Crossing the Sahara, an extreme challenge
a route of 1,775 kilometers through the desert, in meteorological conditions extreme. That's what you're waiting for Judith Obaya , an Asturian municipal police 50 years who has proposed to cross the Sahara to claim the i real equality between men and women.
"These kinds of challenges are what give meaning to my life and to whom I always wanted to dedicate myself", tells us Obaya, who is already seasoned in thousand battles of the style. In fact, this will be third time to make a tour of Western Sahara, after becoming in 2016 the first pilot to cross it on a motorcycle with total autonomy (on a route of 3,200 kilometers of off-road circulation, which culminated in ten days), and repeat the journey cycling the following year, to draw attention to the violence against women . On that occasion, she under the motto with 2 wheels , she became the first person to tour 1,768 kilometers of desert in 18 stages.
The police already toured the desert on a motorcycle
"Give him a value added to my challenges is essential for me; I find no motivation in doing things for the mere fact of make them ", the athlete explains to us about the reason for her challenge." I chose the women's equality because of my personal lived experience, first as a young woman growing up in a time when the woman was not considered as she deserves (and today still There is much to do in this sense) and later, as a woman who, due to the fact being married and being a mother , had no right to 'wasting time' doing sport".
Her next challenge does not yet have a fixed date, but she is ready to face it after combining her work with demanding workouts three to six hours every day of the week. The hardest thing, yes, is to put the mind to the point. "The psychological preparation in this type of tests it is as important or more important than physics. Are many hours continuous efforts on difficult terrain and in extreme weather conditions; therefore, go well psyched about what I am going to do, what I can find and convinced of success despite the harshness, it is fundamental", explains Obaya.
Obaya is exposed to very hard tests both physically and psychologically
"In so many hours of solitude, the thoughts they come and go unconsciously," she continues. "I try to distract myself by thinking and programming new challenges Or simply, observing the landscape, in which I always discover new stuff despite having traveled the same place several times. When time goes by and I start to be tired , or the conditions become more adverse and it is more difficult for me to advance, I mainly think about the reason that got me there. I think of All the women with which I have a commitment that I acquired by my own decision, because I believe that I can be an example of strength and determination for all of them to help them at certain times. my children and my parents They are also very present and I think about how to talk to them so that they understand and share with me all these experiences that they, in some way, are also participants she ponders.
But what does a person say when she arrives at the limit of his strength in such a complicated environment, when she can't take it anymore? "I've had days when I have felt very tired , without sleeping, eating little and with a very strict diet ; I have passed very cold and trained for hours and hours in the rain, sometimes also with much pain … but At no time did I feel that I could not yes On the contrary, I always think that these moments make me stronger and they prepare me even better for any challenge I set for myself, even to face any setback that life poses for me," says the police.
Such is Obaya's mental strength that she hardly misses anything during her long journeys: "I enjoy every moment despite the circumstances; I think that precisely the lack of some everyday things like a hot shower or a comfortable mattress are the small details that give that adventure point so desired by me. What I do miss is to be able to eat certain things. Due to weight, space and conservation, there are many foods that I must do without and what they seem to be the ones i want the most precisely when I don't have them at hand", he tells us. In fact, Obaya will be nourished by freeze dried food -dehydrated- throughout the race,
Now if he could change one thing about her challenges, it would be being able to take her with her. to her children. "Not because of the fact be far of them for a long time, but because I want with all my strength to instill in them my adventurous and sports spirit ".
The tests that Obaya undergoes prepare him to face anything