Hi, I'm 43 years old and started running about 5 years ago. My wife Niamh and two children, Aoibh and Eabhan think I have gone mad. Amongst other things they call me Forrest Gump. I took up marathon running in 2012 and got the bug. I did my first ultra-marathon 2 years later and am still looking for challenges.

The Marathon des Sables (MDS) is something that was in my mind for a few years and this year I took the plunge and signed up. This is a truly unique event and one which I am thoroughly albeit nervously looking forward to. Known as “the toughest footrace on earth”, the MDS is a race in the Sahara Desert covering approximately 250KM over a 7 day period. It averages out to a marathon each day with a long stage on day 4 which is 80 to 90 KM long. It is a self-sufficient race which requires us runners to carry all of our food, clothing and other survival kit for the week. Water is supplied at checkpoints and you share a tent with 7 other people for the week which is moved during the day from each location. The heat in the desert will be extraordinary and is the thing that cannot be trained for. Temperatures are expected to be between 40 and 50 degrees daily.

I have had an incredible journey over the last 8 months since I started training in July 2014 for this event. It started with 3 marathons on my holidays in Tenerife and since then I have nearly 2,500KM of running, countless tonnes of weights in the gym with a trainer and recently Bikram yoga (yoga in 40 degrees) sessions twice per week. Some of the events are listed below:

• Since starting to train for this event – 25 marathons run including 5 ultra-marathons – still a few more to go yet over the next 5 weeks

• Connemara ultra-marathon – 39 miles

• Achill Island ultra-marathon – 39 miles

• Pilgrims Challenge UK – 2 day 66 mile ultra-marathon

• Art O’Neill – 53KM run at night from Dublin Castle to Glenmalure over the Wicklow Mountains.

I have met a brilliant bunch of people who are doing this event in April 2015 and have enjoyed so much training and getting stronger with them.

I chose Enable Ireland as my charity as I have a beautiful niece Kate with Spina Bifida and Enable Ireland have been a good source of support to her over the last few years. This event means a lot to me and I wanted to do something special from it as a result for somebody else.