POST-RUN UPDATE!

Hello everyone!

I wanted to post an update to send a MASSIVE THANK YOU to everybody here for all of your kind sponsorship and support.

It has been quite a journey over the past six months of intensive training, and anybody who has been in contact with myself or Zarka will probably have been bored stiff of hearing us talk about the endless nuances of our training runs and regime. But I am happy to share that it paid off, and we both made it back from the desert unscathed (relatively). For the duration of the run, we were entirely off-grid with no network reception to send any updates or messages so thank you to everybody for the patience.

The landscape of the Namibian desert was truly spectacular and ‘other worldly’, and the night skies were quite unforgettable. Our first night of camping was also unforgettable but for all the wrong reasons!! After a day running across the mountain trails and riverbeds of Mount Brandberg, we had lost bags and air mattresses that would not inflate, it was a comically uncomfortable night 1… but by day two - which incidentally also marked Zarka’s first full length marathon distance milestone (whoop whoop!) - we soon found our groove and adapted to the elements.

I managed to complete the first 3 days [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLGuApRqP-Y] of running and was feeling relatively strong and quite proud with the realization that we were both ‘actually doing this’, and getting through it. However only a couple of hours later, myself together with about half of the other runners in camp, were struck by some form of terrible indescribable vomiting virus! Zarka my friend, tent-mate, and all-round human champion, nursed me through a night of painful delirium before she got up to complete day 4 – the longest day [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KFLDllARP4 ] 55 kilometres across the Messum crater. I was evacuated from camp the next morning to recover somewhere with a clean toilet and running water, and to wait for her at the Skeleton Coast finish line of day 5.

What an adventure it has been, while I’m disappointed to have only made 120km before being taken out of the race, I could not be more proud or impressed by Zarka who completed the full 210 grueling km’s across the hot desert sand in the hardest physical challenge of our lifetime. Her swollen ankles have a story to tell, but otherwise she’s made it through fighting fit and ready for our next challenge… 😉

Thank you again for the love and support you have shown to us, and to the TRIBE Freedom Foundation where your sponsorship dollars will make a very real, tangible, and impactful difference to supporting survivors of human trafficking and modern-day slavery. To date, TRIBE Freedom Foundation has created a life-changing impact for +10,000 survivors and potential victims. Funds raised from TRIBE Run For Love 6 will help increase access to holistic survivor support, enabling survivors to rebuild their lives with access to safe accommodation, therapy, medical and casework support, education and employment opportunities.

Thank you,

Naomi x

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Over 40.3 million people are living in modern slavery worldwide. TRIBE Freedom Foundation is on a mission to fight modern slavery and end human trafficking. They work by raising awareness of trafficking, supporting survivors and enabling frontline projects to prevent modern slavery.

On 26th October Naomi & Zarka will join TRIBE Run for Love Namibia. In the biggest physical challenge of our lifetime to date we will both set out to run 225 km in 5 days, across the Namib wilderness, from the Skeleton Coast to the mountain trails of Mount Brandberg.

We are pushing our limits and running with the collective goal to raise £150,000 to help prevent modern slavery, provide long term support for survivors, and empower communities to create an impact.

Together, we will go further and faster to end modern slavery.

We are thankful for any support and awareness you can give.

Learn more about TRIBE Freedom Foundation and their impact here: http://tribefreedomfoundation.com/our-impact/