Stage 1 - 31km - Getting used to the desert

Finally! After 2 years thinking about this race, 9 months of training, and 2 days bursting with impatience and  boredom at bivouac, we are about to get started for the first stage. The last 3 nights have been short and nobody can get used to sleeping on the rocky and sandy floor. However, we all have this big smile on our face and are all so excited to start running today.

The self-suffience officially started this morning so we cook our first breakfast and I eat in a plastic bottle cut in half my liophilised porridge hydrated in 150mL of hot water obtained with my own fire. Before gathering on the start line, all runners meet to take an helicopter picture of us shaped in 33 as a memory for the 33rd edition of MDS this year.

As we walk to the start line under the already hot sun, the director of the race gives a speech. We are going to run for the first time 30km under the sun of the desert and discover extraordinary landscapes and cross our first dunes. It is going to be a hot day and the director of the race reminds us the elementary rules. We should start very slowly on the first day, drink every 10 minutes, put sunscreen, take our salt tabs every hour. 3...2...1... and GO! The very relevant sound of ACDC music "Highway to Hell" plays while we run our first meters. This is so exciting to see this crowd of one thousand crazy strangers running in the desert at 1000m high (3000 feet), towards the Atlas mountains and under two helicopters filming us. I had planned to start very slowly but this is literally impossible with the excitement, the pressure of the group, the loud music and the helicopters.

The first 7km are quite flat and I run easily with another companion from my tent. At kilometer 8, we hit the first dunes. These are so beautiful but so hard to run at the same time. After a mix of sandy and rocky path, we finally arrive at check point 1 (cp1) at Km 13. I have now been running for 1 hour  and 45 min and I feel good. It's not too hot despite the 35 degrees at 10am. I take 2 bottles of water, pour the first one in my bottles and pour the second one my head and wet my arms and legs. This is going to be a good technique to keep the machine cold :-).

After a 2 minutes break to drink. I run a very long straight line of 7 kilometers on a plateau with some sandy parts. This straigh line feels extremely long. I'd  better get used to it as there will be plenty of other straight lines and much longer ones in the days to come... The hotness is really starting to get to me and I pace myself. The goal today for me is really to finish in one piece and to keep some energy for the other days. I also start to really feel the weight of my backpack which is around 11kg (24 pounds). At kilometer 20, we arrive in big dunes. I thought I had discovered dunes at Km 7 but now we have real ones! Probably 20 to 30m high and they last for 2km. These are extremely hard to navigate and move in. It is also interesting to learn watching the others the technique they are using running on the edge at the top. I start to feel the pain in my legs and it is getting warmer and warmer.

I finally arrive at CP2 at Km 23 after  about 3 hours 15 min of running. I am relieved to have some water as I ran out of it at the end of the dunes... This reminds me we are in the desert and that without water distribution, I would not last long. Only 7km to go. The end of the stage is very sandy and I alternate walking and running as it is now extremely hot. Last hill and I see the finish line and hear the music. I cross the finish line with such Joy! Is it going to feel like that everyday? I finished in position 430 in 4 hours and 28 minutes. Way above my hope.

The landscape was amazing. Today we saw our first dunes, djbels, and crossed rocky plateau and dried lakes. I feel so blessed being here and feeling great despite the 30km behind me and the heat.  

Now time to eat and rest.