Ask endurance athletes why they push themselves beyond their limits, and you won’t hear about “climbing the mountain because it was there”; you’ll hear about the ‘Zone’. Marathoners, triathletes, high-altitude climbers, and other ultra-athletes do what they do because they’re addicted to the moments of clarity and invincibility they achieve after hours of running or skiing. They talk in quasi-religious language about an ecstatic “space” where they can think or not think, where they find emotional, physical, and spiritual serenity.
It’s a big part of what drives professional athletes like cyclist Lance Armstrong, marathoner Haile Gebrsellassie, or Nordic skier Bjorn Dahlie. But there are also whole subcultures of amateur trail-runners, kayakers, race-walkers, and bikers who organize their lives and families around their first passion: the hardcore daily workouts they can’t live without. Pushing your limits is this hour on the Connection.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Bill McKibben, author of “Long Distance: A Year of living Strenously.” Tori Murden, the first woman to row across the Atlantic. Jeannie Wall, director of Patagonia’s Endurance line, and cross-country skiing Olympic hopeful.