When I woke up this morning at 5:00 it was 10 degrees below zero and very foggy. I filled my knapsack with everything one needs for a tour in the snow: a thermos of hot chocolate, sandwiches, water and headed for the hills, as it were. Here in the valley, it just looks like someone sprinkled powdered sugar everywhere - but as soon as you hit 1000 meters, the snow gets very deep - the best conditions for snow shoe training. Cristal clear air and the clearest of blue skies.
Most of you out there, especially those of you who live in the warmer parts of the globe, might not be able to imagine it, but the Black Forest has a one meter-deep blanket of snow in some parts. That means getting on the ol' snow shoes, a thick daun jacket and heading out for some deep-snow training, something I've been doing the last couple of years to prepare for the Sahara, as snow and sand are amazingly similar elements. Considering the fact that there's no sand in sight, the snow proves to be the next best element. Take one step forward, slip half a step back. It's pretty exhausting! As soon as I found the right remote area with the most virgin snow, I strapped up my knapsack, buckled on the snow shoes, and set out for the highest mountain of the Black Forest, the Feldberg.
The nicest things about today were a unique view of the Swiss Alps to the south, a view one has about twice a year. But nicer still and the biggest motivation to keep on going, kilometer for kilometer in the snow was the view to the southeast - towards Asia, India to be exact - and the view to the southwest, towards Costa Rica. What an awesome and far out feeling to have an icey wind and snow blowing in your face, but to have your mind full of very warm thoughts of marathons in far away tropical places, the hot sun pouring down on your bare skin.
Snow shoes and hot thoughts...
Monday 24 December 2007
Sunday 9 December 2007
I’m back!
After a very wonderful and regenerative break from running, I’m back on the ball and it’s full steam ahead with training. Only 7 more weeks and the running season starts. First stop: India’s Mumbai Marathon on January 20. It’ll be more than fantastic to escape the harsh winter in Europe and head for warm India again. What could be a better start for the marathon season 2008 than Asia’s biggest and most social Marathon? Aside from being in one of my favourite countries, I’ll be able to see wonderful friends again I met at the Great Tibet Marathon in Ladakh.
And I can’t think of any better way to get acclimatised for the jungle in Costa Rica – you heard right, just one week after the Mumbai Marathon it’s off to The Coastal Challenge inviting to the deep green humid jungle of Costa Rica where I’ll be able to put my adventure skills to the test over 250 km in 6 very grueling stages, taking participants through the thick brush, over volcanoes through rivers to the northwest coast of this beautiful country. Promises to be a tough one!
Won’t have much time to relax, as then the Sahara will be calling me to its midst for a week of heat and sandstorms. Yes, just 6 weeks after returning from the Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica, it’ll be that wonderful time again, time to head for the deep south Moroccan desert for the most amazing desert challenge in 6 stages of between 28 and 90 km with average daily temperatures of between 45 and 50 degrees. You guess it right, now a third offender, I’m going for the Marathon des Sables, the third stop on my running list for 2008.
And I can’t think of any better way to get acclimatised for the jungle in Costa Rica – you heard right, just one week after the Mumbai Marathon it’s off to The Coastal Challenge inviting to the deep green humid jungle of Costa Rica where I’ll be able to put my adventure skills to the test over 250 km in 6 very grueling stages, taking participants through the thick brush, over volcanoes through rivers to the northwest coast of this beautiful country. Promises to be a tough one!
Won’t have much time to relax, as then the Sahara will be calling me to its midst for a week of heat and sandstorms. Yes, just 6 weeks after returning from the Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica, it’ll be that wonderful time again, time to head for the deep south Moroccan desert for the most amazing desert challenge in 6 stages of between 28 and 90 km with average daily temperatures of between 45 and 50 degrees. You guess it right, now a third offender, I’m going for the Marathon des Sables, the third stop on my running list for 2008.
