My last big week of training for the upcoming Marathon Des Sables (MDS) Peru is in the bag. Running over one hundred miles and consuming thousands of extra calories to keep me going during the week has been a challenge. But now it’s taper time—and crunch time.
With the months-long training schedule and those last big miles complete, I get to back the mileage down and let my body heal and rest up before toeing the start line in the Ica desert of Peru later this month.
To round out the last couple of weeks and all this running, one of our grandkids’ football teams made it to their championship series, and we are fortunate to live close enough to go to the games. And they WON, they took it ALL!
Also, I’ve had a couple of really fun speaking engagements, attended two really fun dinner parties, and had to get new tires on my car. You know…life.
My MDS Peru run is an End Polio Now campaign with Rotary International.
As always, now it’s what I call “crunch time.” It happens to me every time, like it does for most travelers. Crunch time is that moment when you realize that your next big adventure is right around the corner. After the many months of planning and training, it’s right there. The sweet lady over at Gone Again Travel Booking has my flights and lodging arranged, but I still have to complete last-minute shopping for supplies, make final gear selections, and get it all together—rather than it being spread all about our house, bits here and piles there.
Please join us: donate at End Polio Now. #polioslastmile
Sometimes it gets lonely out there.
A few big hurdles remain: I need to find a cobbler that will sew gaiters to my running shoes, or do it myself. (These gaiters will, hopefully, keep the desert sands out of my running shoes.) I must make final “enhancements” to my backpack to allow for the load of food, emergency gear, and sleeping bag and pad that I must carry during the race. Also, I need to test my satellite communications device one last time. I’ll be posting to Facebook each day of the 155, six-stage, seven-day race, and I can text back and forth with my wife with the Garmin inReach satellite device. Here is a link to my Map Share. And the Facebook posts can be found on Grandpa’s Gone Again Facebook page, or on the feed found low on the right hand side of this webpage.
Remember, my MDS Peru run is a End Polio Now campaign. Please join us: donate at End Polio Now. #polioslastmile
Here’s a short video about the Polio’s Last Mile campaign:
We’re this close!