"Living easy, living free, season ticket on a one-way ride, asking nothing, leave me be, taking everything in my stride, don't need reason, don't need rhyme, ain't nothing I would rather do, going down, party time, my friends are gonna be there too, I'm on the highway to hell." Those are the opening lyrics of ACDC's infamous song and the final words every competitor hears before they start each stage of Marathon Des Sables (MDS). 

We have come to the point, where it is only a matter of hours until I will embark on the most challenging ultra marathon I will have faced up until today. On Sunday, 9th April around 9:00 am the over 250 kilometer long adventure will commence. The organizers of Marathon Des Sables (MDS) have implemented a GPS service, which tracks and traces every step that my fellow runners and I are going to take. So, if you are curious to see where I am from Sunday onwards, you can check the official Marathon Des Sables website.

At this time next week, I will have completed the first three stages of Marathon Des Sables and run over 100 kilometres through fine desert sand. The thought of such leaves me speechless, as it is getting serious.

Before I am diving into the details of my equipment, food, as well as training regime, I should explain what Marathon Des Sables (MDS) actually is. The ones that have followed my blog over the last few months will have read about it on multiple occasions, some may have even heard about it before, whilst others have absolute no clue what is going on here.

Exactly one month from today, on Friday, the 7th April, I will be driving into the desert joined by 1295 fellow runners. I am a little lost for words, as I am looking back at my journey, and how time seems to have flown by. It all started off in Madrid in December 2015. If I am not mistaken, it was a Saturday night that I had spent at home, when I came across a couple of YouTube videos about Marathon Des Sables on YouTube. I have heard about MDS, as it is commonly known, before, but I was far away from thinking that I would ever be participating in this event. Whilst being one of the most unique stops on the Ultra-Trail World Tour, it is also known as one of the toughest courses of the tour. Running and completing MDS would not only offer some incredible experience and memories, but also grants six points towards the Ultra-Trail Du Mont Blanc qualification. I was fascinated by the visuals that I was watching and the reports, which I was reading. I signed up.