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It has been chilling cold at night.
I can’t do it anymore.
I haven’t seen anyone for days.
I miss home.
Where exactly am I?
What the hell am I doing?
I fell in love with these races
in the North Pole.
I took off my goggles
when I approached the finish line
and asked myself if it was real.
Looking at the snow and my sled,
I knew I had been
struggling in the vast, boundless ice field.
At that instant, I realized I was doing it for life.
It’s six o’clock in Taipei.
It’s Chinese New Year’s Eve.
How is everyone doing?
Happy New Year!
Go for it!
Happy New Year!
Go for it!
I’ve been here for days.
Is the battery dead?
No.
It’s still blinking.
If it’s out of battery,
no one would know where I am.
I would lose touch with my parents and my brothers.
It’s 103, but it was over 160.
Do you have confidence?
No, I’m nervous.
I’m training here
for the 700km artic ultra race in Canada
in February, 2013.
It’s usually minus 30 to 40 degrees in the winter.
It’s the most difficult one among ultra marathons.
You need to drag all your food, equipment, fuel
and tent to finish the race,
and sleep outdoor in the wilderness at night.
The distance between checkpoints is greater and greater.
Sometimes it’s up to minus 50 degrees.
Sleep-deprivation causes hallucination
and affects your judgment,
so its finish rate is under 30%.
I sleep for an average of two hours every day.
I didn’t sleep at all last night.
I took a break, changed clothes
and hit the road right away.
I’ve been running till now
nonstop for over 200 kilometers.
I took a couple-hour break and hit the road again.
It’s the worst for me at night,
especially when the wind rises.
It’s as cold as...
It’s minus 30 when the wind rises.
It’s hard for me, and I’m scared.
I haven’t slept at all
because I’m afraid of getting disqualified.
When I was in the tent last night,
it was windy outside and minus 50 degrees.
I was too freezing to sleep.
I’m wondering if I can do it.
I think I wanted to quit this morning.
I want to make it.
I need a break.
I’m tired.
I’m really exhausted.
It has been four days and 380 kilometers
with 48 kilos of equipment and water
over countless hills.
But I can’t do it anymore.
It’s the 11th day
and the final day.
The final 50 kilometers.
I pitched the tent frantically at 10 last night
because it was down to minus 50.
I was shivering all over in the tent.
I couldn’t wake up.
I was back to normal at 10 this morning.
And my toes have been
swollen and congested for eight days.
And I have strained tendons and ligaments.
It hurts so much that I can hardly walk.
I’m in great pain,
but I’m almost there.
Go, Tommy Chen!
I’m almost there!
Almost there!
Just hang on!
I set the goal when I was 23.
Frostbite and altitude sickness
didn’t hold me back
because I wanted the world to know
that I’m from Taiwan.
I’m a runner from Taiwan,
and I’m Tommy Chen
I’ve got 9.8 kilometers left,
and I’ll make a sprint
with all my might
to enjoy the last leg of the race.
Alright! You finish!
People think that I should stop
because I completed the 8 ultras
in the 7 continents when I was 27
and that I should find myself a “normal” job
because I’m almost 30.
They wonder why I keep taking up challenges.
But I ask myself,
“Should I stop now?”
I’m expecting more from the world.
Although an athlete has a short-lived career,
maybe I should try to see the world
with broader view at the age of 27
when I’m at the peak of physical strength and skills.
I haven’t won any gold medals,
but I think that I’m ready
and everything is about to kick off.
You can see your whole life in an ultra marathon,
going through a journey
of 200 to 700 kilometers in merely one week.
You have nothing
but your equipment and backpack.
You pack up all your food and equipment
and go on the journey of several hundred kilometers.
But what impresses me the most
is that again and again,
I get to push the limits of my body,
and I know what I really want
and where I’m heading.
At around 30km,
you’re exhausted and your blood sugar is at a low level.
You’re approaching the limits of your body,
and you know
that you’re going to faint.
But you run along with the music
and then burst into tears with no reason at all.
You can’t imagine that you’re here running,
but you try your best to finish the race.
When I run on a salt lake,
I see pieces of my life.
I put all the good and bad ones together
to find lots of smiles.
First championship!
My first championship!
It’s my first championship after 6 years.
I’m here in Bolivia.
I lagged behind
but finally caught up with others.
So I’ve got my first championship after 6 years.
There are 150 runners from 25 countries
in the 7-day and 273km
Grand to Grand Ultra
in Grand Canyon National Park in the U.S.
