Natalie Dau, a 52-year-old Australian-born Singaporean woman, recently completed a 621.4-mile journey running across Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, known as the Malay Peninsula, in 12 days. This grueling journey, equivalent to running two marathons a day for 12 days, covering 52.2 miles each day, began in late May and concluded on June 5 in Singapore. Dau is an ultrarunner, running distances exceeding a marathon’s 26.2 miles. According to the BBC on June 16, she started running to build stamina in her late 30s. Despite severe heat and a hip injury, she completed the 621.4-mile journey and set a Singapore record for the fastest 621.4-mile Thailand-Singapore ultramarathon. She is also awaiting certification from the Guinness World Records for the Fastest Foot Crossing of the Malay Peninsula.
Though she claimed these prestigious titles, the journey was not easy. According to Singaporean media outlet The Straits Times, the soles of her shoes melted in the hot weather, she injured her hip on the first day, and on the third day, she developed a urinary tract infection. “After four days, I first doubted whether I could finish this. I love the challenge of a marathon and the raw feeling it gives, but I hate these low points (feelings of despair). And they come often,” she said.
Throughout the run, Dau communicated her experiences and feelings to sponsors and fans through nightly voice messages.
Dau planned this run last September. Her previous record was 124 miles, and she planned this run while looking for other ways to challenge herself. Precisely, it was a project called Project 1000 to encourage women’s sports participation. During her run, $37,000 was raised for the GRLS fund linked to this run. However, according to Dau, she was too naive to know almost anything about this journey, which required running almost all the time except for short sleep and meal times on the road. In a message on the fifth day, she wrote, “I had breakfast at a roadside stall and admired the scenery for five minutes before setting off again.” In another message, she wrote, “It’s not fun to set the alarm for 11:30 PM after finishing dinner at 8 PM.” To beat the heat, she had to start running just after midnight, which meant she could only sleep 2-3 hours a night and had to run again in the middle of the night.
Dau recalled that waking up every day was the scariest part. “Every day I woke up thinking, ‘What if I can’t run today?’ In the end, I felt very broken. I felt like I couldn’t make it back to Singapore for my final journey,” she said.
She explained that the reason she runs is due to a specific personality type that enjoys feeling uncomfortable while running. “Many people in the world live quite comfortably, but some strive to be more uncomfortable.” She wants to prove that she can continue to challenge herself and show that there are no limits other than her own beliefs.
Dau hopes that her example, especially to women and the elderly, will inspire them to challenge their limits. Regarding running, she encouraged, “It doesn’t matter whether you come in first or last. You are doing something almost superhuman, something only 0.05% of the world’s population has done.”