Running in the right direction

I'm a huge fan of metaphor and I am absolutely convinced that paying attention to our own metaphors and the metaphors other people use can give us real insight and understanding and allow us to change how we attempt to deal with things. 

Taking peoples' metaphors literally is also a very good way to explore how they really feel about things as I find they're both a good window to what they're really feeling but also safely dissociated enough to allow a conversation about stuff that could actually be quite close to the bone. 

A lot of this comes from an excellent course I went on a year or so ago called Metaphors of Movement invented and run by an incredible explorer of psychology and a man I greatly respect: Andrew T Austin (so thanks Andrew).

Moving Forward in Life

One thing that comes up a lot in my own thoughts and when talking to my friends is that there can often be a definite lack of having any kind of forward motion in their lives. 


We feel like we're "standing still" or "treading water" or "not sure which direction to take".

All of these synonyms and colloquialisms are to do with direction and movement and I myself will be having a slight change of direction in the New Year which is why I was thinking about it on a recent cross country run I took.

Running as a Forward Movement

Running is often described as a great way of dealing with the frustration (most often caused by a feeling of lack of progress or forward movement) of work or home life. People describe how, during a good run, they managed to solve various issues and blockages that had been holding them back. They talk about how inspiration struck them and has allowed them to expand their business or take an idea forward...

Notice the connections?

Anyway, on the cross-country run I went on the other weekend where I took the above photo, I was thinking about my various choices, options and playing out various scenarios if I did or did not make a decision.

The run I was on was a section of the Saxon Shore. A 10 mile stretch of the banks of the Thames Estuary out past Gravesend and along to Rochester.

The Saxon Shore follows the southern shore of the Thames Estuary out from Gravesend for 160 miles to Dover

I'm shore (pun intended) that during the summer it's an idyllic location and an amazing run (and one I intend to do many times) but right now, after all the rain we've been having over the past few months, it's a boggy, muddy, boulder strewn, windy, remote and desolate run.

It starts out OK along the top of the grass embankments but you're soon forced to descend into the quagmire of the mud either side and fences and flooding forces you onto the pebbly shoreline at times. 

Along some bits of the route there are regions of football sized angular rocks which don't seem entirely naturally placed or at home and I can't help but wonder if they're Saxon. I'm sure they're not but hey, why else would it be called the Saxon Shore way?

All along the area are various shaggily handsome looking horses and ponies all belonging to various traveller families that call Gravesend home (you can see one in the background of the photo of my feet above). They stand and watch me run past with only vaguely interested eyes as though they were indeed echoing my thoughts of "what the hell am I doing out here in this biting wind, wading through puddles and ankle deep mud? Is this fun? Am I enjoying this?"

While I was mulling over the various options and ideas, scenarios and outright fantastical possible outcomes of the decision that awaited me, I was having to hop from rock to rock, changing direction to avoid floods or to practically double back to get onto the shingle beach to avoid mud and ruts caused by one of the many trail motorbikes that race up and down the embankments or take a detour around one or more of the ponies.

Just Keep Moving Forward

I couldn't tell you exactly where it was but at some point it occurred to me that while I kept having to change direction to avoid sections or overcome an obstacle on the route, I was still travelling forward and as I thought that, my mind made the connection between what I was doing on the run and what I was trying to decide to do in my life.


It doesn't matter if you change direction: You're still moving forward and even if you have to change direction a hundred times, you're still closer to your goal or further along your journey than you'd be if you simply stopped and waited for the water to drain or the mud to harden or the horse to wander off.

Making a decision to move forward is the only decision that was needed and it doesn't really matter if it's the right decision or the wrong decision because I'll be moving forward and if I need to change direction again, that's OK. 

It's all part of navigating the route and enjoying the journey.

Computers 4 Africa

The other day, a very good friend of mine sent me quite a cryptic text message

"I have potentially very good news, gives us a call when you have 5 mins."

Calling her back it transpired that she has a good friend who works at the charity Computers 4 Africa and they might be interested in giving me a laptop to take with me to the refugee camps to donate to them!

Too good an opportunity to double up on good doing, I immediately sent her a long email about the marathon and the plight of the Saharawi people and their situation in the refugee camps.

I was actually quite pleased with the email (and they do seem to get better and better the more I write) and it certainly seemed to work because the next day I was invited to come down one evening and meet the team and maybe arrange for me to receive a laptop to take with me to Algeria!

Thinking that that they were a quite a small charity (but that I might have heard of them before) I was not prepared for he scale of the operation I found when I went down on Friday evening last week.

