Comments on: You Don’t Have To Kill Yourself To Win

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:33:04 +0000

Laura,

You must really like playing devil's advocate. A lot.

By: Christian

Christian — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:47:19 +0000

Unless your a runner at this level of competition you have no idea what its like and you should stop talking right now whoever wrote the comments on the site because you have no idea what your even saying. Go back to your video games and stfu

By: James

James — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:06:17 +0000

It IS insulting to make remarks like this about a courageous woman. And no YOU may not have to kill yourself to win the game of life, but someone had to so you could sit at a computer powered by electricity (discovered by a driven and possibly obsessive man), in a country founded by men and women dying in war, looking at a monitor that was developed by the countless obsessive and exhaustive hours of men and women driven to make life better and criticize someone elses attempt at fulfilling their dream. This video is a testament of human will. The same will found in all of the characters who are the ones that provided a foundation for our comforted lives. And being a triathlete myself, I know, she would have had to nearly killed herself in training just to finish an ironman, much less place 2nd. This does not infect or provide an unhealthy mindset for amateur athletes because a person who does this and is inspired by this already has a highly driven personality. Don't worry it will not "infect" the "average" person. Let's rise above and be inspired.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 04:36:03 +0000

This has absolutely nothing to do with being thin and fit. If your goal is purely to be thin and fit you will find the very thought of an Ironman to be insane, who swims 2.4 miles, bikes 112 and then runs a marathon, who climbs Everest, swims the Atlantic, crosses the North Pole ? It is exactly that that makes us humans so successful, to refuse to accept the insane as being the impossible. We are people that seek to redefine our own boundaries, people who feel compelled to do these insane things because it gives us a deeper look into our own beings. It redefines our own potential and makes the impossible possible.

Remember those were the days when people did Ironman, were fueled by only bananas and water, that was it, nothing fancy like today. Yes Julie screwed up, she realized she was ahead and maybe the thought of winning took control, maybe she did not hydrate enough maybe, maybe, maybe..who knows, who cares ? Isn't that just how life works, how many times do any of us do anything in our lives where all goes smooth? I know people that participate in endurance sports that are in their 60's, they still don't know the ideal recipe to do it right and I am sure they never will, neither will any of us. The key is what you do when all else fails, for Julie, that day, that time, the thing to do was crawl, screw the rest of the world, at that point it wasn't about first, second or 100'th it was about finishing it was about reacting to a body that was done, but a person that was not.

Give people a little more credit, they are not so foolish to continue believing that pushing yourself to a point of exhaustion is the way to be thin and fit, and more so not because of Julie, no way !

I salute Julie, it is people like herself and countless others, that encourage us normal souls that anything is possible. Each in our own way do we decide to push our boundaries, sometimes in dramatic ways like she did and sometimes on a quite and lonely run by doing that extra mile.

Thanks Julie you are definitely one of my heroes!

By: Pam

Pam — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 22:34:04 +0000

Wow! Julie was purely commited to her running. I think if i was in that situation i would keep going just because of everyone around me at the race egging me on. And what about the media? What would they say? It's normal for people to be pressured in the society we live in today.

By: Laura Moncur

Laura Moncur — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 14:57:17 +0000

James,

You obviously didn't watch the video. She had about five people around her picking her up. Not inspirational. I'm wondering if she even had a coach. If she did, the towel should have been thrown in.

Laura

By: James

James — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 22:03:16 +0000

In my opinion, Laura's original assertion was way off base and Mark and Karla hit the nail dead on the head. Most other comments here also understand what's involved in completing grueling endurance events.

Athletes - elite or typical - enter Ironman to challenge themselves, not to be thin for crying out loud. That challenge can dehydrate and disorient you. Many people miss the cutoffs during the legs and lots do not finish.

That this athlete somehow got through the numerous stumblings, didn't quit and finished second, is nothing short of miraculous and should be applauded.

She didn't nearly kill herself and had anyone lifted her up or helped her to the finish line she would have been disqualified.

Coaches and people watching understand that, unlike the author of this post.

By: sara

sara — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 18:49:48 +0000

So insparational. Competitive athletes don’t just “do it to be thin”, they do it for the competition, the love of seeing how far you can go, beating people. Not to be thin. So don’t say that it’s causing people to “think they have to kill themselves to be thin” sports aren’t all about being thin. Take this video for what it is-an athlete that never gave up.

By: Braidwood

Braidwood — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 17:54:00 +0000

Ohh... After reading everyone's comments I was like, yeah! It is inspirational to push your boundaries! Go, go go! But after watching the video, I'm with Laura. I just found that freaky, not inspirational.

By: Autumn

Autumn — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 00:52:11 +0000

She collapsed because she depleted the glycogen stores from her muscles and liver. Her body was literally fighting to create the energy she needed to keep going. She was exhausted, yes, but she just wasn't getting enough nutrition.