The nights of dread and mornings of anticipation have all faded in memory – the experience was ridiculously difficult, but somehow thoroughly compelling. In the world’s most punishing desert, the key to success was the people – the energy and enthusiasm they brought, the camaraderie, the stories and the smiles.
Without the others, there would be no race, no reason to continue trudging though the desert, to bear the heat and the slippery sand. The supportive souls that volunteered became my inspiration for overcoming every obstacle, stage by stage, and the participants were to bring out the best in me.
Every soul there was supportive of everyone else, giving advice and assistance and willing to wait or even lend a hand. People finished together, crossing the line hand-in-hand.
And beyond the friends I made, the images and emotions, the touch and the taste of the Sahara will stay in my memory for years to come… maybe for a lifetime. The images were many and though not so varied, full of color – as Ireland is colored with a thousand hues of green, the desert was a symphony of beige and brown, with taupe and tan dominating the diving dunes and jutting rocks of the landscape, the little pink flags to guide our way, the great pink banners that signified the station posted at varying distances as man made oases doling out shares of water & shade, joy & support.
I will remember:
• The khaki crunch of the crusted surface giving way and sliding out from under weary knees
• The indisputable importance of water and the beauty of a rainbow face-spray
• The slippery stare into the desert air
• The midday sun, the night’s chill
• The quiet deep of the desert night
In the Tao Te Ching it says:
To experience without abstraction is to sense the world;
To experience with abstraction is to know the world.
So was my experience with or without abstraction? I couldn’t quite say for sure. I suppose that at some points it was one and some the other, but the moments of inspiration and of madness will not quickly fade.
In honor of the experience, I have penned an ode to the tune of our desert theme song, “A Horse with no Name.”
The Song
A Race of Some Fame
On the first part of my journey,
I was focused on the road ahead,
I dove down the dune and shot for the moon
I ran until I was red
The first thing I saw made me stumble in awe
And the sky was cloudless above
The heat was hot and the sand was soft
By the end of the day I was dead.
I’ve been through the desert on a race of some fame
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert, you can run for your name
Cause there aint no one to tell you you’re insane
La, la, la, la-la-la-la, la, la, la, la
After two days in the desert sun,
My skin began to turn red
After three days of the desert run,
The heat it got to my head
The story is told of a man so bold
To see how far he could tread
He stepped through the heat that blistered his feet
And all his clothes he then shed…
I’ve been through the desert on a race of some fame
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert, you can run for your name
Cause there aint no one to tell you you’re insane
La, la, la, la-la-la-la, la, la, la, la
After seven days in the desert sun,
My legs they ceased to run
I started to slow and came to know
That the something had changed in me
Through hot rays, and hard days
There had been highs and lows
But as the story goes
My journey had come to a close
I’ve been through the desert on a race of some fame
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert, you can run for your name
Cause there aint no one to tell you you’re insane
La, la, la, la-la-la-la, la, la, la, la
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