10/01/2026
CONGRATULATIONS, ELAINE!
Mid-September, Elaine set out to do something absolutely mind-blowing - climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Elaine has more guts than most people ever will.
She did EVERY. SINGLE. THING. That she could have done to be prepared. She strength trained twice a week. She was following a specific, gradually building plan to build endurance, specific strength, and the stamina necessary for this multi-day test of endurance. She started “officially” training 18 months out, building up her aerobic capacity, even traveling to Canada to participate in a race at altitude. She researched all the gear and bought everything she needed to be successful.
We were officially cut off from communication once she arrived at the camp in Africa, which is scary for me as a coach. I am used to seeing results for many of my athletes in real time or at least within 10 minutes of them finishing. But this was totally different.
Elaine arrived and started on her journey, feeling confident and capable. But then something happened that no one expected. She succumbed to a rare pulmonary condition that can occur at altitude and is virtually impossible to prepare for. She was airlifted off the mountain and taken by ambulance to the hospital where she was treated for her illness. Thankfully Elaine is totally fine now. But sadly she was unable to summit Kilimanjaro.
But the part that is the best is what happened after - I met with Elaine this week again for the first time. We eased back into her workouts, making sure she felt ok. She shared with me the beauty of the journey — and also the very real disappointment. But then she said something to me that was the heart of every endurance athlete — she wanted to try again. She doesn’t know when that will be, but she knows she wants to take another stab at it.
This is the essence of endurance sports — we can do everything that we should to prepare, but we don’t always get the outcome we are chasing. The athletes with the most heart never let this stop them, though. If anything, it makes the fire burn hotter.
(Continued in comments…) ⬇️
