Bonjour everyone,

It's 4.00am on Friday morning, with the crowd cheering and traditional music playing, then the 1500 mad men were released.

Yes I used released as after a sleepless night, a 2 hour journey by bus on very small mountain roads, the equipment checked by the organisation and then we all had to wait 1 hour standing on the starting line.

This hour seems like 5, the moon was full and I could just distinguish the outline of the first mountain. I had very mixed feelings; excitement, fear, concentration and pride to be there. By looking at the people around me, I could see that we were all in the same state. The gun fire 

marked the end to the count down of 6months of hard training, it was a real release.

When I reached the top of the first climb I was surprised to hear that I was 210th, I knew I still had a very long way to go but set myself a new target... finish in the top 300.

After 10hours and 50km in, I payed the price of it being my first time in the mountains. Just before the end of the 2nd down hill, one of the paths were not well sign-posted, and I took a wrong one… I ran about 4 miles and climb a small hill before realising that I was lost. At his point it dawned on me that I would not make the top 300 and was so angry at myself for making this mistake. I thought to gave up, but couldn't stop after all the hard work and more improtantly I had to finish for the Marie Curie Association. I took a bit of time to calm down, then turned around and ran back to find the right route. I lost around 2 hours.

I had a little rest at the next check point, which was before the 3rd hill (km 56). A doctor checked my right knee as I was struggling to bend it, also some blisters needed disinfecting.

The night fell very fast and reached the top in pitch darkness. Here, I ate for the first time, a bit of warm soup. Fortunately, my brother was there to cheer me up and to give me support.
I didn't stop at all during the night and reached the top of the last climb as the sun set. The only problem was for the last 15km my knee was not bending, I was limping more and more and the pain was very bad.

But I thought to myself, come on only 5km of down hill until you reach the finish line! 

The path was dangerous and because I had over-compensated due to my right knee, my left ankle was very painful. 

The closer I got to the finish line, the more people were cheering, some kids were helping me smile and ran a bit with me, seeing them so happy to run at my side was an incredible moment which helped me forget the pain and to enter in the stadium of La Redoute by running.

After 28h35min02s, 93km and 5450m of total altitude gained, that I crossed the line at 8.36am on Sunday. I finished in 559th place out of 1500 and 247th in the senior mens non sponsored group.

As you can see from the photo, I was tired, after 2 nights sleepless and having pain that I've never experienced before. My body was in such a state of exhaustion that I had'nt even realised that my brother had been running at my side for the last 500m in the stadium , I only noticed him when I crossed the line.


But during this experience I learned a lot about motivation, determination and my physical limits.

My first words to my brother were "Nerver again, how could I be so stupid to entered this race!", but in the plane back to London, I was starting to appreciate this effort and I was starting to think about the next challenge.
Which should be the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in the Alpes at the end of August (120km and 9000m of altitude gained)

Thanks again for all your support, without it, I would never have managed to complete this challenge!

THANK YOU