Mimi Anderson a 57 year old endurance athlete who found her love of running at the age of 36 very quickly discovering her ability to run silly distances by taking the Marathon des Sables in 2001 a race billed as “the toughest footrace on earth” with just over a year’s running under her belt.
Mimi suffered with the eating disorder Anorexia for over 15 years; It’s an awful illness that takes over your life but eventually after seeking help she eventually managed to make a full recovery but that strength and determination has shown in her racing. Mimi also has a book out called “Beyond Impossible” this incredible story on how she made her way into the record books, it will inspire beginner runners and die-hard marathon devotees alike, proving that, no matter where life takes you, it’s never too late to achieve your dreams and do the impossible.
Mimi has taken part in extreme races around the world running across Deserts, mountains, enduring the freezing temperatures of the Arctic the heat and humidity of the Peruvian jungle and the extreme heat of Death Valley in America setting course records, World Records and on several occasions beating the men!
As well as taking part in races Mimi enjoys organising her own adventures; in 2004 she ran from Paris to London starting with the Paris Marathon and finishing the 300 plus mile run with the London Marathon. In 2014 Mimi, who was co-founder of Freedom Runners, running 1,223 miles across South Africa to raise awareness and funds to support an initiative that addressed feminine hygiene management and education in that country, providing 400 girls with re-usable feminine hygiene products enabling them to remain in education. In September 2017 Mimi took on an epic run to try and break the female world record to run across America a distance of 2,852 miles. The run was brought to an abrupt end due to an injury after running 2, 217.2 miles in 40 days and on track to smash the record. She is well known for her “doubles” taking on some of the worlds toughest endurance races and not just doing them once but running back to the start once she has finished.
After returning from her run in America Mimi struggled with coming to terms with the fact that she would no longer be able to run the silly distances that she so loved but after allowing herself to grieve and not one to give up easily took up endurance cycling and overcame her fear of water by learning how to swim.
Mimi’s extraordinary heartfelt story will take the audience on an inspirational and on occasions emotional journey of grit, determination and passion showing how sport reaches every aspect of life, goal setting, team work, give things a go, not to be afraid of failure and last but not least resilience enabling you to cope with any situation whether at work or in your personal life. The audience will discover what it’s like to push the boundaries beyond what many people would consider normal, showing them just what the human body and mind are capable of achieving. You will be left with a feeling that anything is possible if you’re prepared to work for it.
