Running Hot

How Lisa Tamati's journey through the Libyan desert changed the course of her life and strengthened her love of running.

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The Badwater Ultramarathon through Death Valley in the United States is one of the world's toughest races. In 2008, Lisa Tamati was the first New Zealand woman to compete in the race, running alongside such legends of the sport as Dean Karnazes and David Goggins.

But Lisa's story is so much more than that one race. At the age of 19 she suffered a crippling back injury and was told she should give up running. She took that as a challenge and, with her Austrian boyfriend, went on to run, walk and bike her way across thousands of kilometres of Europe, Scandinavia and Africa before taking on the ultimate challenge - an unassisted crossing of the Libyan Desert.

What happened in the desert would change the course of Lisa's life and instil in her a love of desert running. Running Hot is a story of a life lived to the max, complete with challenges, setbacks, heartbreaks and triumph.