Monday 1 October 2007
Tuesday 25 September 2007
Training for the Marathon des Sables - Physical endurance and Mind over Matter
Just recently I received a call with the news that I’d been “blessed“ with a start number for the Marathon des Sables 2008. Those of you are familiar with this event know what quote/unquote blessed means: the Marathon des Sables is worshiped - and dreaded by all 750 starters from all over the world – including Lahcen Ahansal, 10 time winner of this, the toughest footrace on earth. I am also going back to the Sahara – I’m certainly hooked.
Those of you who aren’t familiar with but are very interested in looking into something like the Marathon des Sables, this event is a 250 km long race through the Moroccan Sahara in 6 stages with complete self-sufficiency. The average daily temperatures in the desert reach 45-50 degrees, the atmosphere is arid. Accommodation: simple Berber tents. Dunes, plateaus, dried out salt lakes, cliffs, mountains. The terrain leaves nothing to be desire by a desert runner’s heart.
Hmmm, a lot of factors to consider while training. Where to start? How does one prepare for something like this?
Factors to consider for the desert:
- heat / low humidity
- sand and many various difficult terrains
- duration – one week and 6 stages back to back
- entire body exertion
- backpack with approx. 10 -12 kg (at the first start)
- survival skills/solidarity
- nutrition
and last but certainly not least:
- mental strength.
Those of you who aren’t familiar with but are very interested in looking into something like the Marathon des Sables, this event is a 250 km long race through the Moroccan Sahara in 6 stages with complete self-sufficiency. The average daily temperatures in the desert reach 45-50 degrees, the atmosphere is arid. Accommodation: simple Berber tents. Dunes, plateaus, dried out salt lakes, cliffs, mountains. The terrain leaves nothing to be desire by a desert runner’s heart.
Hmmm, a lot of factors to consider while training. Where to start? How does one prepare for something like this?
Factors to consider for the desert:
- heat / low humidity
- sand and many various difficult terrains
- duration – one week and 6 stages back to back
- entire body exertion
- backpack with approx. 10 -12 kg (at the first start)
- survival skills/solidarity
- nutrition
and last but certainly not least:
- mental strength.
Thursday 13 September 2007
MDS pictures....
Bunched together like sardines for the 2 hour ride
The adrenaline flows as the camp comes into sight!
Tent 57 - home for the next 10 nights...
Some stages just never wanted to end...
Made it - first stage done! They're already waiting... 1148
Found the tent - time to start cooking dinner
Wake up time - getting ready for the next stage
Nice view of the earth's furnace...
Helmut - won the tent snorer award
The adrenalin's cooking - time to go to the first start of the MdS
Hitting the first checkpoint
What happens if you don't manage your water well...
And.....
Water - Lifeline of MDS
One of the biggest questions is: how much water do you get an event like the MdS?
Of all the things a runner has in the desert, nothing is as important as the water he’s given. But how do you manage your water supply in that heat? Well, the water is distributed as follows:
Normal stage: 9 liters per day
1.5 liters before the start each morning
2 or 3 x 1.5 liters during the race at checkpoints
4.5 liters on arrival in the camp
Marathon stage: 10,5 liters per day
1.5 liters before the start each morning
3 x 1.5 liters during the race at checkpoints
4.5 liters on arrival in the camp
Non-stop stage: 22.5 liters per day over 2 days
1.5 liters before the start in the morning
1.5 liters at checkpoints 1,3,5,6
1.5 or 3 liters at checkpoints 2 and 4
4.5 at arrival post
4.5 at the bivouac.
You’re allowed to take or not take the water at any of the checkpoints. However, not taking the water distributed in the morning can lead to penalties. Anyone caught throwing bottles in the desert are given penalties as well. Littering is absolutely forbidden!
The salt tablets should be taken about 2 every 2 hours to keep hydrated. The water should be mixed 2 times a day with electrolyte powder
Of all the things a runner has in the desert, nothing is as important as the water he’s given. But how do you manage your water supply in that heat? Well, the water is distributed as follows:
Normal stage: 9 liters per day
1.5 liters before the start each morning
2 or 3 x 1.5 liters during the race at checkpoints
4.5 liters on arrival in the camp
Marathon stage: 10,5 liters per day
1.5 liters before the start each morning
3 x 1.5 liters during the race at checkpoints
4.5 liters on arrival in the camp
Non-stop stage: 22.5 liters per day over 2 days
1.5 liters before the start in the morning
1.5 liters at checkpoints 1,3,5,6
1.5 or 3 liters at checkpoints 2 and 4
4.5 at arrival post
4.5 at the bivouac.
