Kickin' It In

On the eve of the final leg of the 2010 Marathon de Sables, please take a moment to read a note from Jennifer Vogel that was received a few hours ago:

Today brought body-beating rocks, deep sand, high winds, and of course, heat. I came to the Sahara to find who I was, not a Daughter, Sister, Friend, Wife. When faced with adversity, who exactly am I? For the past 6 days, the Sahara (Who is one BAMF) has beaten my body and torn at my soul, and today was the day I would find the answer. I'm the kind of person that will get up one more time, then I'm knocked down. I'm a fighter and I'm damn proud to find that out. Lane is a beast out here and I am amazed by his strength every day. Tomorrow is the final stage. 13.1 miles through the biggest sand dunes in Morocco. If the Sahara wants to take us down, we are going down swinging. Thanks for all the emails and the prayers. Thanks to my family and friends, to Get Fit Atlanta for all of the support, to Big Peach, To Mike at G2t for letting us run in honor of some amazing people, to Jon Ross for keeping everyone up to date on us, and to 1st Choice Health Care for letting me leave my job for 2 weeks.

Will email soon, Jen


Please keep an eye out for updates on Stage 6 as they become available.

Stage 5 Complete, Final Stage Tomorrow

Stage 5 of the Marathon de Sables began this morning. This 42.2 kilometer leg is the equivalent of a full 26.2 mile marathon, and the remaining competitors have already covered a cumulative distance of 186.5 kilometers (115.9 miles) over the first four stages. Jennifer and Lane have both crossed the finish line within the past couple of hours, and will be preparing themselves for tomorrow's final leg, Stage 6.

You may click here for the preliminary Stage 5 results.

You can also check out some Stage 4, Day 2 videos from yesterday by clicking here.

Stay tuned for a Stage 5 recap with details as they become available.

JR

A Brief Reprieve, Then Stage 5...

Received the following note from Jen this afternoon:

We are all enjoying a well deserved off day, although as of right now a few of our tent mates are still out on the course and one had to drop Tuesday from a scorpion bite* (In the sleeping bag next to mine!!). Yesterday was a nasty 50miler, with 20km of dunes in the last 30k. I found out in the morning that I was 11th place going in to the 50miler with 3 girls right on my heels. My plan was to take advantage of moving well the first 50km in the heat of the day, then walk the dunes to the best of my ability. It seemed to work. I was the 1st female of the early group to cross the finish. Not sure where my standing is now but I'm hoping for top 10. Other than a few blisters and being a little dehydrated, I feel fine. Lane also moved it pretty well with a sub 15hr finish. We have 2 more rounds w the Sahara, here's to hoping we survive! Jen

PS - Thanks everyone for the emails. It's the best part of the day to get them all and to know that people back home are rooting for us.

* As a side note, from what I could gather on the Dreamchasers Outdoor Adventure Club FB page, the competitor was flown out of Morocco, and is currently in a hospital in London. To be clear, the runner was NOT Jen or Lane, and they'll be rockin' it out in Stage 5 tomorrow.

Here is what was posted at the Dreamchasers page:

Ok friends..we have a runner in need of our prayers and send her some emails! Katherine Hay-Heddle was bitten by a spider at the Marathon des Sables and is in a hospital in London....please pray for her and send her some notes...I am sure she would love to hear from you. Katherine is such a gift... We love you Katherine Katherine.Hay-Heddle@wardhadaway.com

Let's all keep her in our thoughts as we continue to pull for Team Vogel.

To learn more about Day 2 of Stage 4, which is today, the race organizers have provided some narratives which you can read by clicking here.

You may also plug the following GPS coordinates into Google Maps or Google Earth, and retrace the Stage 4 route:

Bivouac 4 : N30 37.937 W4 44.666
PC 1 : N30 37.178 W4 36.690
PC 2 : N30 42.752 W4 33.919
PC 3 : N30 48.463 W4 31.448
PC 4 : N30 44.625 W4 26.402
PC 5 : N30 43.544 W4 20.737
PC 6 : N30 45.371 W4 15.279
Bivouac 5 : N30 49.891 W4 12.977

And, as always, you can send an e-mail to Jennifer or Lane by clicking here.

Please stay tuned for updates as they become available.

JR

Some Spring in Their Step

A quick note from Jennifer Vogel, from a tent that she's sharing with Lane somewhere in the Sahara, following Stage 3:

We are hanging in there. Today was round 3 with the Sahara- 24 miles of flat hot salt flats [Note: See photo to left] with a few dunes for fun. Tons of camels. Super hard not to stop and try to pet the babies. Time to recover and prepare for 55 tomorrow. The emails rock, please keep them coming.

The following is a recap of Stage 4, and it appears as though they were well prepared indeed...

While the race organizers describe yesterday's leg of the Marathon de Sables as an 'Exceptionally beautiful long stage', it is considered by many to be the toughest of the six stages, and rightfully so. With that, both Jennifer and Lane not only finished the 82.2 kilometer (51.1 mile) Stage 4, they also moved up significantly in the overall standings. As they left the relative comfort of the camp at Bivouac 4 Wednesday morning and pushed off into the desert towards the first checkpoint, Jen was in 183rd place overall out of the 961 remaining runners (1013 began Stage 1), and picked up 107 spots, which puts her in 76th overall going into Stage 5 which begins Friday morning. Lane moved up 144 spots, putting him 153rd overall amongst a field of some of the top ultrarunners in the world, on one of the world's most extreme and toughest courses.