The biggest challenge is that
the temperature changes very fast
between 5 and 40 degrees.
Because of the high altitude and complex terrain,
it’s more difficult to eliminate the lactic acid.
This is the largest event in the U.S.,
attracting the best ultra runners from around the world.
So my strategy is
to try to catch up with the leading group for 2 hours
in the beginning of each day.
After catching up with them,
I’ll see what I can do.
Each day for the 7 days is an ultra marathon for us,
especially the third day,
which is the long day of 84.3 kilometers.
Experience tells me that
being ahead on this day means championship.
So the long day
is the toughest and a key to all the runners.
It’s 36 degrees.
At the checkpoint... At CP6, around 60km,
my body just shut down.
I couldn’t move at all.
I normally stay for 3 minutes at a checkpoint,
but I stopped for 10 minutes.
I felt like throwing up because of low blood sugar.
In the meantime, the Moroccan runner caught up,
and I was about to quit.
It’s the long day with 84 kilometers.
And we’re at an altitude
of 1,500 meters to 2,000 meters,
climbing for... I don’t know how many meters.
Yeah! It’s good.
It’s a good race. -Awesome! Tommy!
I really enjoy it, -Good Job!
Really enjoy it. -Good Job!
Come on, come and have a seat.
Come sit down.
I need to take a break.
My blood sugar keeps lowering.
Congratulations to all of you who are still left here.
It’s extremely nice to see that nobody DNF
after Check point 6 this year.
Every year we had people drop out….
The Moroccan runner went ahead of me
at the first checkpoint in the beginning of the race,
but I caught up with him at the second one.
So it was a race between the two of us today.
I tried my best to get ahead of him.
I was so close to fall behind
and lose the race.
Get the last 12 kilometers,
and I’ll be the champion.
Champion!
You did it today. You’re perfect.
Tough!
So Grand Ultra in 2015 is…
in a time of 34 hours 11 minutes...
Tommy Chen!
It’s a big, big world.
You can’t imagine
how impoverished and backward
these villages in Burkina Faso are
if you don’t come here
and see how these kids are living.
But they survive after all, so...
It’s what you call the vitality of life.
I told myself when I saw them
that I have to live courageously.
I’m here in Africa.
It’s Burkina Faso in West Africa.
I’m in a town called Po.
You can see that the air is foul.
Visibility is bad because there’s dust everywhere.
I’ve adjusted myself well,
waiting for the race tomorrow.
I’m in the arms of Mother Earth!
During each one of my races,
even when I’m about to faint,
or when I have low sugar blood levels or hematuria,
I’m scared,
but I know that I can manage anyway.
However, when the doctor
looked at my checkup report
and told me that
it was something bad that
needed to be operated on,
I kept asking him what it was.
When he told me that it was throat cancer,
I heard my heart crumbling.
I had a breakdown.
I was so scared
that I huddled in a corner
and couldn’t stop trembling.
I didn’t know who to call.
I couldn’t tell my dad.
I didn’t want my mom to know.
So I called my brother
and asked him what to do.
They told me that I was
having a surgery the next day.
On my way to the hospital by myself that night,
I wept.
But I didn’t know why.
In retrospect, I think I was scared.
But why did I feel scared?
Maybe I was afraid of death.
Why exactly did it happen to me?
Then I remember what scared me the most
was that
when I was ready for the surgery
and I saw the white operating light
right before my eyes,
I was scared half to death.
I was afraid that
I would never wake up after anesthesia,
or when I woke up again,
I couldn’t run anymore.
Since I put on my running shoes for the first time,
I haven’t been skived off even for once.
I’ve done my best to train myself.
The only exception is
after I was operated for throat cancer.
During the six months of my recovery,
I didn’t know if I could run again.
And I didn’t know
how to react to everything.
I still remember how lost I was.
I’ve been better since a couple of years ago.
I like running. Running makes me free.
Wherever I am or for whatever reason,
I just keep running.
I space out while I’m running.
And I feel free.
For me, running is like the Buddhist practice.
These simple feelings are hidden
deep inside my heart for a long time.
Everyone runs for different reasons.
You can run for health, or for challenging yourself,
or for your family, or for a promise.
But when I hear someone’s story,
I would think again...
Why do I run?
Why do people run?
I like running.
I can run so fast that I forget all my worries
or so slowly that I’m immersed in my mind.
In all the training and races,
it seems that I’m only moving my legs or panting,
but its meaning
and significance for me
differ at different ages.