You’re allowed to take or not take the water at any of the checkpoints. However, not taking the water distributed in the morning can lead to penalties. Anyone caught throwing bottles in the desert are given penalties as well. Littering is absolutely forbidden!
The salt tablets should be taken about 2 every 2 hours to keep hydrated. The water should be mixed 2 times a day with electrolyte powder
Checklist for the MDS, Sahara
Looking at the required equipment list is enough to make your hair stand on end, let alone the event description. What do you need when you go to the desert? What is one required, what else is recommended?
The organizer checks each participant’s rucksack and its content to the very bottom. A lack of one or more of the following items on this list can lead to disqualification. No runner is allowed to start if one of these is not in his/her rucksack:
Rucksack that holds everything you’ll need for a week. Or two small ones, one in front, one in back.
Sleeping bag – ultra light, ultra small, maybe a thin pad (the ground is hard and full of small rocks)
Head torch with spare batteries – for the night stage and in camp when the sun goes down.
10 safety pins (for the start numbers – and they can come in very handy for holding things together)
Compass (you should know how to use it too!)
Lighter for cooking, making fires, possible distress, lamp failure
Jack-knife with several functions
Disinfection fluid for wounds, treatment of blisters when on your own on the course
Snake bite set – you never know when little creepy crawlies can show up and bite
Whistle – should be very loud, for possible distress situations
Emergency mirror – also for possible distress situations
Aluminium blanket - protects from hot and cold.
2000 calories per day/14,000 calories for the entire race.
These items are given to you before the race starts. They are also mandatory:
Salt tablets – to be taken in pairs every couple of hours during the day!
Emergency flare for the night stage – only to be used in a serious distress situation
Florescent stick, also for the night stage
The minimum accepted weight is 6,5 kg, the highest is 15 kg. no one gets by with 6.5, but 15 is absolutely too much. Rucksacks can be and are controlled at any point in time during any stage. Anyone caught without the mandatory equipment/required calories for the remainder of the race can be disqualified.
The organizer checks each participant’s rucksack and its content to the very bottom. A lack of one or more of the following items on this list can lead to disqualification. No runner is allowed to start if one of these is not in his/her rucksack:
Rucksack that holds everything you’ll need for a week. Or two small ones, one in front, one in back.
Sleeping bag – ultra light, ultra small, maybe a thin pad (the ground is hard and full of small rocks)
Head torch with spare batteries – for the night stage and in camp when the sun goes down.
10 safety pins (for the start numbers – and they can come in very handy for holding things together)
Compass (you should know how to use it too!)
Lighter for cooking, making fires, possible distress, lamp failure
Jack-knife with several functions
Disinfection fluid for wounds, treatment of blisters when on your own on the course
Snake bite set – you never know when little creepy crawlies can show up and bite
Whistle – should be very loud, for possible distress situations
Emergency mirror – also for possible distress situations
Aluminium blanket - protects from hot and cold.
2000 calories per day/14,000 calories for the entire race.
These items are given to you before the race starts. They are also mandatory:
Salt tablets – to be taken in pairs every couple of hours during the day!
Emergency flare for the night stage – only to be used in a serious distress situation
Florescent stick, also for the night stage
The minimum accepted weight is 6,5 kg, the highest is 15 kg. no one gets by with 6.5, but 15 is absolutely too much. Rucksacks can be and are controlled at any point in time during any stage. Anyone caught without the mandatory equipment/required calories for the remainder of the race can be disqualified.
Marathon des Sables - Introduction into another dimension
„Come, Brigid, let’s run 250 km through the Sahara, only water is provided…“
With this sms, my life set sail on an entirely new course.
