[Photo Description: A photo of Lindsay Lohan in “Mean Girls” saying one of the more famous quotes from that movie, “The limit does not exist.”]
by Laura Henry
Woohoo and welcome to Coach Tip Tuesday!!
While it is, in fact, Tuesday, I want to talk about something that happened on Saturday.
On Saturday, Eliud Kipchoge became the first human in history to run a marathon in less than two hours. He completed his marathon in 1:59:40. To give some perspective on this, according to Strava, the median marathon finish time is more than double that, and the median HALF marathon finish time is still more than this - at 2:02. In other words, not only is Eliud Kipchoge the fastest distance runner in human history, but he’s twice as fast as the average human.
How did he accomplish this remarkable feat?? Well, for starters, he had an incredible team behind him fine-tuning literally every single element of the event to optimize his chances of success. But none of those tweaks would have worked if the man himself - Eliud Kipchoge - wasn’t such a phenomenal athlete and runner to start with.
Mr. Kipchoge has a now-famous phrase, “I believe that no human is limited.” THAT right there my friends is the base of his success. MINDSET. He didn’t impose limits on himself, he tested himself repeatedly, failed repeatedly, surrounded himself with the right people, and put in the work on a daily basis - mentally and physically. And then, after YEARS of work, he succeeded at breaking this barrier.
How many of you have imposed limits on yourselves?? How many of you haven’t done something because you felt it wasn’t possible to be done??
Everything is impossible until it is isn’t. Until Saturday, it was impossible for a human to run a marathon in under two hours. Now it is. That’s right - there were MILLIONS of years of impossibility and it took this long to break this barrier. But now, it is broken.
While there are actually limits that exist in our lives (running a marathon in 15 minutes, for instance, is absolutely absurd and actually impossible), my point here is that we are almost always the ones who place limits on ourselves. How many of us have actually tested the limit?? And then, when we are finally brave enough to test a limit, how many of us have found that the limit does not exist??
I agree with Mr. Kipchoge, but it’s not as simple as saying we are not limited. Testing limits and moving beyond our perceived limits involves very real work, very real planning, and very real sacrifice. However, I absolutely believe that with the right plan, the right team, and the right mindset, no human is limited.
This week, I challenge you to challenge YOUR limits. What limit have you placed on yourself?? Maybe you’ve said that it’s impossible to take a minute off of your mile time. Maybe you’ve told yourself that it’s impossible to finish a race of a particular distance. Maybe you’ve told yourself that it’s impossible to try something new. Maybe you’ve told yourself that it’s impossible for you to feel proud of your journey and where you have been.
The limit doesn’t actually exist, my friends. I don’t accept limits from any of you, so you should not accept limits from yourself. Test the limit. Reach higher, and see how high you go. You’ll be SO proud of yourself and so glad you did. :)
“I believe that no human is limited.” -Eliud Kipchoge