Chrissie Wellington on Living A Life Without Limits (and How You Can Too)

“There’s an importance of keeping an open mind. The brain is programmed to protect us, and that can mean imposing limits on what it thinks we can or should do. Constantly push at those limits, because the brain can be way too cautious.” ~ Chrissie Wellington

In A Life Without Limits, Chrissie Wellington shares with the reader her story of going from being a college graduate with two degrees and a career in international development to becoming a four time World Ironman Champion (2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011) – and thoroughly proves in her story just how much the body is capable of achieving when the mind is trained not to give up!

‘The mind will always give up before the body’ is one of the mantras that I have leaned on for strength when I’ve found myself in the midst of a grueling workout. After reading Chrissie’s story, as one might expect, my definition of just what a ‘grueling‘ workout would be has expanded and gained new meaning. An Ironman race is a seriously challenging event that consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile run, raced in that order and without a break. Like, who in their right mind…?

You can only imagine what one might go through in order to actually finish one of these mind-boggling feats, let alone what one might go through in order to finish one of these mind-boggling feats in first place, four times! Chrissie includes all of the exhausting, heart-wrenching details in her story and then some. She has seen a type of exhaustion that I don’t think I’ve ever even tasted.

Her story has given my mantra new strength by giving it a story and by giving it a life. Now, every time I feel like giving up I am reminded of what she was able to push through and I tell myself to, quite frankly, stop whining and keep pushing.  And every time I push a little further, my limits extend and what I’m capable of achieving pushes a little further as well.

“Our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds.” ~ Napoleon Hill

What I have come to learn is that if it were up to ‘the little voice‘ in our head that tries to keep us within our comfort zone at all times, we would never meet our limits. We would begin our pursuit of an ambitious goal, get a little uncomfortable with the work required to achieve the goal, self-talk and rationalize ourselves out of continuing to push any further, and ultimately quit before we were anywhere near our limits… Sound familiar?

It has happened to me countless times. I would romanticize about how cool it would be to really see how far I could push my body when running, or biking, or exercising and just about every time I set out to meet my limits, I would get a little uncomfortable with the difficulty, rationalize myself out of it with some solid excuses, and ultimately ended up stopping well before I could’ve actually gone.

The problem with doing this is that if it becomes a habit, you may never meet your limits. And meeting your limits is one of the most satisfying feelings you can experience in your life.

Meeting your limits is a feat that requires an absolute full commitment of every fiber of your being. Your mind, your body, and your spirit are pressed, strained, and exhausted of every drop of energy that they contain – and then some. It is a complete, united effort like no other. And satisfaction and meaning from any task is paralleled with the amount of effort and energy that was put into it—complete commitment; complete satisfaction.

“A lot of people run a race to see who’s the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts.” ~ Steve Prefontaine

I decided I had had enough of the excuses and wanted to commit to meeting my limits in running I signed up to run in the Buffalo Half Marathon without having done or having planned on doing any run training whatsoever (a move I don’t recommend anyone makes).

Prior to signing up for the Buffalo Half the furthest I had ever run was 8k in the YMCA Turkey Trot.  Outside of that, running was not a part of my lifestyle at all. This was going to be more than two times longer than any distance I had ever run in one shot in my life.

My intention was to let this be a complete test of will and indomitable spirit. Could I complete it? Would I cave in to the pressures of the little voice in my head saying I couldn’t? How would I respond to the rationalizations and mega excuses I knew I was going to be facing? Would my body even hold up to let me complete the race without the proper training? …There was only one way to find out.

It was the absolute longest two hours of my life.  It… was… BRUTAL.  

The little voice in my head started chiming in at mile 3. A solid 10 miles before my planned finish.

My body started aching and hurting pretty intensely at mile 5. I felt a sharp sting in my ankle and hip every step in my run thereafter.

By mile 8 I was literally just focusing on taking just one more step… just one more step… just one more step… Because the pain of thinking I had 5 miles to go was overwhelming.

By mile 10 I was already convinced that that was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life.

And by mile 12, my calf completely seized up. I ran on nothing but fumes and sheer will in that last mile of the Buffalo Half. It took everything in me to cross that finish line and by the time I did, the only thing that kept me from collapsing was the sight of water ahead on the tables and the volunteers yelling at me to, “KEEP MOVING PAST THE FINISH LINE.“

“If there is one thing I have learned, particularly in my life as an athlete, it is that our limits may not be where we think they are. And, even when we think we’ve finally reached them, the next time we go there exploring we often find that they’ve moved again.”

It was definitely one of the hardest things I had put my being through in my life; my mind, body, and spirit were all wiped out. Had I met my limits?  I don’t really know. I know that I was absolutely exhausted by the time I crossed the finish line and could barely walk for the next few days. But there have been times in my past when I declared myself ‘absolutely exhausted‘ yet still found something inside of me to keep moving when I had the right source of motivation.

Ultimately what I’ve concluded is that the human body is capable of doing miraculous things; Things that most of us would never believe. I don’t think it has to do so much with finding exactly how far the mind and body will go as it has to do with engaging in the process of pushing and searching. It really changes you as a person and gives you a new meaning and appreciation for the capabilities of your being. Keep pushing at your limits and keep moving what you’re capable of achieving forward. It’s the only way to live A Life Without Limits.