Just imagine – from one minute to the next your everyday life changes in every imaginable way. You own neither house nor computer, you have no mobile phone or TV, no toilet or shower. Nothing but a few personal belongings and one of 8 spots in an open-sided Berber tent made of sewn-together coffee sacks, a mere shelter that’s taken down over your head every morning at 5 by Berbers screaming „Jallah, jallah!“, just to be set up again 40 km from this spot, a distance you have to cover by foot.
„Sahara marathon, 250 km through the south Moroccan Sahara in six stages of between 28 and 90 km, complete self-sufficiency. Only water is provided. Emergency set including emergency rocket and snake bite set compulsory. Average daily temperature 50o. Accommodation is Berber tents.“
„Ya, Daniel, of course, and what else is new…?“
Damn glad the Marathon des Sables haunted my thoughts for so long. That’s the only way to tell if you really want something. It drove me to apply for a start number in September 2005 - and was I actually given one. From this point on, everything revolved around one thing – the physical, mental and material preparation for the toughest footrace on earth.
In April 2006, 743 athletes from around the globe flew to Casablanca and across the Atlas Mountains to Ouarzazate, from where we were driven deep into the Sahara in buses – and where the sand was too deep for these, cattle trucks took us on to the start - and I and 7 others to tent No. 57, our “mobile” home for the next 9 days.
Excellent tentmates, among others Anke, an engineer, who kept our laughing muscles occupied; Simon the student who had a rash between his legs even before the first start due to an intimate shave („I shaved everything down there – heard it supposedly makes shagging a lot cooler…“); Helmut, the cabaret artist from Innsbruck. He was a bit grumpy at times: „I love it when Brigid comes home – so much for a quiet time…“; Terry from LA, whose adenoids helped saw down a few imaginary forests at night; Tim, a Russian Lawyer. He kept out of mischief the whole week of the race, practiced some heavy duty „bottom’s up“ after the final finish. 8 extreme athletes, 3 of them extreme snorers.
“In the middle of nowhere.“ How often I’ve used this term frivolously. I never would imagine in my wildest dreams actually doing high-performance sports for an entire week under the most extreme conditions at such a remote place on this planet.
We were to run 6 stages within the given times. Patrick Bauer gave the infos of the day before every start, and we all sang “Happy Birthday” to anyone whose birthday it was. One time, an e-mail that was sent to the organiser was read to No. 359. A marriage proposal. We all screamed „Yes!“, but probably because we had ants in our pants and just wanted to hear one thing: “4, 3, 2, 1 – go!“
The Sahara showed what is has to offer on all stages – and, above all, what surprises it has in store. Breath-taking dunes, rock cliffs, mountains, elevated plains, dried out salt lakes, oases, impressive, vast wide-open spaces. The most fascinating thing: all problems you may face at home disappear. Everything becomes relative. The heat and powerful sandstorms, blowing kilos of sand in your rucksack and the tents thrashing in the wind shows you who’s the boss.
A logistical masterpiece, getting 736 athletes from 36 countries into the middle of the desert, leading them through 6 Marathon stages and, among other things, doctoring them par excellence throughout this tough week. The biggest problem? Blisters and getting one’s shoes on again in the morning. Our best friend? The little blue paracetemols. The coolest thing was the evening blister treatment – the wonderful selection of doctors left nothing to be desired.
Some of us weren’t exactly feeling at the top of the world. The desert has its own laws. 20% of the runners fell out of the race on the first days. Heat, exhaustion, dehydration. Two went into coma, 170 infusions were given. I once saw a Finnish woman lying on the outskirts of an immense dried out salt lake. The doctors were taking care of her so I continued my course. Later, in camp, I heard she’d suffered a stroke, causing her to her lose her mother tongue.
As there were so many emergency medical cases, the water rations were increased for the first time and for the first time in the history of the Marathon des Sables, the longest “royal stage” was shortened by 17 km. I and my 500 blisters didn’t know whether we should be happy or disappointed with that news. The ultimate running challenge had been tamed.
