BIG RED HEART

yourself running 250km on a mad multiday desert mission that could kill you. Or perhaps change your life. That’s what happened to Patrick Rousseau.

Brisbane and he is freaking out. On the other side of the ditch is a long bus ride dodging kangaroos and emus as the vehicle pummels headlong into the dead heart of Australia.

Awaiting him is the biggest challenge he’s ever faced: a 100km run across the Simpson Desert. That’s the same sandpit.

Patrick Rousseau blames New Zealand’s adventure running queen, Lisa Tamati, for his predicament. It was her latest book, Running to Extremes, that led him here.

“It all started when I entered a bookstore looking for a holiday read. At the time I was a somewhat below-average recreational runner with just one half marathon under my belt,” says Patrick. “I did harbor a lingering idea that maybe I should attempt a full marathon some time although I strongly suspected that the idea would go nowhere, like most of my new year resolutions.”

“Now, I had heard of ultra-marathon runners, but to my mind they formed a small group of lunatics; either extreme masochists or freaks of nature with super powers. Nothing I could ever remotely relate to. Nevertheless,