A massive warehouse filled with computers, laptops, monitors, enormous boxes of mice and row upon row of computers being tested, cleaned, data-wiped (to military spec I was assured) and prepared to be packed into containers and sent to various locations across Africa.

Computers waiting to be processed

Holy smoke! These guys have probably got a thousand second hand computers in here! Being guided around the warehouse by Sharon, who is marketing manager, I was intrigued to be told that a single computer will be used by upwards of 24 children each year and she told me several stories of refreshes they'd done at various sites to see computers that they'd dropped there 10 years previously! That's at least 240 kids who have had a chance to learn how to use a computer.

It's very easy to et carried away with how much good each computer does and how many more computers the UK must throw away each year through anything including personal home computer replacements to large corporate refreshes. 

Where do all those machines go!?

Computers 4 Africa run a number of "drop sites" around the UK where for a couple of days every now and then, they get the use of a big warehouse and local people and organisations are encouraged to bring old (although not so old they can't run Windows XP), working computers. 

They also do free collections if you have more than 10 computers to donate and Sharon had a lovely story about a community who organised their collective old computers and Computers 4 Africa were able to come and collect them from them in the village.

Just cleaning the donated computers of their accumulated dust can add 2 years to their life span!

I even saw several servers and a lone original iMac in the warehouse being processed for either re-sale in the UK (by selling 1 high spec pc or server, they can often buy up to 20 suitable computers to send out) or to become part of one of their "container classrooms".

Container Classrooms

A genius idea and a fantastic, self contained and fully equipped classroom inside a modified 20ft shipping container.

Looks secure because it is! A complete IT suite and classroom in a single container.

What better way to outfit an entire community than to turn up with a self contained (and also secure, which is very important) classroom, train a teacher to run it and hey presto, you have a community hub, school, library or whatever else you can think of.

In my mind I was thinking "wow, what a great idea! I bet they're expensive to set up though."

I asked Sharon and to my great surprise she said it was £5800 to fully kit one out! That was a third to half what I was thinking it would cost and of course, had the PCs and Server been new, it'd have been closer to the truth.

I don't know how, but I'd really like to have a go at funding one off these out at some point. It'd be a specific, measurable and achievable thing to do. I just need to put a time on it...

Anyway, at the end of the tour we finished up meeting a few of the guys in the office and had a brief tour of their African map where they have pins on all the locations they've done a major drop. Sharon was keen to point out that they've so far pretty much only taken machinery to the Sub-Sahara countries so my taking a laptop to Tindouf will be a distinct change for them.

Discussing it with Sharon and Morgan (their client relationship manager), we decided that it might work very well if we can donate the laptop to Sandblast to incorporate in one of the mobile sound recording studios we're fundraising to help them put together and take out to the Saharawi.

There's a long way to go before the 25th Feb, although it's only 10 weeks away now. Can't wait to see the conclusion of this part of the adventure! 

If you have any spare or old computers you don't need, drop me an email (benwha@gmail.com) or get in contact with Computers 4 Africa as I know they always need more machines.

UPDATE: Container-Classroom photos

I asked Sharon for a couple of photos of the container-classrooms to give you a better idea of what they look like and here they are:

This one had just been put up.

And inside are various donated computers all set up and ready to educate

They really are a brilliant idea.

Newspaper and Magazine promotion

I'm going to be in the paper!

Earlier in the week I phoned the Kent Messenger to try and promote my little marathon adventure and see if they'd be interested in a local chap running a long way in a hot, sandy place for charity (hint hint).

It turns out they were, so yesterday afternoon an almost unbelievably stereotypical photographer came round to take a very staged photo of me in my running gear.

He was nice enough and, while I expressed my reservations about taking a photo on the local promenade as opposed to a local trail run, he said: "they're not really interested in your style or the background - they just want a photo of your head and shoulders"...

Oh. Of course. Silly me. At least I remembered to shave!

Anyway, I'd brought down my camera to ask if he'd take one with mine for me, but no. Apparently the newspaper would rather make me pay £8 for a digital copy of the photo of myself (reminds me of the outrageous prices the official Tough Mudder photographers wanted: £30) so no handy photo for the blog then.

While Kent Messenger will have, no doubt,  an excellent and beautifully touched up photo of me looking incredibly natural in a perfect barefoot-style running position, Trail Running magazine who also want to add some bits about the marathon and my journey, will have to make do with this home timed attempt I took down a little trail that I like to run:

The editor of Trail Running magazine originally wanted a photo of my running barefoot, but I explained that barefoot-style and barefoot are quite different things, so she'll have to make do with one in my Vivo's.