What matters in an ultra marathon is not how fast you run,
but how persistent you are during the process.
It’s a painful dream,
but I’ve never had regrets.
The year 2016 was my biggest challenge.
I was poised for the four desert ultras within a year,
aiming at winning the overall championship.
The first one was the 250km Namib Race in Namibia.
The second one was the 250km Gobi March in China.
The third one was the 250km Atacama Crossing in Chile.
And the last one
was the 250km Last Desert ultra marathon in Antarctica.
No Asian runners have completed
the 4 Deserts and won the championship within a year.
And I had to make it within a year,
so I didn’t have much time for a break.
I was pushing my own limits.
You need determination and courage
to leave a city and run in the wilderness.
What awaits you is passion for your dreams
and hope grasped tightly in your hands.
The second place for the man very close behind
was Tommy Chen from Taiwan.
And in third place was Magdalena Dombek from Germany.
Everything was fine today,
but when I finally got to the last 25 kilometers,
the Japanese runner sped up and distanced me.
I tried to catch up,
but my muscle was getting tighter.
I didn’t know why.
During the last leg, it was about 38 degrees
under the sun in the desert.
I felt dizzy and sick.
But I managed to keep a 9-minute distance with him.
After the first couple of days,
our distance is about 10 or 10.5 minutes.
So I still have the chance.
Actually at around 50km,
my body somehow shut down, and I stopped
because I was ready to throw up.
It occurs to me in every race.
I need to know how to overcome the difficulties.
I need to encourage myself
to complete my mission every day.
It’s Day 3 and 42km as usual.
In Day 3,
we will have covered more than 120 kilometers.
We haven’t had a day off.
I woke up this morning
to a very thick fog.
So it’ll be a very hot day.
They said that it’s going to be 38 or 39 degrees.
There will be soft sands today.
So it’s going to be a tough day.
I was dehydrated today.
I couldn’t get enough water because I was in a rush.
And I was seized with cramps in my stomach.
My stomach is still aching.
It’s hard to imagine that in such a long day,
I felt very calm
when I crossed a sand dune.
I realized that life is simple.
All you have to do is leave the city
and run in a desert
to cross a whole sand dune,
You cross a plain with several deserts
and focus on the kilometers needed to be covered.
You’re thankful in your heart
for everything that happens
and every race that we take part in.
So hard.
Nice, huh?
What moves me the most
is my friendship with these competitors,
the starry nights
and the singing of the aboriginals.
Outside of a city,
it’s easier for you to see what you really are.
So by the end of every race,
I would tell myself not to forget my dreams.
I’m usually tense before a race.
I can’t sleep well.
From the recovery training
to the intense training before the race,
I run for 30km, 30km and 80km
every morning and afternoon.
I strictly follow my training schedule every day.
I train so hard to push my limits
that I can barely do anything else.
Sometimes I would tell myself that
I have done this for over ten years
and nothing is impossible for me.
When it’s cold outside,
I don’t want to run because of my sore legs,
but the race is coming soon.
After struggling with myself,
I would be overwhelmed by a sudden whim.
“What the hell? Let’s go running.”
So I go out running because of a whim.
Then by the end of a day,
the kilometers that I cover during the practice
help build my confidence and security,
and I know I haven’t failed myself.
If I don’t cover the required kilometers,
I don’t feel alive.
I think
I live for running every day.
If I don’t do it,
I don’t know who I am anymore.
So you’re like...
You’re working out all the time when you’re free.
Yeah, I need to like, train hard and prepare the race.
I mean, I don’t get why you train so hard, I mean,
you could just like, there are different ways to work out
or you can just have fun with it instead.
Have fun?
Yeah, you can just have fun with it like you can dance.
May I? -Yeah.
Can I? -Yeah.
On this sunset? -Right now, yeah.
Right now? -Absolutely.
You wanna dance? You wanna do this?
Why not? Come on, you call, you call.
Alright, three, two, one. -Okay.
It’s like, feel that, isn’t it?
Feel that. -Feel that.
Why I deep more now like this down? Oh, come on.
I understand ‘cause I feel energy now.
Yeah. -I feel energy.
Okay, give me one “why not” dance, all right?
I got it. I call, I call.
I got it. Ready? -All right.
Okay. Three, two, one!
Let’s jump!
Oh, that’s great.
That’s great. That’s great.
In every training,
I’m fighting against myself,
against time and all the foul conditions.
But I realize that in fact,
I’m racing with myself
because you only have one opponent in a race,
and it is YOU.
