Marathon De Sables Specifics

Ok, we are packed and doing all the final stuff before we leave. The following info will help get us emails, track us and see the general info as it happens.

Tracking is through the website below.

Jennifer is #696
Lane is #697

Marathon De Sables website: http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php

Somewhere on this site will be the specifications on how to email us. Currently we are not sure how it works, but we each can receive emails. However we can only send one per day. Mine will be going to my mother, that's just how its gonna be. Our friend Jon Ross will be posting events as they happen on the blog, Jennifer will be sending those reports to him as often as we can.

We hope this plan of ours works and if it is interesting enough hopefully folks will check it out. We will be thinking about all our friends, and our families while we are out there. So if you should choose to email us it will most certainly up lift our spirits!

Ciao (had to throw that in there)

Marathon De Sables Preparation

Right now, at this very second I've got nothing. I mean I have a pack, shoes , clothes, running ability, heat training, flights, hotels, venom kit, great sunglasses, sleeping bag, emergency foil cover, gaiters, and resolve. But what I do not have is any idea on what kind of food to bring to the MDS race, I am normally a big fan of Hammer Gels, Hammer Perpetuem, and Succeed S-Caps. The question is do I just rely on what I always have used for a race that I have never experienced? Do I take a chance and go with a different water bottle set up? What the heck to do? Seems to me everyone had an opinion, and everyone has gear they like. I am no different, and sometimes i am pretty vocal about the gear I use, abuse, and rely on. What type of post run meal do I want? Do I get the organic with fewer calories per oz, or do I get the regular package that has fructose, benzolate, and all that other crap in it because it has more calories per oz. If I had more hair I may have pulled some of it out. With all these decisions to make and limited time, I guess tomorrow will have to be the day I bite the bullet and make a final commitment. I have a feeling Hammer will be making an appearance at this most amazing race. I haven't been let down yet.

Polar Bottles

Have you ever come across something so cool and useful you just want to tell everyone about it? I have been using these water bottles for years and have praised them repeatedly ever since finding them. Polar Bottles makes the absolute best water bottle on the Planet! Just check out what make these things tick:

Combining the thermal properties of an insulated vacuum bottle with the lightweight, flexible features of a plastic bottle, the Polar Bottle is the ideal choice for active people. Simply fill with liquid and ice and hit the trail. For even longer cooling power, fill your Polar Bottle and store it in the freezer before use. Either way, it will keep liquids cold twice as long as conventional water bottles.

For a more in depth look at these super cool bottles (pun intended) click on the FEATURES.

Another big reason I love these bottles is that they are BPA & Phthalate-Free Plastic
Constructed of low density polyethylene (LDPE): a durable, lightweight and FDA food grade approved material. Polar Bottles do not contain BPA or Phthalates. I also use the bottles in the morning to carry my cold frozen berry smoothies I make as well. In addition to that I will at times use them for my coffee in the morning on the way to a cycling class.

Either way you look at these bottles they are amazing, for really hot runs I double fist the 24oz bottles with water and ice, or ice and drink mix. When cycling these bottles are great as well, when everyone else has hot water on the ride I still enjoy cold water with ice inside!

Thank you Polar Bottles for the great product, and the advantage over others using standard bottles.

ING Marathon/Half Marathon

Today was an exceptionally good day. Morning rolled around at about 3a.m. when I was not able to continue sleeping anymore..so I laid there thinking about the day to come amongst all the other thoughts racing through my mind. I was excited to be running the half with two friends Jason Gunter from Ft. Meyers FL, and the famous Mike Lenhart Founder of Getting 2 Tri charitable foundation. Jason Gunter is a amputee athlete with a below the knee amputation. Jason is a great athlete, an amazingly nice guy and really good runner. We all met up about 10 minutes before start at the G2T tent and made our way down to the start. We were in corral B, which was about 50 yards from the actual start. We were really excited to be there, and even though he has a Bronchial infection Mike was right there next to us (at a distance) running. The race went about as smoothly as I could imagine a race going. Our pace was great as we made are way in an out of nearly every Atlanta neighborhood, and what seemed to be every type community in between. The three of us ran the half marathon today enjoying the shorter distance and getting a chance to ease up talk a bit on the run. Pace did however increase a bit when the rain started, or when Jason wanted to make up time. We enjoyed mostly dry weather and cool temps as did everyone else it seemed. Today was a day for PR's from what I can tell. Aside from us running we had a bunch of friends running today as well. My friend Jon Obst had an impressive day today despite some small Gastro issues, he finished I think 7th or 8th place with a solid 2:45 marathon! Amazing time considering he had been slightly injured and was off of recovering. Other friends did equally as well, Christian Griffith ran a solid 3:40 marathon the WEEK before he is heading up to the infamous Barkley Marathons!! Nuts Dude, Nuts. Also the savior of the day Nils Pederson, who graciously gave me a ride with "no sure way of knowing where we were going till we found it blindly on accident" to get my car at mile 10, somewhere my lovely wife parked the car hours earlier. Thanks again Nils, great race post stress fracture! The day ended well, Jen and her runner Kevin finished, with Kevin running his 99th marathon today, with an amputated foot mind you! And to top that off the G2T camp went off without a hitch, well except for Marshall Hamilton...yeah Marshall you know what I'm talking about ;) But all in all today was a great ending to an amazing week. Now its taper time.

I have been lazy

I know I have been a lazy slob in the area of keeping up with this blog/journal. I will try and commit to writing a little something at least every week. We have big plans this year- Marathon De Sables, Keys100 (yet again), BADWATER!!, also anything good in between and at least one Ironman. Gotta get on the ball and generate some thoughts here!