On May 29th 2008 I along with my partner Adrian completed the first of the seven deadly sins – the Tenzing-Hillary Marathon.

The event began with a 13 day trek from Lukla to Everest Base Camp with a couple of 2 day stopovers in between to assist with acclimatisation. We averaged 6-7 hours of trekking per day so my sleeping bag and tent were always a welcome sight at the end of each day.

The group comprised of some very enthusiastic and experienced runners from all around the world. Our favourite was a young lass called Jodi Symington who hails from England. Jodi has cystic fibrosis and diabetes and along with her crew – Dr Steve, Guy and Barry decided to enter the marathon in order to raise money for cystic fibrosis. Jodi is a truly outstanding individual with guts and determination that would blow even the healthy person completely out of the water. Adrian and I managed to convince Jodi to venture down to New Zealand in order to compete Ironman 2010 and she has decided to take on the challenge.

I had done a lot of altitude training through Performo Airo in order to help prepare me for this trip and this probably helped in some ways minimise the severity of the altitude sickness that I got the morning after we arrived at Namche Bazar (11,283ft). Thankfully, I was given Dimox to help me get over the nausea and dizziness. Unfortunately, I also had to continue trekking with the group to Kundi Hospital (approx 11,400ft) in order to aid acclimatisation. The trek involved a hell climb up one of the many hills that we encountered along the way and for my safety Adrian had to stand behind me to stop me from falling as I would often be hit by random dizzy spells as we ascended – that was special!!!. Eventually the Dimox took effect and altitude sickness became little more than a distant memory for the remainder of the trek.

Initially, I found the food delicious and we would often start the day with porridge and rice pudding followed by a bread of some description and hot black tea or hot chocolate. Lunch was often rice with dahl and some form of vegetable or curry followed by something deep fried. Dinner would be similar to lunch. Unfortunately, as we ascended my appetite decreased quite dramatically and so by the time I had reached Base Camp I had hardly eaten anything for 4 days.

On the 27th of May we left Gorak Shep (16,859ft) bound for Everest Base Camp (17,593 ft). I arose with about as much enthusiasm as a wet rag having been up all night with bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea and the chest infection from hell. I left Gorak Shep so dosed up on pills and potions that had you shaken me I would of surely rattled – consequently the trek to Base Camp was not considered to be one of my most memorable moments.

I arrived at Base Camp happy to find my tent and my sleeping bag and there I stayed until the next day.

On the 28th of May I arose to the most amazing views of the surrounding mountains, crystal clear skies, clear running water and -10 degree weather, however, no vomiting or diarrhoea but the chest infection still remained. I hadn’t eaten anything in days and was pretty dehydrated so the combination of my ailments coupled with dehydration and no food had me worried about my race the next day. Adrian also had a major chest infection so together we made a pretty dismal looking couple.

We ventured out to explore Base Camp and managed to meet some amazing people including the two oldest people to summit Mt Everest and whose names I wont even attempt to spell. Everest Base Camp is certainly amazing and tents are precariously perched between flat pieces of land and rocks. I found it really cool to hear the rumble of avalanches all around me throughout the night and during the day and as Base Camp is on an ice glacier it certainly is an eerie feeling to hear the glacier crack and move beneath you. However, the not so glamorous part was the fact that Base Camp amounts to being little more than “one big toilet”. In order to perform number “twos” one must venture into one of the tents provided and aim with the precision of a sharp shooter – unfortunately miscalculations do occur and hearing the yells from inside the tents followed by much cussing and a quick run to the water does make for some great entertainment. However, to perform number “ones” we were told to utilise any available rock – subsequently you become very mindful as to where you placed your hands.

With “no gas in the tank” as well as no appetite Adrian and I knew that we needed to get food into us – even if we had to force it down. No food meant that our race the next day would be a nasty adventure and we weren’t too sure if we would have enough energy to finish. We had both heard on the trekking grapevine that Everest Base Camp had a German bakery that served the most amazing apple pie and chocolate cake – our mission was to find that bakery - we were pretty impressed to discover that it was less than 30m from our tent site.

We both ventured in and if you can imagine two kids in a lollie shop then that would be us. There certainly was a god on that day as the delectable morsels that were presented to us had us both hyperventilating with absolute joy. Huge apple pies, rich, moist chocolate cakes, chocolate croissants, biscuits and freshly brewed coffee….we had found our El Dorado and it was gooooooood!!!!!

We ordered, we sat and we consumed the most delicious apple pies and chocolate cake I have ever eaten, followed by an amazing tasting coffee. Our eating drought over, Adrian and I revisited the establishment again mid afternoon. I couldn’t of cared less about the calories we were “carbo loading” kiwi style. We went to bed happy that we had something in our bellies – whether or not it was enough we would have to wait and see the next day.