To be honest,
I feel lonely in training.
But when I come back to the campfire
and see the gleaming flames,
I feel so hopeful and secure.
I don’t want myself to have any regrets.
So I try my best
to defeat myself.
It’s 6 degrees in the morning,
about 6 or 4 degrees.
It’s so cold that
my fingers have been numb.
I have six days
and 220km more to go.
Hopefully I’ll be able to maintain my strength
and stay in the first three places in one piece.
We’re running into that ravine on the first day.
So it’s possible that we’re tracing the river.
I need to control my body temperature
and keep warm to prevent hypothermia.
It was all downhill in the beginning
through a rocky terrain.
I’m freezing. It’s snowing.
My fingers are numb with cold.
It’s about 40 degrees,
40 or 42 degrees.
It’s like fire burning, which makes breathing difficult.
It’s a great challenge for us.
We need to drink lots of water.
So it’s the greatest challenge of all.
I haven’t done well because
I’m doing the Gobi March right after the Namib Race
without a sufficient rest to recuperate.
The last 2km was...
I couldn’t run anymore and I was outrun,
so I’m in the second place for now.
We’ll see how it is going to be.
Tomorrow and the day after are crucial.
It’s not easy to get what you want.
It’s a beautiful morning today with the sun shining.
It’s nice and cold, about 20 degrees.
It is going to get hotter today.
The competition is keen.
The distances between the runners
in the first three places are within 10 minutes.
I’m in the second place.
I’ll try my best
to win the race.
When everyone stopped,
I refilled my bottle and ran on without a break.
I ran for 12km non-stop with all my might.
I didn’t drink much water. I only got 300cc.
And I only had one small sip.
I tried to catch up with the leading group.
And I think I’m leading now.
I’m already or almost leading.
I’m emotional.
I saw the news last night.
I want him to retire soon.
Your son’s retiring soon? I don’t think so.
He’s just getting started.
How long has he been doing it?
I think it’s enough for him.
It was the first time
that my parents came and cheered for me.
I even drafted a thank-you speech.
I knew what I was going to say
when I ran through the Gobi in that long day.
I imagined me standing onstage with a microphone
with my parents watching,
and they would be proud of me.
When I was in great pain,
it put a smile on my face.
I was leading in the first five days.
And I was sure that I’d win the race.
But who would’ve thought that after a few hours
I’d collapsed in the tent because of heat exhaustion?
At that instance,
I knew I’d lose my championship.
I didn’t want to tell my wife
that he was so badly wounded.
I don’t know what to say.
I hope that he’ll finish the race safe and sound.
That’s it.
My heart broke when I saw the photos
of his wounded hands.
I even burst into tears.
And his dad was weeping in the hotel bathroom.
He was weeping in it while I was weeping outside.
We were both heartbroken,
but we have to come for my baby boy
because he’s doing his best.
To realize his dream,
he keeps on running against all odds.
So we’ll support him anyway.
I don’t want to lose.
My dad and mom will come to the finishing line
to watch my race.
I don’t want to lose.
We win together. Don’t worry.
You’re a champion.
You want to run?
Where is he?
It looks like him over there.
Where?
Is that him?
I’m sure it’s him from the way he’s running.
But it looks like he’s limping.
Don’t cry.
The runner behind him is fast.
You’ve done it at last!
For the four months
from the Gobi March
to the third race in Atacama, Chile,
I hated running.
I hadn’t finished any 80km training for long.
The race in Chile was so nerve-wracking.
I kept asking myself
if I could hang on with it
or if I was going to collapse at 50km again.
My coat at home...
Here are your energy bars.
Your energy bars.
What? No, no, no...
Bring them with you. -No. From whom?
Bring them with you. -From whom?
I bought them. -No.
Take them.
All right. Let’s do it now.
My mountain pants and down jacket.
How many, Etta?
Five.
Three tubes are perfect.
It’s full.
Get the car. Stop walking around like that.
I have a very large...
The largest one.
I have only three hours before the plane takes off.
After the Gobi March,
it was saddening that I went through
very different emotions in those seven days.
The disappointment, joy, sadness, hopefulness
and happiness at the end...
I had mixed feelings deep in my heart.
It has been my worst performance
in an international race for the past six years.
Can you do it?
Come on. Cook for me when I’m back.
Yeah. Give him a kiss, Mr. Chen.
Come on. Give him a kiss, Mr. Chen.
No.
Yeah. Bye.
Bye.