It's not actually so hard to get press coverage as it turns out. You'd think that getting hold of an editor of a popular magazine would be hard (though to be fair I haven't yet tried Runner's World) but they all put their editor's contact details on their websites and a quick phone call usually get's the name of the person to speak to or at least their email address. In my experience though it's always better to actually speak to someone before sending them a load of info via email as it's harder for them to ignore, plus you get to personally "sell" your story and make a connection with the editor.

As it turns out, she said that she thought her old school teacher was also running the Sahara Marathon so I should look her up when we head over. It's a small world!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing my mug in print and hopefully accompanied with links to both this blog and my JustGiving page so that readers can show their support.

Marathon Training Plan(s)

Sahara Marathon Training Plan

Originally, I'd created a plan that had John and I start training in October. This had a gradual build up of mileage with the plan to do a full length marathon a month before race day (on my Birthday in fact) as a preparation for the race.

You can download my original Sahara Marathon Training Plan and have a look. The idea was that we could print it off and stick it on the wall and tick off and record times for each session and share our successes with each other.

My coach suggested that doing a marathon before the actual date was madness as the risk of injury was too great but that as long as there was a full month before race day, it would probably be OK. My thoughts were along the lines of "well what if we'd been training for an ultra? We'd be doing longer than marathon length as part of our training, so what's the problem with doing a marathon length as part of the training for a marathon?"

Most of the marathon training advice I read online backs up the initial opinion of my coach and I've no yet had a good answer to my thoughts. I guess it comes from the idea that many many people run marathons each year, but considerably fewer run ultras and the science behind ultra-marathon training is lagging behind the marathon training science purely because there's less/no money in it.

Delays, Injury and the 11 week marathon training plan

In late October, I hurt my foot a little and had to take a week or two off and then again in November. Now it's December and we have 11 weeks before the race!

Sadly we're no longer looking at running the race at any kind of decent pace. Now we're training just to get through it :-( I'm actually not that upset because after speaking to a previous runner, they said that while they normally run a marathon in 3:30, they took 5hrs because of the sand! So running a rocket pace isn't a priority for this charity race (a quick reminder that this is for charity and they need your donation please).

So, I created a new, gentler plan and sent it off to my coach, Louise at Run to Become, to check through. It seems that I'm generally too hard on myself because she quickly came back with an even more gentle plan and some great ideas about how to run/pace and really emphasised the importance of the long run over every other kind of running we do on our training.

The Revised Plan

So here it is. The revised plan that will (WILL!) see me through to race day.

There are some important notes that came with the plan:

Recovery Runs

Recovery runs are short-distance runs at an easy pace to accelerate recovery for your next workout.

Cross Training (CT)

Cross training refers to easy walking, cycling or swimming. On Cross Training days you can choose to take a complete rest or do some light cross training.

Aerobic Runs

A moderate-effort run is a standard element of your marathon preparation. Aerobic runs are usually done at a pace that is 20 percent slower than the marathon race pace.

Long Runs

According to the following Marathon Training tips page, the main goal of the marathon long run is to build enough endurance for your marathon race. Depending on your level, these runs usually start at 10-12 miles in length and build up to 20-22 miles. The farther you run, the more time you need for your recovery.

Marathon Pace (MP) runs

These runs are partly done at your predicted marathon pace. So, for example: "18 mi long run / 10 mi MP" means that 10 of those 18 miles should be done at marathon pace.

Lactate-Threshold (LT) runs

Lactate-threshold runs are tempo runs of at least 20-25 minutes at this so-called lactate-threshold pace. Depending on your level, these runs are usually around 15K to half marathon pace. If an aerobic run of 10 miles calls for 5 miles LT, 

I'm not sure I get some of these different run types

I'm training to run the race barefoot style, part of which means a cadence of 180 steps per minute or greater. The difficulty with this is that the difference in pace between the different run types listed above is negligible. 

If I run at Marathon Pace, I'm running really slowly with short, high cadence steps trying to keep my heart rate in the "aerobic zone" (check out the following web page on heart rate zones). The problem is that running 20% slower doesn't involve 20% less effort. 

I still have to keep the cadence high and the steps short, but at that speed I really can walk just as fast, so how do I run an aerobic run at a 20% slower speed than my marathon pace?

