250km…7 days…in the sands of the Sahara desert…in temperatures up to 40 degrees… reputedly the toughest footrace in the world, and I not going to disagree!

The good news is, I've done it and I'm still alive... I even have all 10 toenails! Overall it was an amazing experience, as well as being the hardest thing I've ever done.

In case I've not already explained it to you, the MDS is a multi-day ultra marathon. The stages were 29km, 35km, 40km,  80km, 42km and 21km. The experience of being uttterly exhausted and then having to get up the next day and do the same (and more!) again was one of the hardest things about it, both mentally and physically. You also have to be entirely self-sufficient for the duration of the race, carrying all your own food and equipment, although you're giving a tent to sleep in and water along the way. I started out with a not-so-competitive 11kg, which made the early days difficult, although it's mostly food so the weight does go down during the course of the weeks. The racing snakes start out with about 7kg, carrying 2000 calories a day and not much else.  

I'm still not quite sure what drove me to do this in the first place, but I have no regrets now! It really was one of the best experiences of my life and I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to take part.  I'm also very glad that my participation has enabled me to raise money for Merlin.

It’s a fantastic charity which sends emergency medical teams to disaster areas all over the world, most recently in Haiti. They also have long term projects in some of the poorest countries in the world to build up health services and train local health workers. From training midwives in Afghanistan to setting up clinics in the Democratic Republic of Congo. http://www.merlin.org.uk/

This page will be up for a while yet, so there's still plenty of time to donate - any amount, however small would be  greatly appreciated. Really, it all adds up!

I’m covered all the travel and entry costs for the MDS myself, so all the money I raise goes straight to Merlin. And don’t forget to tick the gift aid box if you’re a UK taxpayer.

Thank you!

Julia x

For more information about the MDS: http://www.darbaroud.com/