Go for it. Bye.
I’ll video you.
Bye.
We’re getting ready for Atacama in 35 days.
It’s the third race of the 4 Deserts,
at very high altitudes. 3,700 meters for the first day.
So we’re training here for it
at Everest Base Camp in Nepal.
And it’s uphill all the way.
It’s a 1,000-meter climb for six hours.
Everest Base Camp, EBC
It’s the base camp...
in Mount Everest.
Luckily the weather is fine.
Well done.
We’re running from Lukla to Namche
and doing the strength training for two days,
getting ready for the last two races of the 4 Deserts.
Our goal is to train at an altitude of over 5,400 meters.
Well done.
All aboard
Thank you, sir. -Yes.
You made it. Have fun.
Thank you.
After the Gobi,
I developed a mental block.
For a period of time, I hated running.
I couldn’t help but think of how I collapsed.
I kept asking myself
if I could run or not.
Full throttle!
Here comes Tommy Chen!
He’s right behind you!
Here. Give me your paw.
Press it here like this.
I have been
an athlete for almost 20 years.
But what do I want?
Why do I run?
I ask myself before every race in the wilderness.
I try to ask myself repeatedly
what the meaning of everything is
and what I do it for.
Yes, I can run for another half hour.
I can do it
Just hang on.
I can do it. Just hang on.
Yes, I can.
Hang on.
Keep going.
10km, 20km, 30km...
It has 800cal, very greasy.
It’s greasy, very sickening.
The third race is in Atacama, Chile. It’s a plateau.
It’s an altitude of 3,200 meters for the first day.
So we’re running on a plateau for seven days.
I’m applying the Turtle strategy here
because it’s impossible to eliminate the lactic acid.
And it’s the most difficult race
in the 4 Deserts
because of the complex terrains.
So I’m planning to fight a seesaw battle
for the last 10 kilometers.
The third race in Atacama, Chile
was the most nerve-wracking one.
I wanted to win,
and I didn’t want to fall sick again.
Although I trained myself at Everest Base Camp
and I had got accustomed to the altitudes,
I was distanced by the leading runner
at the beginning of the race.
I couldn’t even catch up with Filippo,
the Swiss runner who assisted me last time.
It’s freezing.
I’m shivering here.
When we set off this morning,
I was so tired for the first 10 kilometers.
But I kept tagging along
for a chance to distance them.
When I crossed those rivers,
I almost got frostbite on my feet.
I crossed at least 20 rivers.
I finally distanced them in the last 20 kilometers
and hung on to the finish line.
So I finished first on the second day.
I have three more days.
I’ll go through the leaders again from yesterday,
with the women coming in third is Isabelle
with the time of 17hr08m53s.
And Tommy Chen is holding the overall leading position
with the time of 14hr04m53s.
The competition was keen.
Everyone was speeding up to try to distance me.
I had been distanced by at least 8 minutes.
It remained the same at Checkpoint 2.
Then I paced myself with a German runner.
We covered for each other with good teamwork.
At Checkpoint 3,
all the leading five runners stuck together.
No one wanted to take the lead.
When someone moved or stopped, the others followed.
Nobody wanted to lead.
Everyone was fighting for the time and ranking
to see who quit first.
So it was a seesaw battle today.
All five of us stuck together for the last 20 kilometers.
Then in the last five kilometers,
we were going up and down sand dunes.
My training at Everest Base Camp helped a lot
with persistence in running uphill and downhill,
so I took the advantage to get ahead of everyone else.
It’s the fourth day of the third race in Atacama.
Tomorrow is an important day
because our ranking will be determined.
I think I’ll be one of the first three runners.
Hopefully the incident in the Gobi won’t happen again,
especially in the long day.
Collapsing in the Gobi because of heat exhaustion
did cast a shadow on my confidence.
I’m afraid of falling sick again.
So I’m mainly competing with myself.
Hopefully the result will be to my satisfaction.
I wanted to win the race.
And I was definitely going to win.
In the last ten kilometers before the finish line,
I distanced him beyond my expectations.
And I did it.
I think the happiest moment
was when I got through
the most painful and exhausting kilometers,
and I yelled out, “It’s show time!”
Before the finish line,
I yelled out again and again
to get rid of the shadow from the Gobi
and turn it into a new start.
Filippo!
So hard.
That is a very tough race.
Very tough.
Before each one of my trips abroad,
Pipi would sit by me
to watch me pack.
