‘Don’t tell me I can’t… run the world’s toughest race’

Tanya Pieterse, 48, is married to Genis, 48. With the heat of the Sahara sun burning down on me, I focus on the sand dunes in the distance. I’ve been running for days, and I’m not about to stop now. It might sound like I've taken a wrong turn, but I haven’t – I’m a 40-something wife and mother and I’m taking part in the world’s toughest race – by choice!

Growing up, I’d go running each weekend with my dad. But as much as I loved it, by the time I met Genis, aged 20, swept up in the throes of new love, running started to slip down my list of priorities.

We got married in 1988 and by the time our daughter Arielle was born four years later, being a new mum, combined with helping Genis run his car business, meant time for hobbies was gone. I didn’t mind – I loved making memories for us as a family. But as Arielle got older and went away to university I realised how important it was to have my own interests, too.

In 2012, I started thinking about what I could do to fill the time. When there was a fundraising race happening locally, I signed up for it.

Having not run in decades, I built up slowly, jogging for 10 minutes and then walking for five, but on the day of the race, I hadn’t quite factored in how difficult it would be. I fell over before reaching the 2k marker! I did manage to finish the race – but only just.

Over the next few months I kept running. And, the more I did it, the more I found that passion flooding back. It was with that in mind that I found myself signing up to the Marathon de Sables.

The race through the Sahara desert covers 156 miles in one week – the equivalent of running 26 miles every day. And, in temperatures of up to 50°C, it’s the toughest race in the world.

I knew it would be a challenge – but that was exactly what I was looking for. Besides, raising money for Unicef, it would be more than worthwhile.

Genis agreed to come with me, and while other mums my age were taking up hobbies like going to book clubs, I started training hard. It took two years of running every day before we were ready.