The only really easy ones are the LT ones as that's about where I've always run. All my running over the last year has been with a heart rate in the 160-170 range and if I just run as I feel, I generally run at a heart rate of 163, but that's well inside the anaerobic band (past the lactate threshold), so again I'm struggling to run in the aerobic zone.

That said, I've been making a real effort to find and stay inside the aerobic zone and my coaching has definitely helped me on that front and I feel like I'm getting closer.

I guess I'll just have to train and see how I adapt. 

Back on the running and Cardiac Drift

Last night I went out for the first run in over a week after resting my left foot after the dreaded TOFP (Top Of Foot Pain) and I'm delighted to report that it was a complete success!

Not only was it a good long run, but I'd aimed to run for one and a half hours and that's what I did. 8 miles, which isn't fast, but that wasn't the point. Also, running in the pitch dark along a country path beside a stinky marsh at high speed isn't the best advised course of action (though it was fun to do it on Halloween while listening to the "Zombies, Run!" game/app - which is excellent btw).

Here's the Mapmyrun.com mapped run, so you can see where I ran to (Gravesend to Chalk and back) and below is the image of my heart rate as I ran (click to enlarge)

Cardiac Drift

Interestingly, you can see how my heart rate increased towards the end of the run. Nearly all my runs have this and from what I've read it's something called cardiac drift - where for each 1% we lose in bodyweight through sweat etc. our heart rate goes up around 7 bpm. That said, I'm not sure that this would account for all of the increase so it's definitely something to watch.

Apparently, cardiac drift is caused by a thickening of the blood as we lose blood volume by water loss. It just shows how important maintaining good hydration through a run is.

In yesterday's run, I filled up my bottle of water and then... Left it by the front door as I wrestled with keys, earphones etc.

Doh!

Normally, this would have killed my run 20 mins in, but as I was taking it so easy and the fact that it was -1C outside, I actually didn't sweat very much and didn't really start thinking about water until the last 20 mins or so.

Of course, today, my hip-flexors are sore and I've given my feet a couple of massages, but it's all "sore" as opposed to "hurting", so it's all good.

It's a rest day today (part of the plan) and will be back on it tomorrow. Oh, no wait, it's Monday. That means I've got Bodypump tonight at Meopham Gym.

:-D

Can't beat a bit of cross-training to keep me fit and maximise my endurance and strength for the run. It'll also be wicked to stretch out those hip-flexors.

Running shoes for a desert marathon

The terrain of the Sahara marathon is going to be a mix of loose sand, packed dirt and rock, and I had it under good authority (a previous Sahara marathon finisher) that normal running trainers aren't going to cut it in this trail environment.

Fortunately, Vivobarefoot are sponsoring me in the footwear department so, after discussing the options with their team, we decided that the Breatho Trail were the pair to use as they'll be light and airy and have serious tread that should deal with the varied terrain without any problems.

First Impressions

Today, my training pair arrived through the post and, as this is the first time I've been sponsored in such a way, it was with a mix of excitement and the weight of responsibility that I opened the package and took in the sight and smell of my new pair of trail running shoes :-)

I don't know what it is about equipment and sport but there is, for me at least, a strong link between motivation and new gadgets/equipment. Be it a new pair of shoes, a GPS watch or something as simple as an LED light, my desire to go for a super long and awesome run is never greater than when I've just got some new stuff to go running with.

Anyway, I was surprised at the size of the shoes when I opened the box and I was a little worried we'd ordered too big. The advice from the Vivo team (and also printed on their website) is to go a size up because the shoes come in a little small.

Much to my relief, they actually fit perfectly and I now understand why they say go up a size. I don't think it's because the shoes come in small, but rather they're designed to give your feet room and, rather than hold them in and "support" (aka weaken) your feet like other modern shoes, these allow your feet and toes to spread. It also gives them room to grow as your feet get bigger by becoming stronger (or swell... as in from the heat of the Sahara desert).

I know all about the foot-expansion side effects of transitioning to barefoot running; having had to chuck out all my existing trainers and shoes earlier in the year after I discovered that my feet no longer fitted into them at all.

I swear barefooting should come with a wallet warning - it might be cheaper to wear no shoes, but be warned that you'll have to buy a whole new shoe wardrobe for those events when bare feet are not appropriate.

The Breatho Trails felt very smooth and comfortable to wear, not to mention light so I'm really looking forward to getting out for a run in them (but not before I've given my foot a couple more days rest)!

