In this episode of the Thrivalist Manifesto, Ben V and DrG interview the greatest athlete no one has ever heard of.  That’s actually not true, Amy Palmiero-Winters is a legend in the world of endurance and ultra endurance athletics. But this podcast goes deeper than sports.  This podcast shatters your idea of what the limits of human abilities are and the limitations we collectively believe.

Oral traditions and literature for the past 5000 years have told the stories of heroes. Heroes are those who are capable of godlike abilities and achieve immortal status. Heroes have names like Achilles, Hector, Leonidas, Pheidippides, Beowulf, Batman, Luke Skywalker.  

When a runner was needed to tell the Greeks they had been victorious at Marathon, a hero emerges and Pheidippides inspired all of western civilization for 2500 years.

Are the stories of these heroes based on actual people. Christopher McDougal in his book Natural Born Heroes says that the art of the hero has been a set of skills taught for millennia and passed down from generation to generation.  The heroic skills expressed at different times for different reasons by different people. McDougal says the hero is not someone interested in sacrificing their life to save another or for a cause. A hero wants to save a life or fight for a cause and live to see the outcome and take on the next challenge.  

In this interview, Ben V and DrG will present to you a modern day living super hero born out of the very same traditions that gave us the superheroes in ancient stories, novels, movies and comic books.

Amy Winters would not appreciate this type of introduction. She is a woman who is literally one in a million with achievements that are so unbelievable you would think that they are result of exaggerated storytelling. She’s as humble as they come but people like Amy don’t come very often.

We are grateful to Amy for sharing with our audience how some of the most emotionally and physically challenging events in her life are used to propel her forward to accomplish more, when others would find it difficult to carry on.

In this podcast :

• What are the attributes of someone who defies all ideas of medical logic.  Someone whose medical doctors cannot explain how she can get up in the morning and make breakfast for her kids let alone beat the best in the world, male or female, in ultra endurance racing.
• Why are Amy’s medals, trophies award in boxes in the garage.
• In the time when athletes are paid to train as their full time career through endorsement contracts,  can a single mother of 2, working full time, really become a such and accomplished athlete.
• Learn how to show up when life punches you in the face…. repeatedly!
• How does an amputee become the first to qualify as an able bodied athlete for the World 24 US  team. A 24 hour event. Amy beat out the next female competitor by 36 miles and the next male competitor by 14 miles.  
• Amy discusses her motivation to set certain goals, like qualifying for, then winning  the Western States, the world's oldest 100 mile race. Considered the Boston Marathon of ultra marathons.
• After winning  the coveted Bronze Buckle at the Western States, find out what she did with the award and why she does not have it on display in a trophy case in her home that does not exist. .  
• Can you keep going if you are an amputee and you then shatter your “good” foot, resulting in fusion and pins.
• Barkley Marathons, the race that eats its young.  Why after 20 years, over 1000 participants and only 14 have completed the 60 hour event.  
• Badwater.  Say no more.  twice? are you kidding.
• Why did Joe, Disenna, the founder of Spartan Races, need Amy Winters to help his top athletes complete a grueling 72 hour event.  
• How would your body respond to 3 spinal surgeries that were based on a misdiagnosis.  

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Questions? Send an email to thrivalistmanifesto@gmail.com.