#111 | Marathon des Sables
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” — Steve Jobs
“Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values.” — Ayn Rand
I was running across the Masai Mara this time last year, crippled by exhaustion. Towards the end of the race, I thought someone ahead of me had cheated and skipped ahead, so I dashed up to them, panting, angry, and ready to give them both barrels.
But as I got close, it wasn't the South African I had expected, but my dear friend Rob who grinned at me. I was disarmed. We headed off together into the headwind shouting 'We're relentless' every few hundred metres. We both desperately wanted to walk, but neither of us said so nor allowed the other to. Once we'd finished, I was zonked. I sat under a gazebo silently, dreading the six-hour drive back to Nairobi that evening. But something about the red dust made me feel full of joy—something about the challenge replenished my cup.
Ever since I stopped drinking, I've loved running. There's got to be something to fill the void, right? Running is ostensibly about physical fitness. But more than that, it's about mental persistence. How far is it possible to go when one resolves to continue going? Should you stop when your body starts to ache, or do you have another ten or one hundred miles in there? Running is meditation. And it's like pressure-hosing our mental backyards, clearing out the mud.
I've learned from running that one can go a long way when one persists. It's time-consuming, but ultimately I've found it time well spent. Until very recently, I've been injury free, which has been fortunate (I've got Achilles tendonitis right now — tips welcomed). And being injury free, I've been able to run long distances; over time, I've done marathons and ultras.
In the ultra world, the pièce de résistance is the Marathon des Sables. The MDS is a wonderfully gruelling five-and-a-half marathons in five days in the Sahara. In 35 years, there have been 25,000 participants from fifty countries. It's wild. You carry everything aside from water — food, suncream, and a sleeping bag. Runners crawl under the sun, over dunes and across barren sandy plains. It describes itself as the 'world's toughest footrace'—quite a claim.
Given that I like to run (it waters the seeds of my soul), I've signed up for the MDS (alongside my friend Matt). It looks fun. I'll be writing intermittently about how training is going. But in life, things happen when they are discussed openly. Therefore, this post is, in part, a forcing function. It's also part fundraiser because I'm raising money for New Incentives.
40% of deaths of children under five are from vaccine-preventable diseases. New Incentives offer cash incentives for routine childhood vaccines in North West Nigeria. It’s an amazing project. From GiveWell's website:
In Nigeria, 43% of infants did not receive all recommended childhood vaccines in 2019. New Incentives provide cash transfers to incentivize caregivers to bring babies to clinics for routine childhood vaccinations, which prevent disease and reduce child mortality. It costs about $160 to vaccinate an infant. In 2020, [GiveWell] directed funding to New Incentives to support this program at an estimated average cost-effectiveness of $5,000 per life saved.
Although Effective Altruism, and by proxy GiveWell, have been tarnished from prominent ties to SBF & FTX, I agree with their utilitarian principle that we have a 'moral obligation to do as much as we can with what we have'. $1 to a donkey rescue charity is less impactful than $1 in malaria nets; because the latter will do more to save a person's life. Of course, this reasoning can get absurd, but it's a helpful framework.
New Incentives is one of the most highly effective charities when measuring the lives saved per dollar donated. Therefore any donation, no matter how small, will make a real impact on people's lives. Plus, it will keep me smiling when my toenails fall off. Here's a link to my JustGiving page. Thank you.
My week in books
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. This book is an incredible autobiography, tracking her story from Somalia, Saudi, Kenya and Netherlands. It's unbelievable yet true. I highly recommend it, even if it's not your usual genre.
Live well,
Hector