Taking them off to take a photo or two, I noticed that they're actually a single piece of material on the inside which will make keeping the sand out a little easier, though I think I'll still have to find or sew on some gaiters to keep as much out as possible. Advice from people doing the Marathon Des Sables was to avoid getting sand into shoes at all costs because it'll basically be like having sand paper for socks for 26 miles...

Nasty.

Yet another reason to donate a little something on my JustGiving page eh? ;-)

The grips on the bottom look awesome and the trademark hexagonal lugs look as though they were made especially to be little sand scoops to give me loads of grip in the loose sand and dirt of the desert.

Yes that is my cat trying to get into the box in the background.
She goes potty for cardboard boxes. Weirdo.

They'll also be fantastic on the mud and gravel on the Saxon Shore - an awesome trail run along the banks of the Thames estuary and down to Rochester.

Can't wait to go running!

Metatarsal Stress Fracture Scare

Arrg!

Monday night I was just about to complete my long run for the week (a mere 13km but hey, I'm transitioning to barefoot, so had to start my distances again) and after running down a hill in Gravesend, I had a sudden pain in the top of my left foot. After limping a little I tried running again but it was hurting still, so I limped a little more until it stopped. I was then able to carefully run the rest of the way home and while it was sore, it wasn't excruciating.

I was immediately onto the internet to find out what it might be and to my horror, I came across this video about metatarsal stress fractures that describes exactly the pain and inflammation I was experiencing on my foot.

As I said: Horror! 

Actually this doesn't begin to express just how down I was about it and I have to thank my girlfriend for being amazing and supporting me through a very depressed day by making me lemon pie and giving me a calf and foot massage (gently). Thanks babe!

I left it a couple of days (mostly because I was doing my day job and running a business intelligence project with CapricornVentis for one of our insurance clients) and while my foot isn't as painful as it was, it was still a bit swollen and making me limp a little.

This morning I took my foot (accompanied by the rest of me) to a local hospital to get it checked out. Amazingly, there was no queue and I was seen within about 10 minutes in the minor injuries clinic. The nurse who was helping me (who asked not to be named) agreed that an x-ray was needed to rule out the possibility of a metatarsal (or other) stress fracture.

I love how the way we phrase stuff can totally change how we think about things. The nurse wanted to "rule out the possibility of a stress fracture." She could have said "check and see..." or any number of other combinations, but for me, almost at once, I started feeling more positive about it and found myself focussing on ruling out the possibility.

Anyway, my foot was immediately x-rayed and the results poured over by myself and the nurse for a good 10 mins (and while I snuck the photo of the screen below).

We both agreed that there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the bones and that it's probably a ligament or tendon strain.

AMAZING!

And despite the video saying that even if the x-ray is negative, stress fracture should still be suspected, I find myself feeling very buoyant and positive again :)

I'll still be taking a couple of weeks off (using the formula that I found on various forums: From pain stop + 1 week before running again) but so glad that I won't have to can the whole event. 

I'll definitely be taking my running easier and going to some barefoot training as soon as I'm able to run again.

One thing that is interesting to see is how much my little and big toes' bones have been pushed in by wearing modern, pointy shoes all my life. Really backs up what the Vivobarefoot team were saying on the barefoot freedom night the other week.

Barefoot Freedom Night

I have been transitioning to barefoot-style running since August this year and I had planned on talking about barefoot running and my experiences a bit later on this blog but I was unexpectedly given the opportunity to go to a "Barefoot Freedom Night" at Innovation Warehouse in London this week which I couldn't not write about.

John has also been transitioning to barefoot running though he's taking the more extreme route of just running in bare feet and the other night he did 7.5km about 5 of which was on tarmac. Now one of the best things about running barefoot and running on unforgiving and tough services like that is that you learn proper form very quickly.

John discovered, as you can see from the photo below, that he has a tendency to push off forward (rather than lifting) with his feet which created the mother of all blisters because of the rubbing doing so causes between foot and ground.

You'll have to ask him about it and I'm very proud of the fact that he didn't pop it but he did post a picture on Facebook which got a lot of comments and discussion and was how I found out about the barefoot freedom night.

Free barefoot training seminar? nearby in London? with a chance to win some minimalist shoes? £3 entry?

Very hard to say no to that, so I signed up straight away!

