The morning after

[posted by Neil]

Done! I have one of four BPBC finishers' medals, some real food for breakfast, a new marathon PB and the most pathetic post-race beard in the 28-year history of the event.

It's now Sunday morning, and after an all-day, airless coach journey yesterday we're back at the hotel for our last day in Morocco with the rest of the British contingent. By and large, competitors fall into one of two camps: those who can't walk properly because their feet or legs are such a mess, and those who can because something else was their limiting factor.

That limiting factor for me was the heat. From halfway through stage three, the daytime temperatures were into the forties (fifties in the sun), and I suffered very badly. The long stage for me, which should have been one of my best, was almost a disaster - I was extremely close to capitulation with heatstroke in mid-afternoon and it could easily have spelt the end of my race.

From there onwards it was damage limitation. Fortunately this was relatively successful, and even though I slipped down the rankings I managed to cling onto the top twenty and finished in 19th place, three minutes behind 18th and six ahead of 20th. At the last bivouac, someone said to me (jokingly, I think) that if I'd tried harder I'd have made up those three minutes to 18th. I pointed out that if I'd tried to do that, I'd have lost the six minutes to 20th and potentially a great deal more too.

The fact that I finished at all continues to amaze me. When my foot went haywire with less than three weeks to go I was almost certain it would stop me running this race, and I honestly don't think I'd have travelled if it hadn't been for the other three guys and for all your sponsorship. Interestingly, the only time in the week when the foot actually buckled was when I tried to stand up after the final stage: in other words, at exactly the point when it didn't matter any more. The human body is an incredible thing.

Having been incommunicado for well over a week we all have dozens of messages to respond to - please excuse us if it takes us a few days to catch up. We've been overwhelmed by your messages of support, even though we're sure at least one day's worth hasn't reached us yet (we're chasing these); 1000 characters a day just wasn't enough to answer all your questions and concerns but we promise to get back to you all once we're back in the UK. Please badger us if we miss anything!

Neil

Music: That (appallingly bad) song about sitting around all day today in my pants doing absolutely nothing.