This, the longest stage offered everything the desert heart could desire. The Sahara at night with the full moon, hours and hours of dunes and cliffs, here and there a florescent stick lighting the way. The starry desert sky leaves you speechless. Alone on course at night in the vastness of this enormous desert. The most wonderful moment of the entire race.
Fantastic, unique atmosphere at the night checkpoint. I got my blisters treated, slept a couple of hours, knowing I was good for time. Carlos Santana and Loreena McKennitt helped me jog the rest of the 13 km into camp.
To celebrate having finishing the long stage I made a wash salon out of one of my water bottles, shook my undies in soapy water, and lay them out on some branches behind me to dry. Simon stole them all when I wasn’t looking and threw them into the neighbouring tents, to the surprise of their tent dwellers.
In the night before the last stage, I went out for a last walk under the clear starry desert sky. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t sleep. My feet were in a bad way. It wasn’t that though. It was the thought that in just a few hours - after the unfathomable stress and strain, but also the invaluable experiences of the last week – I’d be running through the finish of this amazing event and having to say goodbye to the Sahara that let got my tears flowing.
An Arabic proverb says “Those entering and returning from the desert don’t come out the same...”
The Sahara has definitely changed me and become a part of me. I’m sure to be a second offender.
With this sms, my life set sail on an entirely new course.
Just imagine – from one minute to the next your everyday life changes in every imaginable way. You own neither house nor computer, you have no mobile phone or TV, no toilet or shower. Nothing but a few personal belongings and one of 8 spots in an open-sided Berber tent made of sewn-together coffee sacks, a mere shelter that’s taken down over your head every morning at 5 by Berbers screaming „Jallah, jallah!“, just to be set up again 40 km from this spot, a distance you have to cover by foot.
„Sahara marathon, 250 km through the south Moroccan Sahara in six stages of between 28 and 90 km, complete self-sufficiency. Only water is provided. Emergency set including emergency rocket and snake bite set compulsory. Average daily temperature 50o. Accommodation is Berber tents.“
„Ya, Daniel, of course, and what else is new…?“
Damn glad the Marathon des Sables haunted my thoughts for so long. That’s the only way to tell if you really want something. It drove me to apply for a start number in September 2005 - and was I actually given one. From this point on, everything revolved around one thing – the physical, mental and material preparation for the toughest footrace on earth.
In April 2006, 743 athletes from around the globe flew to Casablanca and across the Atlas Mountains to Ouarzazate, from where we were driven deep into the Sahara in buses – and where the sand was too deep for these, cattle trucks took us on to the start - and I and 7 others to tent No. 57, our “mobile” home for the next 9 days.
Excellent tentmates, among others Anke, an engineer, who kept our laughing muscles occupied; Simon the student who had a rash between his legs even before the first start due to an intimate shave („I shaved everything down there – heard it supposedly makes shagging a lot cooler…“); Helmut, the cabaret artist from Innsbruck. He was a bit grumpy at times: „I love it when Brigid comes home – so much for a quiet time…“; Terry from LA, whose adenoids helped saw down a few imaginary forests at night; Tim, a Russian Lawyer. He kept out of mischief the whole week of the race, practiced some heavy duty „bottom’s up“ after the final finish. 8 extreme athletes, 3 of them extreme snorers.
“In the middle of nowhere.“ How often I’ve used this term frivolously. I never would imagine in my wildest dreams actually doing high-performance sports for an entire week under the most extreme conditions at such a remote place on this planet.
We were to run 6 stages within the given times. Patrick Bauer gave the infos of the day before every start, and we all sang “Happy Birthday” to anyone whose birthday it was. One time, an e-mail that was sent to the organiser was read to No. 359. A marriage proposal. We all screamed „Yes!“, but probably because we had ants in our pants and just wanted to hear one thing: “4, 3, 2, 1 – go!“
The Sahara showed what is has to offer on all stages – and, above all, what surprises it has in store. Breath-taking dunes, rock cliffs, mountains, elevated plains, dried out salt lakes, oases, impressive, vast wide-open spaces. The most fascinating thing: all problems you may face at home disappear. Everything becomes relative. The heat and powerful sandstorms, blowing kilos of sand in your rucksack and the tents thrashing in the wind shows you who’s the boss.
