No Limits

I am coaching a most amazing woman at the moment (exceptionally self aware, determined, strong and emotonally intelligent) and an e-mail from her to me recently was too powerful not to share. So here, with her permission, is a short piece about bashing barriers out the way and doing something difficult:

Hi Jessica

Whilst swimmimg this afternoon I was thinking about the question of "limits".... I came to the conclusion that I don't really believe that there are many genuine ones. There are a few limits set out by nature for instance altitude which to some extent you can train for and to some extent there will be a genetic advantage/disadvantage. I do believe that I could do anything if I set my mind to doing it...and I also believe that goes for anybody. If a man who is told he will never walk or talk again, the boxer Michael Watson, can go on to complete the London marathon in a week. If an 80 year old woman can do Ironman triathlon. If a man who is paralysed from the neck down can climb a mountain using his arms, along with the many other things that Marc Heremans has achieved as a paralysed athlete. If a 65 year old man can pull his 40year old disabled son in a rubber dinghy around a 2.4 mile sea swim, sit him on the front of his bike and cycle a 112 mile course and then run the 26.2 mile marathon pushing him in a buggy.....with all of that surely the only real limits are those we may put on ourselves!!!!

I think a big factor in achieving seemingly distant or unachievable goals is being able to push past your comfort zone. Recognising that whatever discomfort you may feel it will be temporary. I have often in my endeavours and indeed in life used the memory of a past painful or challenging experience to remind myself of my strength. Similarly if I am going through something difficult I try and focus on it in such a way that allows me to bottle it almost like a remedy, to use at a later date when I am struggling. For instance when I recently had an abcess under one of my teeth, which was excrutiatingly painful, I tried to think about how it would make me stronger and that it would put extra reserves in my tank ready to be used when I need them. I think most people do not tap into those reserves that they may have, often not recognising what they have got themselves through in the past...and dismissing the idea that they could achieve a certain goal because it seems out of their league....

There were lots more thoughts during my hour and a half in the pool!!!!

She's incredible and she's going to be doing her umpteenth Iron Man competition in Lanzarote in May. She inspires me and my running to say the least.