Sahara ordeal is worth the agony
The Marathon des Sables has been called one of the world's most arduous physical challenges – but single mum Lois, who juggles a full-time job with looking after son Josef, says she is only "mildly terrified" of taking on the race.
The 36-year-old is preparing for a tough and painful week.
As part of the rules, Lois must carry enough food for her to have a minimum 2,000 calories a day. The event's organisers will provide tents and water at rest stops along the way.
She said: "My calorie intake will be very important.
"Every day I'll have two high-calorie cereal bars and a 800-calorie chicken tikka sachet, which you add boiling water to, turning it into mush.
"When you sweat you lose a lot of salt so I'll be eating plenty of salty peanuts to make up for that.
"For protein, I'll be eating plenty of pepperoni snacks.
"It's about counter-balancing everything with weight, so sachets are handy."
As well as six days' supply of food, she will carry a sleeping bag, stove, first-aid kit, walking poles and an anti-venom pump in case she is bitten by a snake or scorpion.
She is expecting the blisters on her feet to swell up so large that she will run in trainers two-and-a-half sizes bigger than normal.
A survival kit supplied by the event's organisers includes a distress flare, salt tablets and a luminous signal stick. The weight on her back will be about 14kg, but the heat and running distance will make it feel doubly heavy at times.
Her friends think she is crazy to even consider running the distance, which is the equivalent of six marathons.
But Lois, who lives in Rolleston, says it will be worth every bead of sweat because she has already been pledged £11,000 if she completes it, which she plans to donate to the children's charity the NSPCC.
Lois said: "I've volunteered as a NSPCC fund-raiser for six years. I have a little boy myself and I think it's such an important charity.
"I'm mildly terrified but compared to what some children go through on a daily basis, six days running in the searing heat is nothing.
"I'm expecting it to be the best and worst experience of my life."
Lois, who has run the London marathon twice, began training for this latest challenge three years ago.
Despite working full-time as a house manager at Derby Moor Community Sports College and looking after Josef, seven, she still finds the time to go out running each night. She said: "When I get home from work I put on the tea and help Josef with his homework.
"Then I go out for a run. Every spare minute I have, I go running."
Lois said her son was one of her biggest supporters.
"He finds it quite funny," she said. "He mimics me all the time. He gets on a rucksack and limps along laughing!
"I'm sure he's proud of me – he's told all his friends what I'll be doing but none of them will believe him."
But there is one mimicking trick that Josef has missed out on.
Lois said: "To start with I'll be running in trainers that are two-and-a-half sizes too big – they will feel like flippers.
"That's because over the course your feet swell up and you get a lot of blisters. I'll be in a lot of pain but I'll keep in my mind the feeling of what it would be like to finish.
"It would be the best feeling ever."
On day one of the race, Lois, who will be running alongside around 700 others, will cover a half-marathon distance of 13 miles to get used to the conditions. The runners will then build up to a 50-mile slog on the fourth day.
Lois said waking up – providing she can sleep through the aches and pains – knowing 50 miles was on the agenda would be "agony" in itself.
The Marathon des Sables is a dangerous challenge that has proven fatal in the past.
In 2007, French runner Bernard Jule died in Morocco of a cardiac arrest while taking part but that has not put off Lois.
She said: "I want to do this for the NSPCC but I also want to do it for me. It's a chance to push the boundaries and make a difference to other people's lives."
Lois would like to thank Alfreton businessman Robert Booth, of Packaging Bridgeshire, who has paid her £3,000 registration fee.
Anyone wishing to sponsor Lois can do so online at www.justgiving.com/Lois-Newton.
ON THE RUN! Lois Newton is set to run 151 miles across the Sahara Desert.
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