What would you do if you had no fear?

I am officially an ultramarathoner (ultrafondista)!

And I am officially crazy (according to my brother Van).

The impossible was made possible.
In just 3 months a half, I completed 2 marathons and 1 ultramarathon.

Yesterday, I participated in the 50/100 Km Villa de Madrid race and completed 50 Km. To be qualified, you had to run at least 50 Km, but you could do up to 100 Km. The amazing thing was that it was only 2 weeks after my Barcelona marathon. Who would have guessed that I could do that???

At an ungodly hour of 7 am, about 150 or so runners, a very small group of crazy people started the race before the sun woke up in a slightly chilly morning. Most people belonged to clubs with names that commended respect like "Ultrafonda". I was part of a handful of independent and foreigners. They were only a dozen or so women. It would have been easy to feel at odds - I kind of stood out - woman, Asian, petite. Nothing about me screamed ultramarathon :-) But in the past months, I had learned to feel confident and not feel intimidated. Moreover, being a small group of people who share the passion to push limits, there was a camaderie. Several people asked me if it was my first ultramarathon race and shared with me their past experience. The course was tough, almost nothing flat, all up and down. Oh, great.


Unlike the past 2 marathons, this was definitely a tough race.
I experienced (1) hunger - not having eating enough breakfast at 5 am, my body had refused to eat more than 1 banana and 1 of those brick power bars; (2) fatigue, it was hot, getting up to 20 degrees in full sun; and (3) pain from a tendon in my left leg that was bothering me. The most challenging part was not be able to get into a rhythm because the circuit was up, down, up down. All hills. I could not get into my meditative running state. However, at least ChiRunning helped me to put as less weight as possible on my legs, especially on my left knee. I was not floating down like in other races and this was my most challenging ChiRunning test :-) This was definitely a mental race.

However, there were people cheering me all the time. Every veteran who passed me, had nice words to say, "¡guapa, mucho ánimo, puedes, campeona!". I didn’t feel that particularly attractive, but which woman wouldn’t like to be called "guapa" by runners with muscular bodies, or men in police uniform guarding the intersections!! Even a street sweeper told me that "eres la más guapa." I ran a bit taller hahaha. And the organization team pointed me out, "that’s the little girl from the US." I think that they were amazed and maybe a bit proud that I would participate in their race. I felt cared for, I felt special, and I felt part of the group.

All that kept me going, especially at times when I felt tired. I finished the 50 km race in 5 hours 13 min, with the Race Organizer Rafa, the sweetest man ever, shouting, "Agnes from the US!".


Happy woman:
Ultramarathon certificate, trophy & flowers from my hubby!

I have a confession. The past 4 months, I have been focusing on ChiRunning and marathons (and talked non-stop about them, some people would say, hahaha). There is however, a "head fake", defined so beautifully by Randy Pausch in "The Last Lecture." If you have not seen his truly moving video (free on the internet) or read the book, you should not miss it. Randy describes a "head fake" as indirect learning, "when you teach somebody something by having them think they’re learning something else". In other words, key lessons people don’t realize they’re learning until well into the process.

Well, this hasn't been simply about ChiRunning and marathons, but much more. It’s about life and how to achieve your dreams.

1. Decide what is important to you. I mean REALLY. Do the things that move you. What do you dream about? What if you had time and money, what would you do? We too often let excuses get in the way of our most precious dreams. It took me seven years to accomplish one of my lifetime dreams, run my first marathon - because I never found the time. However, I recently learned that time expands in proportion of your commitment to your goal. As one brilliant speaker, Jim Selman, talking about breakthrough said "if you don’t find the time, it’s because you are not 100% committed". It sounds harsh, but it’s true. How committed are you to your dreams and goals?

2. "Impossible is nothing". What stops us is more often than not ourselves more than our environment. What would you do if you had no fear? Or even better embrace the fear and do it anyway. I believed, like most people, that running a marathon after 1 month of training was impossible. People did not think that I could run 50K, just 2 weeks after finishing a marathon. I have learned to ask myself, "Why not?", "Who says so?" I don’t look at the average anymore but at the outliers - the few people who do defeat the odds.

3. Manage your energy. Work smarter, not harder. By relaxing and living/working without tension, we can actually achieve more than if were were stressing our body/mind. And we actually have more fun at the same time. Makes sense? So why are we so stressed? Sure, we live in a hectic, fast-going, pressure environment. I spent years achieving and being stressed until I realized through meditation and ChiRunning that the body and brain, which are fantastic, intelligent organisms, respond better under no tension. Relaxing does not mean that you loose your passion and you stop being active. You can still be goal-oriented. However, there’s a more efficient and enjoyable way of doing things - the path of least resistance, no tension ... or some athletes call it flow.

4. Take action and practice, practice, practice. It’s all well to have a goal or have the best technique. Unless you take action, nothing will happen. As someone said rightly so, "the difference between winners and losers is action". And what you learn from oriental martial art masters is that skill comes from practice, practice, practice (remember the movie Karate Kid?). We need to be patient with ourselves, the results will come.

5. Find allies/angels and ignore the critics. Surround yourself with positive people. I didn’t tell everybody my marathon dreams (it would have been too easy for people to shatter my illusions, even without meaning to). Instead, I remember the words of encouragement of my younger brother Van and my sister-in-law Michelle when I was not sure about signing up for my first marathon in Seattle. "You have nothing to loose", they cheered me on. It meant a whole lot to me that Van drove me to the starting line so that I would not be alone. It’s the same enthusiastic support I got from my ChiRunning coach in Seattle when I emailed her that I wanted to certify myself as an instructor and confessed my doubts about not being a professional athlete. "Agnes, do it!" And that’s this 100% supportive attitude I wanted to give to my husband Antonio, when he ran the Barcelona marathon - I had confidence that he could do it, even working like crazy as a consultant. We already have our internal voice telling us the cons, so look only for allies that believe 100% in you. Whether it is a friend, family, strangers, or a coach.

I have another big confession to make. I wrote this entry blog three days before I ran the ultramarathon (I made some revisions today). Yes, I cheated hahaha. But who said that you could not trick your brain? See, it’s about visualizing success and acting as if it happened. I made it a reality. The professional athletes do it. These are powerful techniques to train your brain. Your brain does not like incoherence. It will find a way to bridge the gap between your imagination and reality, if you let it. Moreover, the brain does not distinguish between the unconscious and conscious. There is a lot interesting research on the power of visualization if you are interested.

A final important note. I am reminded every day how ephemeral life is and how precious the time we have. As you may know, my sister-in-law Michelle has leukemia. Don’t let death catch you up by surprise and stare at you in the face before you realize that it’s too late. Live a life worth living, and have success on YOUR own terms. There´s no time like now. We owe it to ourselves, and to the ones that don't have a chance to live.

This post is dedicate to Michelle, the most courageous person I know, and my inspiration.

Love

"Ordinary people doing extraordinary things"

P-S: I want to give thanks to: Rafael Garcia-Navas and his team for a very well-organized race and the welcoming they gave; to my phyisotherapist Alicia, who is just a miracle worker, and who put me back as new 1 day after the race; and to my husband Antonio, who doesn't blink anymore when I tell him about what I want do, and keeps his real thoughts to himself and just tell me, "Sure, honey!" :-)