At 4:00 a.m. on April 3, 2026, I set off from Los Angeles as part of an all-female team taking on The Speed Project: a 550-kilometre relay from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Forty-six hours of nonstop running through desert highways, mountain passes, and some of the most remote roads in the American Southwest. The race delivered everything we'd heard about and more. Extreme heat, sleep deprivation, long stretches of isolation, unexpected route challenges, and the constant mental calculation of how to keep moving efficiently. We passed a wildfire that later forced reroutes for teams behind us. We navigated through sections where there were no other runners in sight for hours. By the second night, fatigue had become part of the environment. One thing I didn't expect was how little I would have think about my footwear... [To be continued] |
