Product Description

The Marathon des Sables is billed as the toughest footrace on Earth. It consists of around 150 miles of running across scorching desert plains and peaks, in temperatures soaring above 40 degrees C. As if the distance, the heat and the terrain were not enough, the whole race must be completed carrying all the food and kit required for the seven days of the event. In this book, exercise scientist Mark Hines takes us through both his two years of training and the competition itself, as he goes from non-running optimist to ultra-endurance athlete.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40125 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From the Publisher
Escape into a world outside of the ordinary. Leave the comfort of your workplace to cling onto rock faces in Snowdonia, to wake up on beaches in Christchurch, and to walk from sunrise to sunset across the baking Egyptian Sahara. All of this takes Mark from his mundane existence in London to his successful completion of the toughest footrace on Earth. the marathon of the sands.
This very personal account of the Marathon des Sables, and all of the training that went into it, is an adventure from beginning to end; often hilarious, sometimes dangerous, where he's always fighting on in the face of adversity.

From the Author
Update: 10.03.08 From Reviews:
First of all I am grateful to everyone that has bought the book, and whether useful or not I at least hope that you found some of it an enjoyable read. This comment is in response to the reviews received so far.

Most people enjoy this book. Those that do are people that buy it because they are relatively interested in the idea of a big endurance race, and are then pleasantly surprised that there is some humour in there and that I do some 'things of questionable sanity' in training. The advice that I had received was to improve mental fitness, rather than physical fitness, because when things get tough that's what you need. The first 250 pages of the book therefore cover training weekends, races, desert training in Egypt, and everything else.

People that enjoy the book the least are those that have already done a lot of research, or that are only really interested in the race itself. Those people tend to gloss through just trying to pick out bits of information. That sort of thing is available on blogs, and it was not the intention in my writing to produce a 'how to' guide. What I wanted to do was produce a piece of literature that people would enjoy reading, as many of the reviewers have.

Apologies for spelling and grammatical errors - my proofreader overlooked these and I have learnt my lesson for future work. I will almost certainly produce a more condensed second edition, probably of about 250 pages. The details of the race itself will probably remain unchanged, as most people seem happy with this, and I shall condense the training phases to make it more punchy and captivating. This was my first book on such a theme, and I shall read many more books to improve the feel and style of my next edition and subsequent titles. In the meantime, I simply hope that people can gain something enjoyable from the work, and that you enjoy the evolution of my writing style and so on, as I develop from this first step.

My website is mentioned in the book and I gratefully appreciate any emails regarding future expeditions/races or seeking any advice that I can give. Many thanks for your feedback, and for those that are yet to make a decision on buying a copy, I hope that you will now have a clearer impression of what the book is like.
Best regards,
Mark

About the Author
Mark Hines is a writer, exercise and biomedical scientist and lecturer, based in London, UK. He is highly regarded for his work on training specificity, and pubished 'Built to Last: A New Perspective on Fitness Training for Life', and 'Skiing Fitness' in 2006. Various other similar titles will be published in 2008 and 2009.

Customer Reviews

Strangely inspiring ...
I bought this book out of pure curiosity, as I do some distance running and am looking for future challenges(!). Initially I found myself struggling a bit with the format, which is basically an extended diary. However, the more I read, the more I found myself drawn along with the author's 'journey' in his training for this event and while the event was a relatively small part of the book, I felt it worked for me.

If you are looking for a book that will tell you what training you need to do to complete this event, this is probably not for you (although if you do what the author did, that would probably work - it did for him!). If however, you are looking for something inspirational that will motivate you to longer term goals, then I would recommend this.

Probably my only criticism is that the photos were not great, but I did not find that too detrimental. On the plus side, I have read it three times now, which must say something!

Must Buy!
In preparation for the Marathon des Sables 2008 I purchased "The Marathon Des Sables: Seven Days in the Sahara" written by Mark Hines. This book proved to be a indispensible guide in preparation for the 'toughest footrace on earth' providing a accurate and real world experience of what it takes to get prepared and then make it through the event. There are a number of tips for future competitors intending to take on the challenge of a lifetime. This is a easy to read book for anyone looking to experience the journey in preparation for the Sahara and for anyone looking to discover what the event is all about! Simply a "must buy" ...

Very Disappointing
Having read many running books of this nature previously I was very disappointed with this book on many levels.
Should somebody be looking for a training guide for the Mds then this is not the book for them, and nor is it intended to be.
The intention of this book was to provide an inspiring insight into how the author came from a background of very little running experience,to train and to complete the toughest footrace on earth !!
I bought the book for this reason and I was let down. I expected something akin to "Feet in the Cloud",(but in the desert) Richard Askwiths excellent book about completing the Bob Graham Round or maybe a Hugh Symonds type book (running all the 303 peaks of Britain and Ireland),alas this is not a patch on them.
The best way i can descibe this book is a badly written school essay about "what i did in my school holidays". As much as I admire somebody who has completed this epic event, this book,apart from the last chapters where we finally get to the race are monotonous, badly written and with poor grammar.
The worrying thing is that the author has more books planned in the future ! If that's the case please get somebody to proof read them first.
p.s This book must hold the record for the use of the word "procrastinators"