Limits

I'm probably in the minority here but I think that we handicap ourselves by believing that nothing is impossible.  It's likely that repeatedly coming up just fractions of a seconds short of my goals as a collegiate runner and my recent struggles with injury have left me a little jaded.  But it seems like sport and science recently have given me more than sufficient evidence that there are definite limits to human performance.

Science shows that there are limits to how much we can push ourselves before acidic conditions shut down the enzymes essential to muscle function.  Desire, focus, and confidence may allow us to push through pain barriers, but they have no influence on our body's ability to buffer pH or thermoregulate.  And, just like a car, no matter how much you press the excellorater, when you are out of fuel you putter out and no longer move forward.  If you don't believe me check out this video of complete glycogen depletion. 

This week both the legendary Brazilian football star, Ronaldo, and the shinning example of fighting odds, Lance Armstrong, announced that they had reached the limits of their storied careers.  Ronaldo who had received some media attention criticizing his weight gain, has been diagnosed with hypothyroidism which must be treated with a substance banned by FIFA.  Despite a gutsy comeback, Lance's return to cycling was clouded by doping scandals and crashes and injury.  What's happening to our sports heroes?  Bret Farve, a testosterone creep, I'll give you that, but he loved competition and the game.  Tiger Woods, some male entitlement issues, but can't we all agree that no one watches golf unless Tigers competing.  Micheal Phelps, smoking at a party is not going to change the fact that he is like this real live aquaman.    All I'm trying to say is that we need to remember that despite extraordinary feats that athletes are human, with limits just like the rest of us.  Humans get injured, they get old, sometimes they crumble under pressure, sometimes they get jealous, sometimes they are idiots, sometimes they become victims of a societal need to define perfection.

I'm sure you are aware of the Eleanor Roosevelt quote (actually a poem by Marianne Williamson)


"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. /
Our deepest fear /
is that we are powerful beyond measure. /
It is our light, not our darkness, /
that most frightens us. /
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, /
talented and fabulous? /
Actually who are we not to be? /
You are a child of God. /
Your playing small doesn't serve the world. /
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking /
so that other people /
won't feel insecure around you. /"

Does this poem make sense to everybody but me?  I only know of a few people that are afraid of becoming more brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous, and it has nothing to do with making other people more secure. The opposite actually, the fear stems from setting a standard that they know they are incapable of maintaining.  It's a negative perfectionism trait, not a fear of empowerment.  Most respectable competitive athletes though, fall under the category of positive perfectionists, always looking for ways to make themselves more fabulous.   Sure we may be afraid of discovering physical limits but not discovering them to be false.  For competitive athletes, its more often our bodies not our fear that hold us back. And it a good thing too, sometimes to be reminded that we are human.  If our minds and egos were in charge we would quite literally die trying to find that next limit.

The interesting question for me is where are our limits?  It's a question I will never have answered and have no desire to have answered, because as Emerson wrote "Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations."  There is no such thing as accomplishing the impossible, only redefining possible.  Each day, each competition, each goal is about experimenting with my body, mind, and soul to learn what holds me back and what makes me human.