Thanh Vũ: From the Race Track Back Home
The first Asian woman to complete “The 4 Deserts Grand Slam” – a 1,000-kilometre journey across four of the world’s harshest deserts – Thanh Vũ is remarkably modest about her achievements, and doesn’t even call herself an athlete. In others’ eyes, her willpower is extraordinary. For Thanh, though, it is simply the result of training to conquer each stretch of road that means something to her.
What I have is what nature allows
For those who love conquering roads, feeling connected to nature is a given. But how that connection actually happens is what I truly care about. Surely, Thanh Vũ running across a desert in scorching heat is very different from us mountain biking, riding a camel or going for a walk.
“There were times I was so exhausted that climbing a hot sand dune felt like walking on nails – two steps up, one step sliding back. But I had to cling to the beauty of the nature around me and remind myself that not everyone gets the chance to witness such majestic scenery,” Thanh confides. Clearly, for her, nature is not only a place to enjoy comfort and ease, but also somewhere to lean on, to learn to appreciate and to be grateful.
Thanh says she loves Chile’s Atacama Desert because parts of it look like the surface of the moon, and that the Arctic is beautiful. In the Arctic, by day, the scenery is magnificent and magical, with snow-covered trees and snow sparkling in the sun. By night it is the complete opposite. It is pitch black, like a horror film, filling her with fear. But sometimes she gets to see the aurora, as if nature were giving her a private concert on the ice.“Even though it was bitterly cold, I clung to that rare moment.”Once again, she repeated the word “cling”.
Thanh Vũ adds:“Connecting with nature and the environment around you is always necessary – not only after finishing a stretch, but also while you’re struggling through it. In nature, I feel how small humans are, and realise that what I have is what nature allows.”
In terms of composition, the sand on the Phan Thiết dunes and the sand in the Atacama Desert are the same, so why do we feel these places so differently? Only each person can answer that. For Thanh Vũ, the journey would be meaningless if she only said: this is desert sand. I couldn’t agree more. Everyone has heard “nothing is impossible” and “keep going and you’ll get there”, but how you understand and feel it is what makes the difference.
I was curious whether there was a moment that made Thanh realise the contrast between urban life and the meaning she finds in nature. She believes human self-awareness is distilled through many experiences, reflections and looking back. But she remembers a moment running on sand, tripping over a tree root, falling and seeing stars. She thought of standing on top of a high-rise looking down at the stream of traffic and twinkling lights. The two contrasting scenes made her see clearly the emotions unfolding inside her. Back then, she found the city lights beautiful and felt she was standing above something wondrous. Lying on the sand, she smiled, realising she was lying in nature’s grace.
The moments most worth waiting for
For Thanh Vũ, the moments most worth waiting for are not crossing the finish line but “the moments that shape who I am, like a snake shedding its skin, casting off the old to renew myself and move forward stronger.”
These moments often come on the fourth day of week-long races. That is when everyone feels exhausted and is tempted to give up at the sight of the long road ahead. Thanh Vũ recalls that in a 2012 race in Switzerland, those around her witnessed her moment of panic and confusion as it was cold and rained non-stop, and her pace kept slowing. Over time, those moments have come later, as she has become more patient, more resilient and more determined.
She once said in an interview that there are small races few people know about that she values greatly, because there were periods when, for various reasons, even 5 or 10 kilometres felt like torture. Each time she overcame difficulties only she knew about, the feeling was wonderful.
“Would you say you love a challenge?”, I asked.
She paused for a few seconds and said she does like conquering, but not necessarily anything grand – she just wants to test whether she can do something hard. Why are her challenges tied to tough terrain rather than climbing to a high position in society? According to Thanh Vũ, it depends on each person’s passion. She explains further:“People ask me how to find their passion. Sometimes passion isn’t a clear answer you’ll find just by looking. You need to listen and observe, to pay attention to your own actions and thoughts, even when they seem a little absurd or crazy. If something hits your sweet spot, it makes you want to pour all your energy and effort into it. With passion and curiosity, life becomes more interesting. Living by society’s standards never brings real joy.”
Coming home
The story of Thanh Vũ at twenty should perhaps be told from the gym to the race track, but in her thirties, that story needs to be reversed.
Nature has been the teacher who showed her that running 250, 500 or even a thousand kilometres is something she can do anywhere; what matters is how the journey changes her thinking and her outlook on life. Coming home from the race track, Thanh has learned to appreciate things she once didn’t pay enough attention to.
She used to find the gym dull, full of machines, with everyone looking tense. But gradually she overcame her dislike to go more regularly, train more effectively in less time and, most importantly, maintain a mental and physical balance for a better quality of life.
Speaking of her personal life, she laughs thinking back to her student days, when she always loved going out and checking in at pretty places. Even in the dorm, she liked hauling all her clothes and books to a friend’s room just a few steps away. Now she enjoys sitting quietly in her own nest. One useful thing Thanh Vũ has learned is to distinguish between “free time” and “available time”. Free time is for herself, to recover and recharge. She laughs, saying she guards this time very carefully.
Now and then, she gives her “available time” to her loved ones, drinking tea, watching films, listening to music or talking with them. In these intimate get-togethers, she shares her seemingly far-fetched and crazy goals.. “Sharing your goals with others is a hugely important skill. I used to try to carry everything alone, felt stressed and gradually drifted away from my goals. Learning to share helps me picture my goals more clearly and strengthens my commitment. Fear shrinks and I feel more confident. When someone questions or challenges me, I understand better what I need to do and adjust.”
Our conversation lasted just one hour. I could feel Thanh giving me all her “available time”, just as she focuses all her heart and energy on her races. Before we said goodbye so Thanh could return to her own refuge, we talked a little about the word “place” in this issue’s theme. “Place” means not only a location but also a position. Thanh said something so insightful that I took the liberty of including it here.
Thanh has a friend who started running about ten years ago, with her longest distance being 10 kilometres. Since taking up running, she has thought about herself completely differently. She used to believe running in hot weather was impossible. But once she achieved her running goal, she started going to the gym, eating more mindfully and keeping up her training even after having two children. Her quality of life has changed visibly – healthy, balanced and positive. As a result, she has become more confident.
According to Thanh Vũ, when anyone overcomes physical challenges in sport, they feel more confident returning to everyday activities. They express their views more firmly, with less shyness or hesitation. So training in sport is really training as a human being.
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Thanh Vũ was born in 1990, studied in Canada and the UK, then became a financial analyst at Bloomberg in Singapore. Despite having an ideal job, at 25 Thanh moved into a completely different field: sport.
In 2016, she completed the endurance race series “The 4 Deserts Grand Slam” across four deserts: the Atacama (Chile), the Gobi (China), the Namib (coastal Namibia) and Antarctica.
In 2022, Thanh Vũ won the “World Champion Deca Ultra Triathlon”, comprising a 38 km swim, an 1,800 km bike ride and a 422 km run.
In October 2024, Thanh took part in the planet’s toughest race, the “Triple Deca Continuous” – a 114 km swim, a 5,400 km bike ride and a 1,266 km run – finishing 7th overall and first in the running leg.
_Published in Đẹp magazine, issue 294, March 2025. Photos: courtesy of the interviewee.