The following is an excerpt from the MdS narrative of one of the more stunning portions of Stage 4:

...They also know from reading their road-book that it’s the price to pay to access the beautiful valley between Jebel Zireg and Jebel El Mziouda. After climbing up to a pass, they marvel at the extraordinary landscape: golden sand at the foot of the mountains, rocky undulations, fields of locust tree and camel grass, large stretches of black shiny stones.
Coming out of the valley, they come across CP 2, at km 26.1, and behind it, the dried up lake of the El Mader wadi. They cross it and then go up towards the El Maharch oasis, its inn and most of all its palm trees, offering shade to those who want to rest and recover. Further, CP 3 at km 38.7 opens towards the East and the Rhéris wadi crossing and CP 4 at km 51.

After painting that amazing picture in my mind, here is what I read next about the group of runners who started Stage 4 at 09:15 local time that morning (This was the entire field including all of the remaining competitors, except for the top 50 who had started three hours later at 12:15):

The first woman in this group to have reached the 51 km check point was Jennifer Vogel (696 – USA), at 4.22.

That's 31+ miles in just over 4 hours. In that heat. In the Sahara. After having already run a cumulative 104.5 kilometers (65 miles) over the previous three days. Both she and Lane clearly appear to be getting stronger, while many of the other competitors continue to fall off of the pace. Way to go, guys. Incredible. Seriously.


You may click here for their splits at each checkpoint, and their respective finishing times for Stage 4, and here for some Stage 4 videos.

Stay tuned for updates as they become available, and please take a moment to send each of them an e-mail to let them know that we are following their every step during this amazing adventure.

JR

Out of the Frying Pan, and Right Back In

Of the 1013 competitors who toed the line at the start of Stage 1 of the 2010 Marathon de Sables on Sunday, 938 remained as the runners began the 40 kilometer (24.9 mile) Stage 3 leg just before 08:30 local time yesterday morning. The race organizers have said that this stage 'Calls for great mental strength', but from what I can tell as I sit in front of my computer in my air conditioned home office in a cozy suburb on this side of the Atlantic, it's safe to say that every step along the MdS course can be described in this manner. When Jennifer and Lane return, I am sure that they'll be able to back me up on that one.

The following is a breakdown of the cumulative elapsed time at each checkpoint along Stage 3:

Jennifer Vogel - Competitor # 696:

CP 1: 1:36:45, CP2: 3:19:17, CP3: 4:56:57

Bivouac 4: Total Stage 3 Time 5:40:26

Lane Vogel - Competitor # 697:

CP 1: 1:37:36, CP2: 3:18:13, CP3: 5:15:37

Bivouac 4: Total Stage 3 Time 6:14:52

You may click here for some video footage of Stage 3, and you can also retrace the Stage 3 route by plugging these GPS coordinates into Google Maps or Google Earth:

• Bivouac 3 (Start of Stage 3): N30 51.162 W4 34.239
• PC 1 : N30 48.893 W4 41.599
• PC 2 : N30 45.488 W4 47.307
• PC 3 : N30 39.864 W4 46.689
• Bivouac 4 (End of Stage 3, Overnight Camp): N30 37.937 W4 44.666

The longest single leg of the MdS, Stage 4, began this morning, and the runners will cover 82.2 kilometers (51.1 miles).

Stay tuned for updates as they become available...


All the Best,

Jon Ross

MdS Stage 2 Complete

Both Jennifer and Lane finished the 35.5 kilometer Stage 2 yesterday at the Marathon de Sables. Here is a recap from Jen:


Today brought extreme heat, rocks, sand, ridges, dunes and the most insane climb I could imagine [Note: See photo to the left - She wasn't kidding...]. Running along the ridge in the first half, I thought to myself that this is crazy. One wrong step and a broken arm would be the least of my problems. After not pacing my water and running out 1km to the refill station - That doesn't sound bad but trust me it is BAD - I had to resort to a walk & run for the middle segment to try and regain myself for what was promised to be a nasty climb. The last 5km of the race brought it!! The best I can say about the rock scramble straight up the side of the mountain is that 6 months ago I would have had a panic attack and would have most likely stopped at the bottom and quit. The fact that I put on my 'big girl pants' and did it, leaves me speechless and so proud....and I beat Lane today...

Bloodied, battered, bruised but not beaten,

Jennifer


You can also check out some great video footage of Stage 2 by clicking here.


Stage 3 is underway, and is 40k. Updates and today's results will follow in a subsequent posting to the Endurance Spot blog.


Just a reminder. If you saw Jennifer's note yesterday, it was clear how much the e-mails that they are receiving from all of you mean to both she and Lane. It's really easy to send them an e-mail as you only need to click here. Jen's race # is 696, and Lane is 697.All the Best, Jon Ross

Hello From Tent 129

Received the following note today from Jennifer Vogel, which was sent following the completion of Stage 1 of the Marathon de Sables:

First stage - 18 miles - down. It's awesome out here. Morocco is beautiful. The heat, desert, the mountains, absolutely breath taking!! Lane beasted the dry river beds, dunes, and salt flats that we encountered today. He is going to be so strong at Badwater. Me?? I'm just trying to figure out how it all works. But being out in such a big expanse of nothing really makes you realize how little you really are! I cant wait to see what the surprises (and extreme heat) the week brings. This is by far the toughest thing we've tried so far. The emails are amazing. PLEASE PLEASE everyone keep them coming. We are in tent 129.

Stay tuned for updates on today's 35.5 kilometer Stage 2.