A story about the run that changed my life forever….a story of sand, running and an ‘old’ man.

Egypt, March 24, 2008

We were sailing around the world, a 120-day sailing on the ms Amsterdam. During the cruise, we were organizing several events to raise money for breast cancer research.

As I like challenges, I thought about how I could contribute to this goal and when looking at the itinerary, I noticed we would be docking in Safaga, a place on the south side of the Suez Canal. Safaga, like most places up there, are pretty much in the desert, and once I see desert, I must run.

I always had an obsession for running in the desert. I don’t know where it comes from, but ever since I started running back in the 80’s, my ultimate running locations are in deserts. And so the idea started to organize a run, a solo marathon in the area around Safaga and to ask the passengers to give money if I would do it. I brought the idea forward to the team on board and they responded very enthusiastic and with that, the race was born, or at least, the idea. It took a lot of planning since this is not something you can just advertise – It doesn’t matter if you run alone, as soon as it is an organized run, you must involve the local authorities and being this in a country where we only come once in a while, things are not going as smooth as you want them to go.

Over the course of several weeks, I communicated to the various local enforcement agencies. I though it was pretty straight forward: I would rent a van with driver who would bring me 26.2 miles away from the ship, than I would get out of the van and would run back to the ship….sounds simple but it wasn’t as simple as it sounded….but at the end I was able to convince the agencies that it was just me running a 26.2 mile run and that there would be nothing out of the ordinary.

Once they approved it, it was time to start promoting the event on the ship and to start creating a hype. I ordered 50 shirts for the crew who were working in the Lido restaurant, as they were the ones dealing with most traffic on the ship. Since all our ship names end in ‘DAM’, we decided to call it a DAM MARATHON…

For several weeks they were wearing these shirts which created an enormous enthusiastic vibe among the guests and the crew members.

The next thing is did was creating a flyer and this was the start of the project.

The guests were so enthusiastic that the money came in quick. There was one group of Dutch guests, 4 friends, who offered to pay $5,000.00 if they could rent a van and drive part of the run behind me as ‘they wanted to see me sweat’ for that money. You’ll hear about these guys later in the story.

Another guest ordered a shirt and had it special printed for me: “I run for boobs”….yes how cool is it that all these passengers are getting so involved….

I trained on deck, I trained in port, I trained whenever I had a change and when the day came closer, I was ready to do this. We rented an RV whereby a few crew was assigned as my ‘race crew’ and we had some medical personnel driving in the van.

The Old Man

The night before my event, one of the passengers approached me and asked if he could run the last few miles with me. I apologized and told him: “no disrespect sir, but you seem a bit old to run the last miles with me, sorry I can’t let you come”….he didn’t end up running with me – two days later, he came to my office and gave me a book that he wrote while he circumnavigated the globe by running and swimming, and he wrote a book about 6 decades of running

Crap – and I told this dude he was too old to run two miles with me! OK so later more about this chap…

Finally the day arrived – we docked in Safaga, Egypt and the run was about to start…where it not that the van wasn’t there and were it not that the officials didn’t know anything about a run. Go figure. A great way to start my morning. It took the agent several calls and after two hours of waiting, they finally gave the green light for my event and thus around midday, when the sun was at his highest point, we arrived at the starting point. My race crew prepped me with some pep talks and after a 15 minute motivational self-prep, I started to run.

After a handful of tips from these Dutchees who paid me $5,000.00 to drive behind me, on what to eat and what to drink I was ready to go…..Always interesting to get tips from non-runners on how to run and how much and what to eat and to drink, but OK, they paid 5 large meaning I need to swallow my pride and listen to their tips 🙂

Getting ready for the start – getting the last instructions from the race crew

and off I go

Once I reached town, about 5 miles from the finish, I was welcomed and escorted by a group of crew on bikes and……the group of Dutchees….

And upon returning the ship, they made a finish line with balloons – what a great way to finish my event..

It was one of the most fun experiences – I raised over $10,000.00 and did something I like: run……and for a good cause…what else can I ask for…

So, back to the story of the old man…..Joe Oakes…we met after a couple of days and when I found out who this man was, I was so intrigued by his stories that I thought ‘if you can do it, I can do it’…..and so he became my mental teacher. Just by telling his adventures, and how to achieve them. I kept in contact with him and till today, it still puts a smile on my face when I think about the fact that I told one of the extreme ultrarunners that he was too old to run two miles….Joe brought me into ultra running – he was the one who changed my life.

Thanks Joe!