Colorado Hero Ellen Hart reflects on 2015 season for ESPN

One of 303Tri’s greatest allies and most revered athletes, Ellen Hart, is currently featured on ESPN, reflecting on her five world titles in 2015, achieved despite injury. Ellen’s well-known path – overcoming anorexia and bulimia, in addition to her drive to win and competitiveness – has now brought her to a place of balance, and peace: “Now that I’m happy and healthy, I thought, ‘Oh dear, I probably can’t perform well any more,’ because you sort of have this image that the driven people are the ones that really excel. Then I realized that I could run from a place of joy and gratitude. It truly feels better than some of the driven-ness and needing to always prove something to myself and other people.”
Five world titles in one year helping spread Ellen Hart’s message
From ESPN:

In late August, Ellen Hart traveled to Austria for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship. Hart, 57, had been hesitant about making the long trip and about some aspects of the course, yet decided to go for it when her husband and son made it a family excursion.
They cheered her on as she won her age group by more than eight minutes.
At the finish, Hart was so emotional she was crying. Her 18-year-old son Ryan wrapped her in a bear hug and told her, “It’s OK, mom. You really brought it today.”
Eighteen days later in Chicago, she won the International Triathlon Union sprint-distance world championship. Two days after that she added the ITU Olympic-distance world title.
Hart then dominated her group at Kailua-Kona in Hawaii 30 days later to win the Ironman World Championship by more than 22 minutes, roaring back on the bike and run after finishing 15th in the swim. Again, tears flowed as she saw her husband, Rob, near the finish.
“Coming down Alii Drive must be one of the sweetest moments in all of sports,” she says. ” Seeing him there and again having a high-five or a meeting of the eyes, it all of a sudden made me start crying.”
Then came a flight to Australia for the ITU World Duathlon Championship in Adelaide, Australia just a week after Kona.
“I’m not sure what I was thinking,” she says, laughing. “‘Oh, yeah, do an Ironman and then do a short, hard race many thousands of miles away.'”
She trailed by almost three minutes after the first 10K run, but took the lead in the 40K bike and held it on the 5K finishing run to win by more than three minutes.
The result: Five age-group world championships in 50 days and various distances across Europe, the United States and Australia…