Limitless

Abstract

Abstract Maybe the “limitless” language we often use in sports is misguided. This chapter places limitlessness in conversation with considerations of nature and community. It investigates what it means to be human. It explores the Faustian bargains we often make with our health for the sake of performance and the dangers of overstepping our natural limits in sport. This chapter also critiques how suffering is often regarded in endurance sports, such as with the lionizing of physical damages that follows from phrases like “No pain, no gain” and “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” It argues that not all forms of elective suffering are equally productive or part of a good life.