BY MARIA CAMILA BERNAL
SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD
Danielle Furey is determined to outrun her multiple sclerosis.
In April, she will be competing in the Marathon des Sables, a six-day, 156-mile competition in the middle of the South Sahara Desert.
“I can do it, I know my body,” said Furey, of Weston.
The 44-year-old mother of four first began feeling the symptoms of MS, a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the nervous system, more than a decade ago. It started with a loss of feeling in her right leg. Within a few years, Furey was experiencing fatigue and inexplicable pain.
At first she felt sorry for herself. But soon, she decided she wasn’t going to let the disease determine the way she lives her life.
A runner since she was 12 and a veteran of numerous marathons, Furey signed up for the Marathon des Sables, one of the most grueling races in the world. Participants must carry their own food and equipment to survive — only a two-sided Berber tent and water are provided.
The race rules require each runner to carry at least 2,000 calories per day for six days. Furey’s carrying granola bars and Peanut M&Ms, her reward for finishing the race. In her backpack, she’ll also have blister pads, a headlamp, a signal mirror, a whistle, an anti-venom pump, a compass, baby wipes, SPF 50 sunscreen and toothpaste.
At various checkpoints along the route, the runners are given liters of water.
“One of the most difficult things about preparing for the Marathon des Sables,” Furey said, “is that I do not have a desert, sand dunes nor intense dry heat to train in.”
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