Maps show it on the northwestern coast of Africa, but maps can be deceiving.
In the Sahara sand, dunes reach a height of 650 feet. Raging, blinding sand storms appear suddenly and make the simple act of breathing nearly impossible. Sounds like a hellish place, or at least a hellish place to run a marathon. And yet some 500 people submitted applications this year to do just that. It's always a good idea to be leery of such hyperbolic labels, but in this case the appellation seems justified.