The evening was hosted by Ian Randolph in aid of Age UK and co-hosted by @StartUpFit (They have loads of other events happening on their meetup page as well which are totally worth checking out). Both Ian and the guys (Neil and Klaus) from @StartUpFit were keen runners and Ian regularly runs around London in nothing but his Birthday shoes. I have to take a moment to thank Ian, Klaus and Neil for putting on a great evening at Innovation Warehouse, arranging some seriously inspiring and passionate speakers and getting together an excellent group of barefooters.

On to the good stuff...

The evening speakers and indeed raffle sponsors were Vivobarefoot and wow did they deliver a high value evening. Right from the start I got talking Ben Le Vesconte who is training director at Vivobarefoot and we've subsequently agreed to set up a training session so I'm really excited to set that up and hopefully I'll be allowed to take some footage of my running before and after and see if I can get it up here so you can see the difference.

Anyway, once introductions were done, Ben proceeded to give us the facts about correct and incorrect running posture and style and literally within 5 minutes, I'd spotted the main reason my barefoot running has been causing me foot pain: I'm over striding!

Despite thinking I'm landing with my feet underneath me, the mere description that Ben gave of the injuries (Planter Faciitis, Achilles Tendinitis and Metatarsal stress fractures among others) along with a description of how you tell when someone's over striding: Their feet are making "slapping" noises made light bulbs go off and I had a big grin on my face because even if I learnt nothing else, that night, my running was going to improve.

Next up was Mark who, like myself when I'm working with my business consultancy clients, is very direct and open and while some can see that as confrontational, it's really provocative and he made a very compelling case!

Mark got us all to draw what we think a foot looks like on a piece of paper. I don't suggest you do this now, but do pause and have a think about it before reading onwards.

Our feet, when we're born look make a kind of V shape from the heel up to the toes. Google images for "Babies Feet" and you'll see what I mean.

So why then, do adults feet not look like that?

Obviously I'm going to say "the modern shoe", and you've bound to have heard the arguments for and against cushioned soles to shoes, but this isn't about that. This is about the fact that modern shoes, ALL modern shoes close to a point (be it sharp, like smart shoes, or rounded, like trainers) they all squeeze our toes into a nice, rounded toe box.

The problem here is that our feet aren't rounded at the end!

In 1905, a bunch of doctors did a study on the natural foot shape based on people who had been barefoot their whole lives.

Checkout the photo below to see what a normal foot looks like:

Looks pretty weird huh? Well that's because we've grown used to feet that look cramped together. Have a look at my feet in the photo below and compare.

What a difference!

[Edit: Also check out the x-ray of my left foot from my recent metatarsal fracture scare]

The most important thing to note is that my big toes are not in line with my heels (as per the 1905 photo). This means that my walking, running and indeed posture is compromised from how the "normal" evolved human's.

There was loads and loads of other really fascinating and mind blowing stuff from the Vivobarefoot guys but this foot shape was something I'd not come across before and completely blew my socks off.

Quite literally.

I'm no longer wearing socks and will be chucking out all my pointy, restrictive shoes in favour of wide toe boxed ones or no shoes at all. I'm also starting a "foot" diary and will be taking photos of my feet regularly to see (hopefully) how my toes start to realign towards their more normal positions, so apologies in advance of more foot photos up here.

I can recommend a read (or two) of their free ebook on barefoot running technique and if you're in London, check out their training clinics!

To cap an amazing evening off, not only did I meet loads of interesting people who I'm going to be keeping in touch with but I also won a pair of the Vivo's in the raffle! Mark at Vivo recommended that I grab a pair of their "lifestyle" shoes so I can wear them to work, and that's exactly what I've done and I can't wait for them to arrive!

I'll also be speaking to them about getting involved in my marathon which would be so exciting and I can't think of a bunch of people more dedicated to improving the health of people's feet (even if they don't buy their shoes). It really is inspiring, so expect more from me about Vivobarefoot and in the mean time, you should checkout their Pinterest board of press, reviews and blogs of their shoes.

Is the Sahara Marathon Dangerous

Is the Sahara Marathon dangerous and should I be scared?

There are one or two articles on websites around the sahara marathon that point out that the area isn't very safe.

I know that the Saharawi are refugees from a war and logically, if they're still refugees, it's because the war never really finished, but I'd not really considered that we might be going into an actively dangerous region...

I have already linked to an article about how the Moroccan government have forcibly removed the UN international observers from the Western Sahara, but I figured that that was in the Western Sahara, well away from  the camps we're going to be visiting, and besides - we're going to be in Algeria not the Western Sahara.

However...

