Let me introduce you to a woman named Amy, one of the thousands of brave souls who accepts the grueling, seemingly impossible challenge of running a 156-mile ultramarathon in southern Morocco. Amy is quite literally running for her life: in a constant battle with extreme heat and dehydration, the desert sand almost threatening to consume her. Not to mention, she is running with only one leg. The Netflix docuseries “Human Playground” is part of what inspired me to write this post, and it features Amy and others whose stories are just a few examples of people who take part in extreme sports, shattering my perception of human limitations. In the series, Amy says “my gift is the ability to endure. I can never get stronger if I don’t continue to challenge myself. And that’s what led me to the toughest footrace in the world.” Amy tells her story of losing her leg, stating, “it brought to the surface the ember that was deep within me.” In a sense, this “ember” is within all of us. But for some, it takes much more than just a laid-back gym session to ignite it. Some need to kayak down 100-foot waterfalls, go BASE jumping off high cliffs, or climb Mount Everest just to be able to search for some sort of meaning in this life. But it’s often not just about finding meaning; it’s about reaching another level of cognitive awareness. If it’s this heightened state of being that people seek – can it be done without risking your life? Maybe it’s the risk itself that engenders this state where your mind enters this gray area between the concepts of life and death. Regardless, the psychology behind seeking the extreme intrigues me. Since I won’t be caught dead running in the desert, delving into the minds of people like Amy and others who have pioneered the extreme sports movement is perhaps the closest I’ll get to a deeper understanding.

Much research has been carried out in an attempt to understand why people are drawn to extremism. It is commonly thought that those who risk their lives through sport are just “adrenaline junkies” or “freaks of nature”. While legendary climber Alex Honnold will in fact receive a high dose of adrenaline while rock climbing, that is not the driving force that made him free solo El Capitan. Professor Robert D. Schweitzer argues that it is more than just the rush of adrenaline that keeps people coming back to their sports. It’s much deeper than that. He says, “extreme sport has the potential to induce non-ordinary states of consciousness that are at once powerful and meaningful”, and that “these experiences enrich the lives of participants.”

I recently watched a documentary called “Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young”, another account of extremism that has stuck in my mind. The Barkley Marathon is a 100-mile ultra that takes place in an unassuming remote location in Tennessee, which was started by a man named Gary Cantrell (aka “Lazarus Lake”) who, in his youth, also helped pioneer the world of ultramarathoning. A seemingly cultish obsession has developed around this race, as it is considered one of the hardest ultras in the world. Participants are essentially thrown into the woods, with no trail markers, so you not only have to be physically capable but also have a very good sense of direction. You can imagine how difficult this can be if you’re hallucinating from exhaustion halfway through it. Only a handful of people have been able to finish since the race’s first year in 1986. The documentary told an account of 2012’s race, where only 3 people finished out of 40. It was interesting to watch the interviews of the participants, and their personal reasons for wanting to take on this extreme challenge. None of them seemed like they had any death wishes (at least none that they admitted to); they mostly just wanted to see what they were capable of achieving and maybe learn something about themselves in the process.

As humans we spend a lot of time in this life searching, whether or not we realize it. We search for meaning through our careers, our hobbies, the people we love. I am under the impression that extremism is just an example of one of the ways people aim to find purpose on this earth. The idea of taking on something as extreme as an ultramarathon might seem like a foreign concept to many of us, but really it is part of the human condition. But I’d like to think that an elevated state of consciousness isn’t just limited to people who do crazy things. Learning about extreme sports has led me to question the limits of what we can achieve in ALL areas of life. No matter how we choose to do so, we all have an innate capability to push the boundaries of what we think is possible.