A logistical masterpiece, getting 736 athletes from 36 countries into the middle of the desert, leading them through 6 Marathon stages and, among other things, doctoring them par excellence throughout this tough week. The biggest problem? Blisters and getting one’s shoes on again in the morning. Our best friend? The little blue paracetemols. The coolest thing was the evening blister treatment – the wonderful selection of doctors left nothing to be desired.
Some of us weren’t exactly feeling at the top of the world. The desert has its own laws. 20% of the runners fell out of the race on the first days. Heat, exhaustion, dehydration. Two went into coma, 170 infusions were given. I once saw a Finnish woman lying on the outskirts of an immense dried out salt lake. The doctors were taking care of her so I continued my course. Later, in camp, I heard she’d suffered a stroke, causing her to her lose her mother tongue.
As there were so many emergency medical cases, the water rations were increased for the first time and for the first time in the history of the Marathon des Sables, the longest “royal stage” was shortened by 17 km. I and my 500 blisters didn’t know whether we should be happy or disappointed with that news. The ultimate running challenge had been tamed.
This, the longest stage offered everything the desert heart could desire. The Sahara at night with the full moon, hours and hours of dunes and cliffs, here and there a florescent stick lighting the way. The starry desert sky leaves you speechless. Alone on course at night in the vastness of this enormous desert. The most wonderful moment of the entire race.
Fantastic, unique atmosphere at the night checkpoint. I got my blisters treated, slept a couple of hours, knowing I was good for time. Carlos Santana and Loreena McKennitt helped me jog the rest of the 13 km into camp.
To celebrate having finishing the long stage I made a wash salon out of one of my water bottles, shook my undies in soapy water, and lay them out on some branches behind me to dry. Simon stole them all when I wasn’t looking and threw them into the neighbouring tents, to the surprise of their tent dwellers.
In the night before the last stage, I went out for a last walk under the clear starry desert sky. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t sleep. My feet were in a bad way. It wasn’t that though. It was the thought that in just a few hours - after the unfathomable stress and strain, but also the invaluable experiences of the last week – I’d be running through the finish of this amazing event and having to say goodbye to the Sahara that let got my tears flowing.
An Arabic proverb says “Those entering and returning from the desert don’t come out the same...”
The Sahara has definitely changed me and become a part of me. I’m sure to be a second offender.
Tuesday 4 September 2007
Friday 31 August 2007
Marathon Des Sables continues...
Wolfgang mixes drinks to kill the blister pain
"I love it when Brigid and Kai come home!"
Setting off for the Marathon stage - what's left of us...
What heaven to find an oasis is the next checkpoint!
Bailiy's - don't leave tent, eh home without it!
The camp mourns for our deceased fellow runner, Bernard
Two tentmates contemplating stealing a camel today
Me at the finish of the MdS with Patrick Bauer
Having just overcome my most critical point in the race
Out like a light after completing stage 5, the marathon stage
Ouch! Daily blister treatment - just don't look...
Pictures from South Germany
A couple of fans at the Basel Airport
Getting ready for an evening run in Munzingen
Ilona and I at the MdS awards ceremony in Ouarzazate
At a childrens' benefit run for the Cancer Association, Freiburg
SWR TV filming my Guiness run at the Black Forest's highest point
Just having finished a state walking competition - came in 5th!
Guinness run - reaching the top of the first mountain. Minus 2 degrees.
Guinness run - first mountain in my pocket - heading off for mountain no. 2
Guinness run - at the foot of mountain 3 - reaching the climax!
Wednesday 29 August 2007
Adventuresomeness
"I'd like to understand you." said a man who stopped me recently on my morning run to work. "What do you get out of adventures anyway? I think you're missing a few marbles!" After I'd stopped laughing, I asked him to tell me of his biggist yearning. He thought that was fresh of me, but while we were at it, he'd be able to stick out a night with Verona Feldbush. Na, I scolded, a yearning of non-erotic sorts. "A day in the amusement park!" he said, discovering a thrill.
