I first met the 4Deserts ultra marathon race series when I volunteered at the Gobi March in 2014. I had stumbled across this extraordinary event series during my work at The LIVESTRONG Foundation. Unsure if I would be able to afford the competitor entry fee as a debt-ridden post grad, I packed up and headed for the western desert of China to volunteer at the event. 

While traveling as a lone, female, non-Chinese speaker provided many challenges, when I finally reached the edges of the Gobi, I was met by a slew of people from all over the world. An architect from the Netherlands, a software manager from Silicon Valley, a British ex-patriot living in Thailand, a student from Singapore, the list goes on of volunteers. The 112 competitors  were no different. They represented all different countries, and the spectrum of athleticism. There were triathletes, Olympians, entrepreneurs, college professors, and housewives. 

The most remarkable of all was the way each and every person sparkled. Often, you could not find a common language between people; however, everyone seemed to carry an understanding and solidarity with each other. What they were doing was hard and completely unnecessary, even. Yet, here they were, in the middle of the desert, their bodies in extreme pain, and they were all so...alive. 

Volunteering in the Gobi was an experience on par with my time doing Texas 4000. I knew that I wanted to return as a competitor one day, and finally did so in Sri Lanka in 2016, and then competed at the Atacama Crossing later that year as well. 

Honestly, I wake up most days wondering if I am finally an athlete. After all of my training, it is so easy to be filled with doubt and to hear the voices of those who did not believe in me. 

But then I take a breath. If running has taught me one thing, it's that the first few steps are always the hardest.