Champion Endurance Athlete Lady Is Crazy

by Liz Colville

The British endurance athlete Chrissie Wellington, who never did much of the sport thing in school (take that, crazy parents of America), went on to win the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii in 2007 in her first attempt, then also won it in 2008 and 2009, sings The Lion King’s “Circle of Life” during races and was for some time coached by a convicted sex offender. Whatever works!

Wellington, who now lives in Boulder, CO, spends about seven to eight months training for a single triathlon. She goes to the gym three to four times a week. Her convicted sex offender coach’s training included running entire marathons on treadmills, “running with rucksacks [backpacks] filled with rocks,” and being deprived of water to “learn how to deal with dehydration.” Delightful! Her current coach says, “Sometimes it’s a matter of her day getting so congested with working out that it’s hard to find time to fit in the eating.” Awesome!

Wellington “cheerfully admits to enjoying pain.” Kudos! The only reason she didn’t win the Ironman Championship in 2010 is because she got pneumonia, West Nile virus, and strep throat all in the space of one training season. Jesus! If she’d only had pneumonia she probably would have won. Plus, “I’ve done diarrhea in my shorts and left it trickling down my leg, but I’ve never been one to be ashamed of that kind of thing.” You go girl!

We lot are all just shells of humans. But you are a late-blooming little shell, may this be a source of inspiration to you!