Why giving up is not an option – 1000km, 4 deserts, 1 year | Anne-Marie Flammersfeld | TEDxHHL

Anne-Marie travelled through South America and met Gunnar from Norway, while doing a horseback trip. Gunnar told her that he was going to Antarctica. But Gunnar was not a normal tourist. He was on a mission. He wanted to run through the coldest desert of the planet. He told her about the running competition called “Racing The Planet”: Running through 4 deserts with a distance of 250km each desert. The idea of that kind of race excited and energized her. The power of an idea is never to be underestimated. But sometimes there must be a trigger from the outside, to get us on fire. We need to feel the passion from the inside, to start thinking big and growing with it. Each race of the 4 Deserts is 250km, divided into 6 stages. You could do one desert only but she decided to do all of them in one year because of her motto was “when you do something, you must do it 100%”. She wasn´t a big runner before but she trained 10 months. People around her reacted, thinking she was crazy. There will always be people around you that will try to discourage you. Listen to them, be polite but do not let them kill your ideas. The idea to run for a charity came to her mind and people around her donated. From the idea of running, she could support and raise awareness on children´s issues. Finally she made history by winning all 4 deserts in one year as the first women ever worldwide. As well she placed in the Top 5-10 al time. It´s always good to try something, unless you don´t know what you can achieve. Do what you love and grow with it. Gunnar was her ripple effect so go out and find your “Gunnar-Effect”! This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx Anne-Marie Flammersfeld has a Master degree in Sports Science of the German Sports University Cologne and is a keen Ultra Trailrunner, Blog writer and keynote speaker. In 2012 she won the well known Ultra Race Series „Racing the Planet 4 Deserts“ as the first woman. Therefore she ran 1000 km through the driest, windiest, hottest and coldest desert of the world within one calendar year. Since that she has won a lot of extreme ultra races and created her own challenge „Bottom Up 7 Volcanic Summits“ where she climbs the highest volcano of each continent with the start from the lowest point of the country – all with own power and without any mechanical help. In 2015 she set a new female world record in speed running up to Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania within 8 hours and 32 minutes. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx