This week, the 24-year-old takes off on a 250-kilometre run across the Simpson Desert.

In case he breaks a limb, he has packed walking poles, so that there is no excuse to pull out prematurely.

Overcoming adversity is a common theme among endurance athletes.

Inspirational stories abound of people who have suffered amputations, lost loved ones, or endured life-threatening illnesses and gone on a race against themselves. The extremity of the event is almost in direct proportion to the pain experienced and proof somehow that their own limits extend far beyond what they might have once thought.

Take Fauja Singh for example.

In his late 80s, having lost his wife and one of his sons in quick succession, the Indian took up running to overcome his grief.

He completed his first marathon aged 89 and at the ripe old age of 101 became the oldest person to ever complete a marathon.

Or there's Nicole Antoinette who quit drinking and took up running.

Having never "done anything remotely athletic" in her life, she has now run 10 half marathons and five full marathons.

"The single biggest lesson I've learned from quitting drinking, putting on my running shoes even though I could barely run for a few minutes at a time, and subsequently remaking my entire life is this: Everything you think is true about yourself is only true until it's not," she says on her blog.

"You are a storyteller, and the most important story is the one you tell about yourself, to yourself. If you want to change your life, start by changing your story."

Andrew Pap is also determined to create his own story.

With a family history of mental illness, the personal trainer from the Central Coast pushes the boundaries of his mind, at least in part, so that he too does not succumb to it.

Ultimately, endurance racing is more of a mental feat than a physical one.

To be clear, Pap is an animal. This reporter was convinced into doing a session with him and ended up sitting on the floor half way through, floored and dizzy and feeling vomitous.

"Oh, that's just your CNS [central nervous system] going into shock," said the Isowhey-sponsored athlete, casual as you like.

But the former Search For Hurt reality show contestant admits that the physical work only gets you so far.

"The mental preparation is as important as the physical training," says Pap, whose love of hardcore training was cultivated in the army and who finds killer workouts "fun".

He recalls his first ever ultramarathon; last year's the 100km Northface challenge, where he was injured and exhausted and still had 40 kilometres to go.

"There was a point I was sitting on the stairs ... and I thought about giving up. It was hurting and I wasn't getting anywhere. It was going to take me more than 24 hours...

"There were a couple of hundred stairs above me and a couple of thousand below me and I was like 'should I just turn around?'."

But a fellow race-goer gave him a painkiller and he shifted gears mentally.

"There are always the lows and that's where you have to prepare yourself," he says.

He'd had good mental preparation for this moment.

When he first started training for the race he got blisters 2km into a 30km run but forced himself to continue.

"Every time I'm complaining about a blister or a sore muscle I've got to remember that there are guys who don't have function of their bodies for the rest of their life," he says drawing inspiration from a Wings For Life event he participated in where money was raised towards spinal cord research.

It's closer to home too though.

"My mum has emphysema and she can't walk from the bedroom to the bathroom ... when I was on a low, I'd think of how proud of me she'd be and that she'd like to be able to exercise," he says of the Northface run.

"There's another reason. Everyone in my family suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar and stuff – it's hereditary and I don't know if it will come around and I will get something.

"So I try to push and lead a life that is 100 miles per hour and be positive so that my lifestyle might prevent me fro suffering what my family has suffered for the last 30  years.

"That's where I've found exercise and attitude has really helped out. When I'm in those dark moments I've got a lot to be grateful for."

This Saturday, he will push even harder.

The 250km Big Red Run is broken down into five races over six days. The 70-odd competitors will run a full marathon every day for the first three days, the fourth day is a 30 km run, followed by an 84 km run on day  five and a final 8km 'sprint' on day six.

"The first three days – if you've trained correctly that's when your training will show," Pap says. "The 30km is preparation for the 84 and the 84 is when you face your demons and you have to dig deep.

"I know the real deeper reasons why I'm doing it...

"I would never give up until death. I know that's extreme but I know there are going to be some bad spots there. it doesn't phase me. Unless I die or am about to die I'm just going to keep going.

"I'm taking these carbon fibre sticks with me – poles – so if I break something or really injure myself, I can still walk."

And assuming, even if his body breaks, he makes it through mentally and crosses the finish line, that's when he knows he's beaten his demons. Until next time.

"You feel like you're invincible and it gives you the confidence to try something more challenging."