On Sunday 3rd April, the 26th Marathon des Sables gets underway somewhere in the Sahara in southern Morocco. Around 1000 runners will be setting off t run 150 miles in six stages at what's often billed the toughest footrace on earth. I'll be one

Stage 1 : 33KThe first 13K of the stage was on the flat. The ground was uneven but firm and I was feeling fine. In the distance were towering sand dunes that shimmered like silk; they turned out to be the next part of the route and stunning though they were to look at, they were ...

Stage 2: 38KThe sun usually rises here just before 6am but there was no sunrise this morning. We woke to a sandstorm, just what we didn't need to kick off a 38K stage. I'm sharing a tent with Jay Batchen, who has done the race eight or so times: he said he had never seen such win...

Stage 3: 38KI should say a little about our routine in the camp: at 6am the tent is taken down while the eight of us sharing it pull sleeping bags high and tight over our heads to pretend it isn't happening. Grudgingly accepting reality we rise for breakfast: cold porridge with m...

Stage 5: 42KToday was the marathon stage of the race. I managed to run the first half - I'd become bored with walking and wanted to test myself, but at the second checkpoint, at the 24K-mark, and with the temperature hovering around 50C, I took a

At just 17.5K, the final stage of the 26th Marathon des Sables was the shortest by far but still proved to be challenging. It was another hot day - although once the temperature rises above 40C it's hard to differentiate between simply hot

You've followed Triathlete's World Editor Alison's Marathon des Sables blog over the last week, and now she's back with some stunning pictures which show off the dramatic backdrop to this epic week-long desert race (and her bandaged feet...).

better in the morning. And of course, it does.I found out that I had a place at the 26th Marathon des Sables just three months earlier. The six-stage, seven-day race, which takes place in southern Morocco every year, might attract runners from all over

is 34 hours) so people are starting to emerge from their tents to go over to the finish and cheer them in. I'm not feeling too tired because I didn't run but I'm still nervous about the marathon stage tomorrow. Grimacing with every step takes a little

over 100 miles in one go appals me. I ran 50 miles last year in the Alps and had to be jolted out of a near-death experience with a shot of adrenaline. The Marathon des Sables might have been longer than the Jordan thing, but at least they made you