The early hours of the day have now started to take on a semblance of routine. I awake at about 05:30 and, prior to the arrival of the Bedouins, take all of my kit out of the tent into the inner circle that makes up the camp and get back into my sleeping bag and get a brew on. The brew has two important goals: first is the morale boosting caffeine kick that a nice hot, sweet drink gives to you and secondly, as all runners will know, it gets your bowels going prior to the day�s stage.
I took my first dose of painkillers prior to this stage in an attempt to dull the pain in my back and as a precaution against the twinges I had experienced in my knee the previous day. This was in addition to massaging ibuprofen gel into my back and shoulders � just to make sure. The 3rd stage, from it�s description in the Roadbook, was perhaps the most interesting of the race; winding through some palm groves, occasional oasis and a Casbah � our first experience of people outside of the MDS organisation during the event.
After about 10 minutes of running, I felt comfortable and relaxed which gave my confidence a massive boost. The painkillers had done their trick and my muscles were feeling ready for the 31km. Once again, I found myself running next to Russ, and we breezed up to the first CP located at 11.5 km. From here, the course wound its way through a series of small sand dunes (described as �dunnettes� in our Roadbooks) before we started to encounter the odd patch of green and the occasional dwelling. Rounding a dune, we then set eyes upon a palm grove in the distance, which we thought would provide some temporary respite from the heat, which as the wind had died down slightly, was beginning to feel oppressive. However, running through the palm grove did not provide the cool, refreshing experience I was expecting, but instead the temperature shot up to over 40 degrees as for the first time in the race, we were completely sheltered from the effects of the wind. As we exited the palm grove, we could see the Casbah in the distance, and this sight made us up the pace a bit. Above us, the helicopter was making low passes to get some tv footage. As we entered the narrow passageways of the Casbah, the local children had all turned out to cheer us on and we were treated to a fine singing and clapping session and a number of high-fives from the braver souls.
The first thing to notice about this walled town were the smells: for over 5 days now since leaving Ouarzazate, our senses had become sterilised in the desert as there is nothing to smell and very little to taste in the air. The Casbah was an explosion of smells and was slightly overwhelming to begin with. Our pace picked up as we ran through the town, partly because running is easier when there are other stimuli to take your mind off what your body is going through, but also because the helicopter kept making low passes over our small pack of 5 runners and we thought we might be in with a chance of a few shots on Eurosport � we therefore had to look like we were really motoring.
On the other side of the Casbah we entered another palm grove, and the pace started to drop as the temperature rose once more. CP2 approached at 21km and after a quick munch on some jelly-babies and re-filling of water bottles we were off again for the final 10km. These last few miles took us along a dried up river bed for a large part of the way, and soon after leaving CP2, the weather started to deteriorate. The sun gradually became obscured, not by cloud, but by swirling sand as the wind picked up, and we struggled to maintain a decent pace as the visibility dropped down to about 20m. In such conditions, the Buff headscarves that virtually everyone in the race wears are pulled up to cover everything but the eyes, which are protected by sunglasses, and you become cocooned in your own little world, with only the sound of your laboured breathing to keep you company � talking to anyone in such conditions is virtually impossible as voices are drowned out.
After about 3 and a half hours of running, myself and Russ crossed the finish line together, eager to pick up our water ration and escape the wind that was now really driving hard and bringing visibility down to almost zero. However, as we searched for Heinz 57, we realised that many of the tents had not yet been put up, as the Bedouins had had to make a long 100km detour on the way to this bivvy site. Desperate to get out of the wind, we sought out a British tent that was already up, and plonked ourselves down with the one occupant � a guy called Roly who had finished a few minutes before us. There was no particular exchange of words between us, no niceties or small talk � just three knackered blokes trying to recover their thoughts amidst the howling wind.
Before I knew it, Russ was up to his old tricks and was trying to get our tent up as I hobbled about in a daze. In these conditions, we both had to work quite hard at making it even half decent, whilst wondering where Richard was, who having finished before us was nowhere to be seen. It later transpired that the poor bloke had finished, gone into the reception tent to take shelter and had fallen asleep for a couple of hours.
Thoughts now turned to the next stage which as everyone knew, was make or break time: 71 km over the toughest terrain, including over 20km through the largest set of sand dunes in Morocco. Our bodies, already disintegrating before our very eyes would be put through the ultimate test, in addition to testing our mental strength and willpower. I didn�t know if having run a 53 mile race in training would help or not. On one hand, I knew I could cover the distance, but I also knew what was to come and how I would feel at the end of it � perhaps those going in ignorant would be better off, a bit like in a marathon. As we lay in darkness in the tent at the end of the day we had a glimpse of a new piece of technology being tried out for the first time at the MDS � a laser which will be used to help guide runners across the dunes during the night phase of the long 71km stage. Even being tested out, it is a spectacular sight: a bright green beam piercing through the desert night providing comfort and a sense of direction to all the runners. Our lives may depend on this.
Summary of Stage 3
Distance 31km
Position 79th
Time 3hrs 22mins