I discovered my super powers about 35-minutes into my first ever +5km run. I'd been running for what felt like hours, yet I wasn't tired, I wasn't even that sweaty or pink. If I hadn't been summoned for dinner, I'd probably have carried on forever. Clearly, I was superhuman.
Despite eventually discovering that I'm actually anything but super since that first run – in fact I'm very average – I can’t help still feeling indestructible. I'm sure every runner does. We push our bodies through what sometimes feels like hell, challenge them to breaking point, yet we still survive.
If only you could bottle that invincible feeling. When you've finished your hardest, longest, fastest run to date – after struggling and feeling like you'd never make it – you come out the other end, somehow still alive. You feel like you could take on anything!
It's that feeling, I’m sure, that’s responsible for ridiculous race entries. The post-challenge rush is like Dutch courage for runners. Your brain might tell you that you can't but your body knows it absolutely can and guess which part is in control of clicking the mouse on the ‘register’ button.
"I didn't break this time, surely I won’t break on the next!"
And it seems our sense of super is getting stronger. It's not enough to just run a marathon anymore, everyone runs marathons. It has to be an ultra-marathon but it's only a real ultra if there are huge mountains, dangerous animals and extreme weather, and you don't just walk to the start, you jump out of a plane first*!
It's incredible to think what the human body could do if you just allow your mind to push it. Quite often it’s that little voice that tells you it’s impossible, whilst your legs still have more to give. I’m certainly excited** to see what mine's capable of.
* If you’re bonkers enough for this genuine race, look up www.skydiveultra.com
** Actually, I'm terrified!
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