of the gods lemme tell you!! really missing everyone, specially jess n sass. can`t wait 2see you! thankyou soooooo much for the support. it has been just oustanding. words will never express how grateful i have been. looking forward to a beer and a pizza tomorrow! take care everyone n speak soon. Al

ShaneG.

I reject your reality and substitute my own

Blackmoor
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:38 pm

What a trip he is on

Games can get you through times of no money but money can not get you through times of no games!!

Improv
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:13 pm

I had a good laugh reading the www.darbaroud.com site ...

Due to increasingly draconian anti spam procedures, you can send your message to only ONE address. You should therefore determine with your correspondent the group of people you wish to forward your message to, before leaving for Morocco.

Basically the reason Al can only send to one email address is to stop spammers going to the middle of the Sahara desert, running the MDS and sending spam to thousands of email addresses around the world.

What spammers won't do to get the spam out.

"... and may I remind you that this ain't the end. I can still kick some ass." - Tom Petty

ExTSR
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:13 pm

Did Al survive?
Is he going to sell genuine Desert Dice on eBay?

The Real Frank

killjoy32
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:38 pm

hey chaps!!!

well more to follow as i have just got home and am dog-tired.

i made a mistake on the very first day "trying something" and it effectively trashed my feet in the first 10 miles, so the whole event was pretty much a lesson in pain

but even still, i managed to soldier on and finish.

will post more when i get a chance to, but i just wanted to say, THANKYOU to everyone for the absolutely fantastic support - you have no idea how truly appreciative i am for it!

speak soon

Al

Are we nearly there yet?

Badmike
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 5:37 pm

killjoy32 wrote:hey chaps!!!

well more to follow as i have just got home and am dog-tired.

i made a mistake on the very first day "trying something" and it effectively trashed my feet in the first 10 miles, so the whole event was pretty much a lesson in pain

but even still, i managed to soldier on and finish.

will post more when i get a chance to, but i just wanted to say, THANKYOU to everyone for the absolutely fantastic support - you have no idea how truly appreciative i am for it!

speak soon

Al

Trying something? You didn't walk barefoot, did you Al? Ouch!

Congrats man....you did it again!

Mike B.

"THE MORE YOU THINK ABOUT WHY i DONE WHAT i DONE THE MORE i LAUGH" Cougar
"The Acaeum hates fun" Sir Allen
"I had a collecting emergency" Nogrod
Co-founder of the North Texas RPG Con
NTRPGCON

Plaag
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:08 pm

Congratulations on finishing the race!

ShaneG.

I reject your reality and substitute my own

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