This rather worrying news article (in French, so you may want to Google Translate it) talks about a kidnapping of foreign aid workers from one of the camps by Al-Qaeda just this time last year! One positive is that they were taken from the one refugee camp we aren't going to be running through (Rabouni camp). But it still talks about (as do other articles about the incident) how it wouldn't have been possible if there hadn't been AL-Qaeda sympathisers in the camp security/organisation.

Now I'm starting to wonder, so I check out the UK government travel advisory website for Algeria:

"Avoid all by essential travel to part(s) of the country"

...and in particular...

"We advise against all but essential travel to areas within 450km of the Mali and Niger borders and within 100km of the Mauritania border. This is due to the increasing threat from terrorism in southern Algeria."

So how close is Tindouf to the Mauritanian border?

Oh.

John, with whom I'm running, also kindly sent me the link to the US version of the travel advice centre which says:

"The Department of State urges U.S. citizens who travel to Algeria to evaluate carefully the risks posed to their personal safety. There is a high threat of terrorism and kidnappings in Algeria. "

Double Oh.

Please don't tell my mum.

What about other health risks?

According to the UK health guide, the list of possible health hazards that may need vaccination (if indeed a vaccination is possible) are:

• Yellow Fever - no risk. 

Phew! good start to the list!

• Hepatitis A -  low risk, no vaccination needed for "most travellers" unless you're staying in an area with low hygiene standards. 

Like a refugee camp for example...

• Hepatitis B  - 2-7% of the population are carriers. 

Good thing I have no intention of swapping bodily fluids with any of them then.

• Rabies - Transmission may occur following contact with the saliva from an infected wild or domestic animal (including bats), most often via a bite or lick to an open wound. Risk of exposure is increased by type of activity (e.g. running, cycling). Pre-exposure vaccination should be given to adults and children who are travelling to remote areas where medical care is not readily available.

Hmmm I'm fairly sure I'll be ok, but I might ask the doc before I go.

• TB - The average annual incidence of TB from 2006 to 2008 was greater than or equal to 40 cases per 100,000 population.

I had the BCG jab as school. Does that mean I'm still covered?

• Typhoid - low risk, no vaccination needed for "most travellers" unless you're staying in an area with low hygiene standard. 

Like a refugee camp for example... That sounds familiar...

• Malaria - What!? In the desert!? Oh, wait... No the desert is ok. 

No malaria in the desert. Phew!

• Schistosomiasis (no vaccine available) - (Schistosomiasis is a parasitic flatworm infection of the intestinal or urinary system caused by one of several species of Schistosoma) - Travellers should avoid wading, swimming, or bathing in fresh water

No danger of that happening in the desert.

Well, it seems that the greatest danger comes in the form abduction, shooting and possible beheading rather than parasitic or viral attack...

John and I were sh*#ing ourselves at this point, so I picked up the phone to have a chat with one of the people who ran the race this year, just a few months after the kidnappings to find out just how dangerous it is.

To my huge relief, he very quickly said that this is a militarised area and there is a military escort for the whole group at all times. It's unnerving, he said, but you quickly get used to and it's just the way things are out there.

At least that's something to be positive about but I tell you I'm very glad we only have to spend a week there!

If we don't come back, please can you all agree to at least get us up to our fundraising target?

Politics of the Western Sahara

Politics of the Western Sahara

When John and I started talking about running a marathon and indeed when we'd decided to run this particular one, I don't think we had really understood just how contentious the whole Western Sahara issue is.

Thinking about it now, I guess it shows a huge level of naivety on my part not to have at least had an inkling about that when I first read about it:

• People are killing for and dying over this.
• Morocco has built a 1500km long sand wall manned by 100,000 soldiers and and filled it with unknown hundreds of thousands if not millions of land mines. 
• We are visiting a refugee camp created by this conflict!

I didn't and I still don't want to make my trip a "political" statement.

I want to help people who can't help themselves but the more I read, the more I start to understand that staying neutral isn't really possible. Just by going there I'm effectively saying that I support the Sahrawi, but that makes me distinctly uncomfortable because I've always thought of Morocco as a friendly and relatively modern and civilised country that I'd like to go on holiday to some time.

The 1500km long sand wall "Berm" as seen from a satellite via Google Maps

The fact that the UN and the African Union both say that Morocco's occupation of the region is unlawful - read about the UN's Mission for Referendum on Western Sahara (MINURSO) on the UN's website - makes me feel much better about supporting the people in the camps but it still makes me feel nervous that I'm getting involved in a political situation that I don't have any personal stake in.

