Sahara Race update 6

Well, Norma has made It, at this hour of the morning (I am writing this from Mexico) The Sahara Race is officially over and She did amazingly and in one piece. So She will be at home and posting next week in the meantime I will copypaste what She sent me:

I made it at 2:30am!. It was the longest 18hrs of my life, child labour included, contractions don't come and stay. the course was 100k and sandy, I could have run more than I did but I just simply couldn't do it, I have had enough of gels and powerbars and I didn't really eat much and that made me loose my energy.

I am amazed of the level of dificulty, the race itself is hard with the heat and the sand, on top of that having to run with all your supplies on your back is just simply a test of endurance. I did really well the 3rd day but then on I had a harder time going.

The course was 9 stages with a distance increasing from 7k t 14k. We started at 8am and top 25 racers started two hours later, I felt fantastic the first stage and I got increasingly weaker and weaker. I have run 100k races before so I knew not to get emotional and to run my own race so that it's what I did and I am glad, at the end i had absolutelly nothing left. but I finished and that was my first and most important goal.

I rest today since there are people still on the course, there was the option to sleep around halfway or go all the way, of course I decided to do it on one go. I am not sure why I didn't do better, I think 12:30am would have been possible but I just couldn't run anymore so I walked for most of the course and if you think that is easier, It is not, I was out there in the elements, heat and later the cold with hardly any food and walking on soft sand, what Simon my tent mate described is equal to trying to run on ice. I way Ryan and Dean round check point 3, it was amazing ot see how fast they where running, Nina the top female finisher also passed me around check point 4, she was looking strong as well.

We have only 6K to go tomorrow so this is it, they will load up in a bus at 2am tomorrow to the start line which is by the Giza Pyramids to have friends and family watch the finish of the race.

I received tons of emails from the CNIB. what a wonderful organization, they told me they where proud of me. during the course of the race I never lost sight of why I am here, it has never been about me but about the wonderful organization I came to represent. I am proud that I gave it 100% and sometimes specially last night when walking on soft sand, tired, hungry, cold and with 10 more hours to go it felt like 150%.

I met wonderful people here this week, some are athletes that came to win, some are like me that come to represent a charity and some are just plain nuts, but we all have one thing in common, we came here to give it our best and that is excatly what we did, some won, some finished and some didn't but at the end that didn't matter, we acomplished what we set out to do this week. To me pushing more and more each time I think I can't possible can't give me an insight of what it is to face a challenge like a disability, I would never pretent to understand how tought it really is, it just make me have more respect for kids like my son Karl or any other human facing a disability.

I am also learning about not taking things for granted, I miss having a shower, a nice meal, clean clothes, seeing my loved ones, having a coup of coffee. we have build our life with excesses and conveniences that we forget that all we really need a human beings is the simple things in life.

Salaam Akelam

Sahara Race update 5

Did you think She was on vacation?. Think twice because She is running 100K in the scorching sand of the Sahara. I think they already have a pill to cure that and make her a good stay at home wife, you know the ones that make buns in the oven and the only time they think of the Sahara is when they watch Brendan Fraser in "The Mummy". While We buy those pills for Norma I am posting what She emailed me yesterday:

Wow, I guess they call it Sahara desert for a reason, after a wonderful day like yesterday I assumed I was climatizing but I guess not. Today it was suppose to be an easy 38K but the temperature raised to 41 celsius, I had trouble coordinating my legs and I felt drunk most of the time. As usual there where 3 stages but this time I had a hard time running from the get go. I know you are suppose to take it one day at a time but all I could think was that tomorrow is 2 and a half longer that any previous day. I am not worried about the distance but on this conditions: hot and on soft sand is definatelly hard to run.

There is a blind competitor and He is my tent mate, he is from Korea, He is running with his pace and He is doing amazing. Everytime I am out there I can't help but to feel inspired, I can't imagine running on this conditions and not being able to see the amazing landscape. Watching the amazing surrondings is what really makes it bearable. He comes not too far behind me and it's always smiling.

Pam Swan form the CNIB in Calgary is also keeping in touch, she said the CNIB is watching my progress, those are the small things that are gold when I feel like I can't go any longer. If you are reading this please call Pam Swan at the Calgary CNIB and donate generously. The work they do is 100 times harder and more important that any race I will ever do.

Other person that is also sending good vibes is Mario Lacerda from Brazil, there are two of his friends running Sahara and we are keeping each other company while talking about Brazil 135 which we are all doing in January.

I will not blog tomorrow, i have my 100k which will test the human limits, send your good vibes from wherever you are after all I know I will not be here if it's not because all of you

ps. Dean Karnazes is sitting behing me blogging, he is such a great guy and very humble, I try and leave him alone, I don't want him to think I am his stalker althoug I am clearly star struck :o)

Salaam Aleykum

Sahara Race update 3

Norma is well into the third day of the run but she made the time yesterday to send us an e-mail. In case you are wondering She's alive and kicking and the spirits are running high. Here's what she wrote:

Today was 38K and Hot, we woke up to "Walking on Sunshine" at least the race directors have a sense of humor.

The course was suppose to be 3 stages with the first one hard and the other two moderate, it turn out to be the other way around. I am taking it one day at a time. Most people found it harder today, I felt better than since for the first time had a full night sleep. I am still not sure how I am going to do 4 more days. the next 3 are suppose to be 100% harder that the first two.

Spirits around me are fading, when we started we where told that if we got bitten by anything we where going to be pulled out immediately, we all slept afraight of scorpions and snakes the first night. Now we are all walking around barefooted and kicking rocks so we can go home with our ego intact.

At the end of the day I most look forward to the emails, so thank you all for writing


akelam salam

Sahara Race update 1

Hi everybody, I am Carlos the older brother of Norma and fan of her since she was born (she was good at cheating on cards when she was 4, Sorry Norma, enough embarrassment for a day). Anyway, I am commisioned with the task of posting what she is sending me via e-mail because she is currently running the Sahara Race and she is not allowed to blog, only one e-mail a day, so in the next days I will be updating you and copy-pasting her e-mails. My blog, in case you are wondering my credentials as a blogger, is powerpymes. Here is her first post:

Now is the evening before the race and I am ready to go, I have met amazing people and made so many friendships that I am sure will last forever.

How ever I am tired of traveling, I feel like on the movie "planes, trains and automobiles". Egypt is a lot rockier that I ever imagine, in my mind the sandunes where a lot smoother but in reality there is a variety of landscape. Because of recent events of the kidnapings, we endured so many check points just to make the 258K to the middle of nowhere to then run around and run back where we started.

The race is actually longer than 250K between 258 and 268 I am told, but i guess after your feet are hamburger it doens really matter.

I miss being home, is not what I expected, I have been at home working and looking after my kids for so long I assume I was just going to jump into this new life adn love it, but this as amazing and exotic is not home.

My tent mates are fantastic, there are two canadians, Jhons is a phisiotheraoist and Lynn is an artist from Canmore, there is also Kumiko from Japan and I had a great chance to talk to her. Most important, the Korean blind runner and the Korean tv crew is also in my tent, is hard for me to watch him struggle, I guess deep down I am still not OK with what's happening to Karl, I am sure that as the race progresses I will be able to look at him and talk, right now is still hard.

Well, I better go back to my tent and sleep, tomorrow's stage isn't long only 38K, I am looking forward to move again after sitting on trucks and busses for the last 4 days.
Good night

Salam alekum

Norma