Well I suppose it could only happen to me! From the evening when we arrived in Morocco, all through the 6 hour drive to the first camp and all day Saturday it just didn't stop raining. The Brits were the only one to even make it camp as flash floods were sealing off roads and blocking the others coaches. We were evacuated from camp the same day as some tents were literally under water and transferred to a hotel to await information on the status of the race. There was not a good atmosphere as we all started to realise that there was now a very real chance that the race could be cancelled. In 24 years of previous races this situation had never happened before!

Eventually the rain started to ease and we were told that if the weather holds we were good to go but we were losing the first day and starting on the Monday. We were also told that the original route was being scrapped due to the fact that the dry river beds we were due to cross were now full of water! We were going to be instructed on a day by day basis on our route and distance, at least we had a race though!!

On admin day we asked our rep, Rob, if there was any chance of adding the distance we were losing from day one on to the rest of the course. He   told us that he would ask but also advised us to wait and see how we felt after day one as we were being thrown straight into 14km of big dunes, followed by 12km of hard ground and finished off with another 4.5km of big dunes which he said combined with the the high levels of humidity expected, would be in his words 'just horrendous'!!

So how do you make the toughest race in the world tougher? I thought I'd try picking up a stomach bug which resulted in me being violently sick on a regular basis, unable to keep any food in and only just being able to keep water down, eventually I started getting stomach cramps too and was seriously worried about getting through it. My biggest fear was hydration and I knew that I was burning a hell of a lot of calories each day but just wasn't able to replace them, I was surviving and getting by on sipping water and taking lots of salt tablets but I had major doubts that I could physically survive the whole week like this. I knew now that the race and pace I had planned was firmly out of the window and it was now just a case of getting through and completing the course. For the first two days I ate one small pack of mini cheddars, which came back up during the night, I also woke up in the night freezing cold but soaked in sweat and shivering, I knew this wasn't very good news!

I knew I had to eat on the long day so I took out all of my snacks and put them in my front pack so I could hopefully just snack through the day enough to keep my body ticking over. I wasn't expecting for the organisers to announce the longest day ever in Marathon des Sables history though! The distance to be covered today was 91km and the second half included climbing and descending a gorge in pitch dark followed by a big section of dunes finished off with around 30 km of loose rock which was just the most painful possible surface to walk on. I'd always planned to do this stage in one hit although there is the option of stopping over night but I knew I'd just have to listen to my body and if I needed to rest I'd have to take it. I stopped at a checkpoint as it was getting dark as I was now just too weak and I knew that my body was out of fuel and I had to force some food down otherwise I was finished. I managed to get a load of snacks down, mainly by crunching it up, holding my nose, and swallowing it with water, rested for half an hour or so then set off into the night. To be honest the whole stage is a complete blur as I was so focused on just getting through it, all I know is that it took 23hours and 20 minutes and it felt like it too! I'd also turned my right ankle quite badly so went to see the doctors who were excellent and strapped it very heavily which would hopefully give enough support to get me through the 42.2km the next but final day. I knew I was going to do it now.

So the final stage, my ankle was swollen, guts were still in turmoil but I was so so happy to be at that start line. This was still going to be a long painful day but I knew that I was within touching distance of that medal. When we reached the top of the hill at 40km and saw the finish line I was relieved but also realised that 2 years of work, planning and excitement was over. I didn't get to do the sort of times I was looking to do but I really think in this race that is almost not a consideration. It ended up being a very personal, mental, battle and I am absolutely 100% definite that, in the condition I was in, i put every single ounce of effort that I had in to getting my body over that line. When you looked around at the end and saw the condition that some of the runners were in you realised that people really had pushed themselves to their very limits, one Brit even completed the full marathon distance on the final day on crutches which i think is just shows how much finishing this race means to everyone who takes part, well done to him.

Thanks to the boys of Tent 69, such a great week and some great laughs even though I was feeling like death for most of it! The biggest thank you goes to everyone who supported me either by donating money, wishing me well, sending emails while I was out there or just putting up with me going on about it for 2 years! We are £100 short of hitting the £10,000 mark for Mencap which is an absolutely incredible amount and on behalf of Mencap I can't thank you enough. So that's it then! I'll keep this site live so that I can keep you posted about the next events but for now I think I'm just going to concentrate on getting lot's of weight back on! Thanks for your support. Daz.