A PERSONAL trainer from Dundee has completed the “challenge of a lifetime” after running 156 miles across the Sahara Desert.
Battling searing temperatures and unforgiving terrain — as well as the clock — Louise Johnstone lasted the six days of Marathon Des Sables — and pub snacks were her main source of energy to get her through.
She said: “It was an extremely tough event.
“I needed to be fully committed to it or I wouldn’t have lasted.”
After a day of acclimatising on April 9, the 1,109 runners set off the next day.
With confidence and motivation, Louise said the only conclusion she envisaged was finishing the race.
From the start, though, with some of the worst conditions the event has ever known, the size of the task ahead put doubts in her mind.
She said: “On the first day we had to run and walk through sandstorms and headwinds reaching 30 to 40mph.
“Those conditions, coupled with how demanding the challenge was, really knocked me and I thought I wouldn’t even make it through the first day.”
But, as the conditions settled, she did and, harbouring injuries and managing her water intake, she made it through the rest of the event’s arduous trails.
She added: “You really had to think about everything you did to get you through. You were only given a certain amount of water and you got a time penalty if you drank over your limit.
“Eating was difficult for me — I had no appetite. I wasn’t really able to eat meals so I relied on my snacks to give me the energy to get me through.
“I ate crushed-up crisps and pork scratchings, as they were high in salt and calories.”
The race was the ultimate personal challenge for Louise, who ran it to raise awareness and money for Dundee Association of Mental Health — raising £4,000 so far.
She said: “It was the challenge of a lifetime and I’m so glad I achieved it. I’m so pleased with the money raised and hope there’s more to come.”
