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

when preparing for the Marathon des Sables – my first-ever endurance race.“The French organisers being French, of course, stubbornly refused to translate any of their notes into English. “And my French being what it was, I had to translate

have to be almost too ghastly to contemplate – you may recall that I ran the Marathon des Sables with three broken ribs. However, this week I really thought I’d hit pay dirt. On Sunday, I clambered arthritically aboard a docile old horse with a Roman

– the Marathon des Sables. (Incidentally, given the recent events in Casablanca, will it ever be run again?)Anyway, I couldn’t train. To put one foot in front of the other was to experience the martyrdom of St Sebastian while having one’s lungs scraped out with a

for this purpose. We have many students training for various events in hot conditions including the Marathon des Sables. We cannot mimic the exact conditions, but when you do an intense 90-minute cardiovascular workout in 100 degrees heat and 60 per cent humidity