Now that a few days have passed and I have caught up on some sleep and regained some energy, I can look back on some wonderful memories of MDS 2011.
I’ve taken a week off, essential for resetting my mind, regrowing toenails and letting my feet recover. Time to be with family and begin recounting the adventures and hardships, which already feel more distant with each passing day. How easily we forget the bad times! How quickly our mental antivirus works, deleting or sidelining the bad and highlighting the best moments!
With a beer in hand, I try to make sense of how badly I struggled during the marathon stage on the sixth day. I remember the foot infection beginning to immobilise me, and I suppose the pain drained the little energy I had left. I had to keep running, repeating the words I had used throughout the race: “Come on, don’t stop, keep running, don’t walk, keep running!”
The end of the stage was a nightmare. We emerged onto an utterly flat plain, with the camp visible about six kilometres away. I remember the hell of running towards it, looking down at my feet, then lifting my head and straining to see the camp, still so distant that I could make out nothing. I kept running, closing my eyes for a few seconds and opening them to see whether it was nearer. As I was collapsing with exhaustion, beginning to doubt whether the white shape was the camp or an illusion, my companions Víctor and Pablo appeared like angels from heaven. “Come on, stick with us and we’ll run to the finish together,” they said. Between them, as if supported by an invisible chair, I ran until we crossed the finish line. I still don’t know where I found the strength. Without them drawing me into their run, would I still be wandering aimlessly across that plain? I owe them a great deal: they saved me from the turbulent desert waters in which I was sinking and drowning helplessly.
This situation is an example of what happens in a race where you go to the limit, a test where the solidarity of the participants is essential, either in a race or once in the camp. This solidarity factor is one of the greatest riches of this competition.