When I tell people I traveled to Mongolia to photograph a horse race there is often confusion. Even my friends and family struggled to understand.

I was a mother of three struggling to build a business for myself. But when I had the opportunity to travel across the world for several weeks away from everything and everyone I loved, I jumped at the chance and left it all behind for awhile.

The Gobi Desert Cup, an endurance horse race over 480 kilometers in six days, on Mongolian horses sought a writer and photographer to attend their event, and that was going to be me.

I don’t camp, I don’t normally take risks, and I don’t speak Mongolian. Yet, I never doubted for a second that I needed to be part of this experience. I knew from the very start this would be a journey of self-discovery.

I didn’t know it would change my life.