It had been months of preparations and training for the world famous Marathon Des Sables. Sometimes training required running and other times it was walking on the trails of Malibu, California.  I even traveled to Mexico for heat training, where I went walking on an empty and private beach with no one around to disturb me for about 6 to 7 hours on the beach cove.  When I trained at home, I ran and walked from Manhattan Beach to Palos Verdes and from Manhattan Beach to Santa Monica. I also traveled to Utah (not too far from the Grand Canyon) to hike the Rocky Mountains and sand dunes of similar terrain, as it would be in Morocco. If that wasn’t enough training and preparation, I also traveled to Morocco a few weeks prior to MDS to train in some of the stages with my Italian friends. Finally, the time had come and I had 4 days to pack my backpack with everything I was going to eat. It was quite a challenge because the race required us to carry a limited amount only for each day.

After traveling for two days and an overnight stay in Milan, it was time to walk across the street to Gate 1 and meet all forty-five Italians whom I would be traveling with; six of which were my friends. Delighted and excited, I hugged my friends and welcoming to meet new companions from around the world. After our meet and greet, we boarded the airplane and headed to Casablanca, Morocco. Upon our arrival in Casablanca, there was a three-hour delay at the airport gate.  We waited patiently by the stairs with the view of another gate where we saw a new group of runners arrive from other parts of the world. Now our group had expanded to about three hundred runners. I heard all languages spoken: some Spanish, German, British, French and Italian. We were all finally here!!!

Some of the runners were carrying the same official MDS bags and others had the Marco Olmo backpack, this identified who we were and our purpose in Morocco.

We boarded once again for an hour flight to Ouarzazate, Morocco where we exchanged our currency and waited for our luggage. Just outside the airport you could see six buses waiting for all of us runners, which would transport us to our overnight hotel. It was late in the night and we were all exhausted, ready for a good night’s rest. This would be our last night sleeping in a comfortable bed, so my roommate and friend Cinzia, enjoyed it to the fullest!