Even when I stayed awake till dawn,
he sat with me to keep me company
or snuck into my luggage case
as if he wanted to go with me.
Everything was fine when I was with him,
and I forgot what loneliness was.
Then Pipi died in 2011.
And I was diagnosed with throat cancer.
After the 8 ultras in the 7 continents,
I felt a strong sense of loneliness.
From then on,
I’ve always brought his photos with me
in every race of mine.
I miss him so much
that I wonder if he’s here with me.
Pipi!
How are you?
Are you here?
Show yourself!
Come here!
I miss you!
Are you rooting for me?
Pipi?
Are you here?
Do you know what to say, sir?
Your name and your dream.
“I will make it.” Then clap your hands.
My name is Pan Ruei-gen.
I’m Tommy Chen’s coach, his teacher.
My dream is to make Tommy
an international ultra marathon runner.
When I studied in Chengyuan Sernior High,
I won a 10,000m gold medal in the National Tournaments.
And with the gold medal,
I began to wonder if I could
challenge the world with my own two legs.
I’m Tommy Chen.
My dream is to win the world championship of 4 Deserts.
And I will make it.
The memory of every race
flashes through my mind clearly
and vividly to my amazement.
Every setback,
every moment of joy...
everything surges up like waves.
I’ve gone through many obstacles.
I’ve had doubts, and my family used to not discourage me.
I’m glad that I’ve persisted.
And I’ve met lots of people.
Their encouragement and support
keep pushing me forward along the way.
Although it has been hard,
I’ve come to realize
that every end is actually a new beginning.
Hello?
Hi, Dad.
It’s Tommy.
No, there’s no polar bear here.
If I win the championship, I’ll devote it to you.
Yeah, mind the phone bill.
That’s it. I’ve got to go.
Say hello to Mom for me.
Yeah.
Oh no!
Did I pack it?
My GPS Tracker.
How’s the battery?
Yeah, sir?
It’s Tommy.
Safety first. Yeah, I know.
Okay.
Yeah.
I’ll get going tomorrow. Go for it!
We all have our own big dreams.
Everyone is the same.
To make the dream come true,
I think we need determination.
During the process,
we need to go through hardships,
and we hesitate once in a while,
but I think all the pains go away
when you run through the finish line.
The total distance is 1,000 kilometers.
And it’s the last 250 kilometers.
In Antarctica,
we’re racing on different islets every day.
The weather is so changeable that
there can be a snowstorm or a strong hurricane anytime.
So a race may be cancelled at short notice.
Therefore, the championship of this race
goes to the first person who completes the 250 kilometers
in six days.
It is exciting now.
It looks like everyone is going to push his or her limits
and dash forward with all his or her might
because no one knows how the weather will be tomorrow.
It's the last race.
It'll be over after this.
Go for it.
I can cover 200 or 300 kilometers in 3 days,
but 200 kilometers in 3 days in Antarctica...
It’s torture.
I almost burst into tears.
It was torture.
I could barely hold it.
It was torturing,
both physically and mentally.
I almost lost my willpower.
This young man
first started to run ultra marathons in 2009.
His first ultra marathon was actually in Northern India
during a 5-day, 100-mile stage race,
which is interesting is,
it’s the very first ultra marathon that I did,
that actually got me started into ultra marathons.
And since that time, he’s on 14 ultra marathons,
and during that time, as we all faced in life,
he’s gone through his ups and downs.
Life is certainly never fair.
And in 2011,
he actually was diagnosed with throat cancer.
It was pretty serious.
He was down for many months,
but he never really let it get him down.
And he came back, and he even set higher goals.
Now I’ve seen this young man
through the four races over the past year,
and he has given every bit
of his heart and soul for every race.
I think back to the Gobi March race in China last June,
we had one stage where it was 54 Celsius out.
And he was struggling dearly.
And fortunately some of the other runners
really helped him to the finish line.
But he never, never gave up.
And he hasn’t won every race,
but he’s placed very high in each race and never gave up.
So this person, who is the 4 Deserts world champion,
is Tommy Chen of Taiwan.
I did it.
I was running and laughing, and crying at the same time.
I really did it.
After a whole year,
the stress and pain finally ended.
I could come home at last.
Don’t ask me why I run.
Like birds flying
or fish swimming,
it’s nothing but the pulse of Nature.
Tommy Chen!
You can do it!
Go for it!
The world may not be the same as we imagine.
Don’t forget to embrace courage when you’re afraid.
If...
life has to end eventually,
I want it to be while I’m chasing my dreams.