Sometimes when I see an adventure-type film I will say “That would be fun”, or “I’d like to do that”. Not so in this case! The movie follows four runners as they attempt to run across four of the most inhospitable deserts in the world – the Atacama in Chile (the driest desert in the world), the Gobi in China (the windiest desert in the world), the Sahara in Egypt (the hottest desert in the world) and the Antarctica (the coldest desert in the world). Now imagine running each of those 155 mile legs in one calendar year. These were not professional athletes, but folks who were meeting their own personal challenges. Of the four runners, two of them (the youngest woman and the oldest male) completed the Grand Slam.

In a Skype interview with the director we learned that her original intention was to film one specific runner in the event. When her crew arrived to begin filming, the runner confessed he hadn’t really trained for the event. She quickly advised her crew to start filming anyone and everyone because she was certain “her” runner wasn’t going to make it!