[Edit: to balance the argument, here's a link to a pro-Morocco news blog which talks about why the UN is wrong and is even slightly critical of the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. TBH, I'm not sure it does them any favours but that might just be a bit of confirmation bias on my part.]

That said, given that I have the ability to write a website, run a marathon and raise some money, don't I have a moral obligation to do what I can?

Now I think I start to understand why the West has a habit of sticking its nose into so many other countries' businesses...

It's all getting a bit philosophical and political for my liking (and taking me out of my comfort zone, which is one of the reasons I do this kind of thing).

What got me thinking about this, and thus writing this post about my thinking, was an article Sandblast (with whom I'm running the marathon) posted on Facebook from Guardian newspaper written by a Sahrawi protester. The article is quite moving and speaks of all sorts of rights violations, but Sandblast also recommended reading the comments afterwards which really opened my eyes to the seriousness and passion of each side of the argument.

Along side the obvious, but extremely well written and somewhat convincing, propaganda from a Moroccan PR/gov person, there were arguments (some well made, backed up with evidential articles and some not) from both sides of the conflict and there were definitely moments I was thinking about changing my mind and finding something less contentious to get involved in.

There were also some interesting parallels drawn (by an obviously pro-Moroccan commenter) between the way the demolition of the Laayounne protest camps and the dispersal of the Occupy Wall Street protesters  were carried out and the violence that ensued (from both protesters and police). I think both sides of the argument agreed this was the case and perhaps one of the key reasons why the Western Sahara conflict hasn't really made main-stream news: A little too close to home?

It's quite frustrating in a way because I don't want to get involved in a political argument and risk confrontation with anyone let alone people potentially armed and dangerous. All I want to do is to run a marathon somewhere awesome and meet some amazing people who's quality of life I can improve.

Perhaps this is the first profound change in me that this journey has caused - an understanding that the only wrong thing to do would be to do nothing.

Why am I running a marathon?

Why am I running a marathon?

Hi, I'm Ben and over the last 12 months I have run a couple of the, now extremely popular, mud runs in the UK. Both were 10-12 miles long with umpteen obstacles and both were excellent fun. Having done them lots of my friends were up for signing up for the next one but I somehow felt that I'd "done" them and didn't need to do them again. 

They weren't challenging enough...

Me in the middle of Tough Mudder

So talking with a friend of mine, John Morgan, who ran with me on one of the mud runs and was of the same opinion, we decided that perhaps something a little harder was in order.

We settled on a marathon, but we both agreed that we weren't particularly interested in doing a normal, run-of-the-mill marathon in the UK. We wanted this to be special and interesting, not that running any kind of marathon isn't interesting and special, we just wanted it to be especially challenging (and therefore rewarding).

John and I spent some time Googling and searching the internet and finally came across the Sahara Marathon. Being a bit of an organisation nut, I quickly tracked down the affiliated charity in the UK (Sandblast) and called them up to find out more.

From the initial conversation I was extremely excited. There seemed to me to be many many reasons to run choose this particular marathon:

• Sahara Desert - sand, huge open spaces and nice weather. Check.
• A marathon to run in a challenging environment and incredible scenery. Check
• An interesting and not often visited country to see (Algeria). Check
• A chance to raise a substantial amount of money and make a real difference to people who need it. Check.
• Living and surviving with refugees in their family homes (huts and tents) for a week. Check
• A holiday with a mate (not to be overlooked in its importance). Check

The more I read and watch about this marathon, the more excited I get about being there and enjoying it!

I'm really nervous about the running but I think overall I'm more nervous about staying in the refugee camp for a week. It's totally going to test my modern, western comfort levels. 

No showers! 

Bottled water only - which means I'm going to spend the whole week paranoid about getting the runs or worse.

Sharing endless cups of Sahrawi tea - is it safe or nice? What if it makes me sick!? Will they be offended?

Entertaining the kids - apparently we are recommended to bring lots of small gifts and bits to give to the families and the children which is going to be difficult with a very small luggage allowance and 250-300,000 people to share the stuff with... 

Worrying about security and our safety given that Morocco have a tendency of attacking the camps every now and then and that they've recently chucked the UN international observers out of the country.

I don't even know if there's going to be electricity to charge things like camera batteries and laptops.

It's going to be so awesome and I'm going to be so far outside my comfort zone! 

This is why I chose to run a  marathon in the Sahara.

Please think of the people who have to live in the refugee camp and if you can't think of them, please think of me and support me and them on my JustGiving page.

Thank You.