My story of pain and success
After barely being able to run a mile on the treadmill, I progressed to one of ultrarunning’s toughest challenges, writes Mimi Anderson
If you had told me in 2016 that becoming a triathlete would be a huge target of mine, I would have thought you were bonkers. I had my long-standing fear of water and was happy to keep avoiding it; I barely rode a bike and running 5km (3.1 miles) wasn’t challenging for me then.
At that time, I was fully ensconced in the ultrarunning world and preparing to take on my biggest challenge yet – attempting to set a new Guinness World Record running across America in the fastest time for a woman. I would start at City Hall in LA and finish on the steps of City Hall in New York, running 2,850 miles (4,587km) in between.
I only started running in my thirties and began by barely being able to run a mile on the treadmill. I wouldn’t have been able to run across a small park, let alone the third largest continent in the world. Back then I was a stay-at-home mother of three who had only taken up running because I wanted to have slimmer and more toned legs. I never expected running to become such a big part of my life and identity.
It was when friends I had made at the gym encouraged me to step off the treadmill and run with them outside that I discovered my passion for running. When running through a forest or along a scenic path surrounded by countryside, I had never felt more free. It also helped me banish an eating disorder that could have killed me in my twenties.
Running taught me that food is fuel, not something to fear or avoid. If I wanted to run well, I had to eat well. It also changed my attitude towards my body image. I started caring less about how my body looked and more about what it could do. And what it could do continued to amaze me.
I never thought I would be able to run far but in 2000 I completed my first half marathon, the Hastings Half Marathon. I then ran my first ultramarathon in 2001 – the 54-mile (87km) Thames Meander.
It was a training run for my main goal at that time, the Marathon des Sables. This is a 155-mile (250km) self-sufficiency race over six days in the Sahara Desert. I thought it would be a great adventure with my newly made running friends, even though I had no experience of running such a long distance in extreme heat. It nearly broke me, but I absolutely loved it. It was there that my love of ultrarunning and pushing myself out of my comfort zone was born.
The seed was sown in my mind to run across America in 2011. I had achieved two Guinness World Records by then.
The first was becoming the fastest female to run the length of Great Britain (John o’groats to Land’s End, or JOGLE), running 840 miles (1,352km) in 12 days, 15 hours and 46 minutes in 2008. Then in 2010, I ran 403.81 miles (649.87km) on a treadmill in seven days, a Guinness World Record for the greatest distance run on a treadmill in one week by a woman at the time.
In both of these challenges, I had loved the whole process of making and then executing a plan to achieve my goal. Of course, there were times when I was in extreme pain, and low moments where I questioned whether I could do it, but the hardship made the feeling of accomplishment when I did succeed even sweeter. The pride, joy and relief at pushing myself beyond my perceived limits to gain a new world record felt like nothing else.
I knew that one day I would tackle my own journey across America
I had been following the progress of a fellow ultrarunner and friend, James Adams, who had been taking part in the LA–NY (Los Angeles to New York) Footrace. As I followed his journey via his blog, I thought it sounded fantastic. It ignited a flame inside me, and I knew that one day I would tackle my own journey across America. The goal had been set. It would be the ultimate test of my running ability. But having decided that was my goal it was another six years before I was ready to do it. These sorts of challenges need a huge amount of planning, preparation and fundraising, not to mention the training, and there were setbacks getting my body into the best condition to face such an arduous run.
The record I was aiming to beat had been unbroken for decades. It was set by South African Mavis Hutchison, who ran coast to coast in 69 days and 2 hours in 1979. My aim was to try to run it in 50 days. (I worked out this would mean running about 57 miles/92km per day. That’s nearly 399 miles/642km per week for just over seven weeks.) But I told the world via social media that I was aiming to do it in 53 days, as I thought this would take the pressure off, and give me room for manoeuvre in case of any unexpected hold ups.
This might sound like crazy mileage, but it wasn’t an unrealistic goal for me given my previous endurance feats. I had gained a third Guinness World Record in 2012 with the fastest crossing of Ireland on foot, where I ran a total of 345 miles (555km) in three days, 15 hours, 36 minutes.
On top of the world record challenges, I had also completed many of the world’s toughest ultras as doubles. This involved taking part in the organised race with the other competitors. Then after having a very short break at the finish, I would turn around and do the entire course again in reverse, just me and my support crew. In 2009, I was the first female to do the double at Comrades, South Africa, a total of 112 miles (180km); in 2011, I completed double Badwater in California’s Death Valley, a total of 292 miles (470km); in 2013 I became the first person to run the double at the Grand Union Canal Race between Birmingham and London (having previously broken the female course record in 2010), a distance of 290 miles (467km); and in 2015, I was the first female to complete the double Spartathlon, Greece, a total of 306 miles (492km).
The furthest I had ever run in a challenge was in 2014, when I ran 1,223 miles (1968km) in 32 days along the Freedom Trail in South Africa from Pietermaritzburg to Cape Town. I knew I would have to draw on all my previous experiences to get me through the run across America, and I was confident in my ability to do it.
People often ask me, why America? It is largely because crossing America is so iconic in endurance sports.
It is known as one of the toughest challenges an ultrarunner or longdistance cyclist can take on. I also loved the idea of running coast to coast. You simply can’t beat touring a country on foot. It is a unique opportunity to really see places you might otherwise never visit and meet people whose paths you would never cross in everyday life.
This is an edited extract from Limitless: An Ultrarunner's Story of Pain, Perseverance and the Pursuit of Success by Mimi Anderson, out in paperback on 11 March, published by Summerscale at £9.99