Gobi Runner. Stefan Danis

—Tom Reeves, CEO, Interface Biologics

      “‘… great presentation ... made me want to push myself much harder, in every aspect of my life, to achieve the goals I have set.’ With only exceptional feedback like that, I hope you’ll make many more of those presentations. Thanks again for sharing.”

       —Claude Carrier, Co-Owner, Bos

      “… inspiring and truly remarkable. A great source of motivation.”

       —Jean Noelting, CEO, RoyCap

      “People were inspired by not only what you did but what it took to do it. Several came up to me later with thoughts and ideas of things that they have put off in the past and now are going out and ‘doing it.’ I try my best to inspire the staff and keep the morale positive. Certainly last year was not an easy task, but this presentation was great and it certainly worked.”

       —Anita Dong, President, McDonnell Haynes

      “Gobi Runner is a fascinating experience – on both a personal and physical level. The scope of the race’s physical and emotional demands on the participant is enormous. What has been more interesting has been the learning that Stéfan shares. He has created an interactive presentation that highlights the individual and corporate challenges that many of us face in the business world. He has developed a powerful hands-on list of easy-to-understand life-lessons that are applicable to both an entrepreneur and a Fortune 500 CEO. Having experienced it, both at the board level and for staff team-building exercises, I’ve seen how each time the participants have expressed that the content and his personal message have impacted them and motivated them to look for new ways to rethink their personal goals in life.”

       —Mike Fenton, Director Principal Gifts, West Park Healthcare Centre Foundation, Past President & CEO, NABS Canada

      Copyright © 2011 by Stéfan Danis

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

      Published by

       BPS Books

       Toronto, Canada

       www.bpsbooks.com A division of Bastian Publishing Services Ltd. www.bastianpubserv.com

      ISBN 978-1-926645-79-7

      Cover: Gnibel

       Front cover photograph: Zandy Mangold /

       www.racingtheplanet.com Author photograph: Darlene Huynh

      Text design and typesetting:

       Daniel Crack / Kinetics Design

       www.kdbooks.com

       To my mother and father: Thanks for the sacrifices you made for me, bestowing me with good legs, helping me develop abundant resilience, always telling me that anything is possible, and providing a caring and loving environment for me to grow up in.

       Preface

       Prologue

       Part 1 Pre-Training

       1 A Crisis at Work

       2 A Crisis at Home

       3 Searching for a Breakthrough

       Part 2 Training

       4 The Training Roadmap

       5 Asking for Help

       6 Various Degrees of Pain

       7 Burdens

       8 Shin Splints

       9 Gobi Sendoff

       Part 3 The Gobi Warm-up

       10 Tourists on the Run

       11 Gateway to the Gobi

       12 The Last Supper

       Part 4 The Gobi Run

       13 Day One: Elation

       14 Day Two: Running on Mars

       15 Day Three: Divine Intervention

       16 Day Four: Heaven’s Gate

       17 Day Five: Cat and Mouse

       18 Day Six: Rest

       19 Day Seven: The Final Push

       Part 5 Recovering

       20 Reentry

       21 Ten Lessons from the Desert