"Just imagine," I started, "you've just climbed up to one of the highest points of the Great Wall of China. It's very crumbly and steep. You gotta "go" really bad, find a bush and crouch down. Just in that very moment you look up to find yourself surrounded by Mongolians, who are damned if they're not going to sell you a few T-shirts. A situation you'll certainly not encounter in everyday life." The man grinned. "Or you're lying in a sleeping bag in a Berber tent in the Sahara, enjoying the infathomable stillness of the desert night (well, except for the 3 snorers and 2 camels making whoopie...). You hear it coming and yell "Sandstorm! Valuables in the sleeping bags!" The tent is thrashing in the wind and all 8 tentmates have to hold the wooden poles supporting the tent so it doesn't blow away...
Adventure means saying adieu to the civilized world, immersing in foreign territory, developing a counter-strategy in a very planned and administered world. Habit is like a rope: if you add a thread to it everyday, at some point you won't be able to cut it. Adventures are full of the most brilliant surprises, their course is suspenseful, their end unknown. Tingling experiences that stimulate and spoil the senses on a particularly grand scale. Vital energies are awakend. Adventure demands fantasy and creativity - boredom and aimlessness are non-existent. Borderline and extreme situations are overcome and mastered. Priorities are re-aligned as one is forced to face real dangers and bear out distress.
"Your on the course alone at night in the middle of the Sahara, the day was hot as hell and exhausting. You're hungry. The clear desert sky takes your breath away, but only offers short distraction as a sandstorm suddenly stirs up, making the florescent sticks lighting the way disappear. The batteries in your head torch are empty. You can't change them, the sand is blowing too hard. You lose your orientation. A truly desperate situation - and yet brilliant."
"Interesting..." said the man and rubbed his eyes as if removing the desert sand. "I don't think I'd ever stick that out."
It's not that we don't dare do things because it's difficult, but it's difficult because we don't dare do things. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. What luck it is to be able to live out one's passions. And those who cherish the things they've done in the past get to live them twice...
"Just imagine," I started, "you've just climbed up to one of the highest points of the Great Wall of China. It's very crumbly and steep. You gotta "go" really bad, find a bush and crouch down. Just in that very moment you look up to find yourself surrounded by Mongolians, who are damned if they're not going to sell you a few T-shirts. A situation you'll certainly not encounter in everyday life." The man grinned. "Or you're lying in a sleeping bag in a Berber tent in the Sahara, enjoying the infathomable stillness of the desert night (well, except for the 3 snorers and 2 camels making whoopie...). You hear it coming and yell "Sandstorm! Valuables in the sleeping bags!" The tent is thrashing in the wind and all 8 tentmates have to hold the wooden poles supporting the tent so it doesn't blow away...
Adventure means saying adieu to the civilized world, immersing in foreign territory, developing a counter-strategy in a very planned and administered world. Habit is like a rope: if you add a thread to it everyday, at some point you won't be able to cut it. Adventures are full of the most brilliant surprises, their course is suspenseful, their end unknown. Tingling experiences that stimulate and spoil the senses on a particularly grand scale. Vital energies are awakend. Adventure demands fantasy and creativity - boredom and aimlessness are non-existent. Borderline and extreme situations are overcome and mastered. Priorities are re-aligned as one is forced to face real dangers and bear out distress.
"Your on the course alone at night in the middle of the Sahara, the day was hot as hell and exhausting. You're hungry. The clear desert sky takes your breath away, but only offers short distraction as a sandstorm suddenly stirs up, making the florescent sticks lighting the way disappear. The batteries in your head torch are empty. You can't change them, the sand is blowing too hard. You lose your orientation. A truly desperate situation - and yet brilliant."
"Interesting..." said the man and rubbed his eyes as if removing the desert sand. "I don't think I'd ever stick that out."
It's not that we don't dare do things because it's difficult, but it's difficult because we don't dare do things. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. What luck it is to be able to live out one's passions. And those who cherish the things they've done in the past get to live them twice...
Tuesday 28 August 2007
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