The Art of Starting Over

What unites winter Olympic champion Alysa Louu, goat robber producer Kanye West, and greatest marathon runner Elliot Kipchig? My formed theory, which

Elliot Kipchig? My formed theory, which sounds like this. Our future is shaped by self-belief, continuous improvement, and maybe even most importantly, the

luck we encounter along the way. Don't

believe me? Let me prove it to you with these real life examples.

Absolutely amazing. You are the world champ. And the Grammy goes to the

champ. And the Grammy goes to the college dropout Kanye West.

One final lung busting stride for Kip Chugi. One giant leap for human

Chugi. One giant leap for human endeavor.

This brings us to a girl from Oakland, California, who stepped onto the ice for the first time at age 5. And without

fully knowing it, she began writing one of the most inspiring stories in the history of figure skating. And of

course, we are talking about the one and only Alyssa Louip talking.

Um, I guess I I connect with everything, but I'm not attached to anything. So,

Arthur Louu arrived in the United States at 25 years old as a political refugee, having fled China after participating in the pro-democracy protests at Tanaman

Square in 1989.

He came with nothing. He worked as a buzz boy at a restaurant in Berkeley, eventually earned a law degree and built an immigration practice in the Bay Area from the ground up. He became a single

father to five children, all born through surrogates. Arthur became a fan

through surrogates. Arthur became a fan of Michelle Quan. In late 2000s, he took his children to a public skating session.

So, I was 5 years old and my dad took me and my sister Selena to the rank and we hopped on a public session and I really liked it. I loved to fall. I loved to

liked it. I loved to fall. I loved to just go as fast as I could. Um, it was very much uh gave me a roller roller coaster feeling. Arthur enrolled her in

coaster feeling. Arthur enrolled her in lessons that same day. Her first coach, Laura Leetsky, recognized the talent immediately and moved her from group sessions to individual training within

weeks.

After like 2 months, uh Laura came over to me uh said, "Oh, she did really well on her test. Uh do you want to start private lessons?" I said, "Sure."

private lessons?" I said, "Sure."

Arthur spared no money and no time.

I I just saw the tenant. I took her everywhere. I took her to Japan to learn

everywhere. I took her to Japan to learn from the top coaches there. I took her to Canada.

He brought a radar gun to the rink to measure the speed of her jumps. He

estimates he spent between half a million to a million dollars. By

12, she was winning at the junior national level, the youngest skater in the field. A year later at 13, she

the field. A year later at 13, she walked into the 2019 US Figure Skating Championships in Detroit and did something that most senior women in the

sport don't attempt. She landed a triple axle. Then she landed another one. She

axle. Then she landed another one. She

became the youngest US women's figure skating champion in history. When the

scores came up and the gold medal was placed around her neck, she took it off and gave it to her father.

He he just helps me so much. She brings

me to the rank every day and I think he puts in a lot of effort and deserves it.

She defended that title the following year. By the time she was 15, she had

year. By the time she was 15, she had won back-to back US senior championships on top of a junior national title.

Future was looking bright. But in

November of 2021, Arthur had fired coaches Philip de Julo and Masimoscali.

And I didn't like what I saw. standing

around for 20 minutes, skated around the rank a few times. That's where my money was going. We stopped uh working with

was going. We stopped uh working with that coach.

Because of that, Alyssa went to train in Colorado Springs with a completely new setup. The competitive pressure was

setup. The competitive pressure was building. The Olympics were 3 months

building. The Olympics were 3 months away.

I didn't enjoy being at the rank like 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. every day. And I

7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. every day. And I

also skated every day. So, I didn't realize I was so tired until I got that day off cuz I was scared that I would lose all my jumps and lose my abilities and um if I took a day off and I also

would miss like birthdays and holidays and I I don't know which ones but definitely like when co hit all those birthdays were alone and I didn't celebrate my siblings birthdays like no

holidays cuz I was living like elsewhere by myself. In 2022, she went to Beijing,

by myself. In 2022, she went to Beijing, placed sixth in the individual event, came home, and without telling anyone in advance, posted on Instagram that she

was retiring. At that time, she was 16,

was retiring. At that time, she was 16, and she was not planning to return to competition. Her father was

competition. Her father was just know he was mad.

Her siblings were happy because it meant she could finally be home with them more. What followed was the first

more. What followed was the first stretch of her existence that truly belonged to her. She went to Nepal and TKED to Everest base camp. She enrolled

at UCLA to study psychology.

Like I got my driver's license, so I was more free. I could do like go wherever I

more free. I could do like go wherever I wanted.

She didn't think about skating. Then in

January 2024, she went skiing for the first time.

And I loved it so much. It's so similar.

You know, you're cold, you're gliding, you're going fast. Yeah. The adrenaline

rush I felt was unlike anything else.

But the mountains are kind of far. like

it it's a day trip to get there.

At this point, I just wanted quick hits of dopamine basically.

I need to like find a way to kind of satisfy this urge to go fast kind of.

Um, and I thought like the rank is right there. It'd be so convenient if I did

there. It'd be so convenient if I did end up liking it. But that week I went to the ice rank with my best friend and I just stepped on for like an hour and it was a lot of fun. And then like a

couple weeks later, I went on again for an hour and I was like, "Oh, this is even more fun."

Something had shifted. Not ambition

exactly. By summer, she was calling Philillip and Scaly, the same coaches her father had fired 3 years earlier.

How many times did he fire you?

Um, me once, I think three times.

Once in person, two via text, I think, and was asking if they would work with her again.

And so I call up Philip and I tell him like "Hey I think I want to go back to skating.

And I said, "Oh, that's fun."

Oh, see.

And I thought I thought like, "Oh, you want to do collegiate competitions?" And

she goes, "No, I want to I want to compete again." She told them the terms

compete again." She told them the terms upfront.

I get to pick my own program music. I

get to help with the creative process of the program cuz I had music ideas. I had

dress ideas already. No one's going to starve me or tell me what I can and can't eat. She told her father the same

can't eat. She told her father the same thing in slightly different language. He

was happy she was coming back.

But um like that didn't matter to me. I

didn't care that he was happy. I was

almost mad that he was happy cuz I was like, "How dare you?"

It wasn't really about him. It was about ownership. For the first time in her

ownership. For the first time in her life, she had made a decision about skating that had nothing to do with anyone else's expectations or anyone else's investment. The anger was just

else's investment. The anger was just her way of protecting that, of making sure that this version of her return stayed hers alone. What coach Philip noticed was the difference in her.

For many years, she was dropped off at the rink. She was told what to do. Now,

the rink. She was told what to do. Now,

she comes in and it is all collaborative.

And for the first time, she started talking about skating the way someone does when they have actually chosen it.

She described it as an art form.

I love the arts. I love dancing and I love music and that and I love sports and that's what figure skating is.

At the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, she won the short program and the freekate and dethroned three-time defending champion

Caori Sakamoto to become the first American woman to win the world title since 2006. And then came Milan, the

since 2006. And then came Milan, the 2026 Winter Olympics. February 19th. She

skated to MacArthur Park Suite. Music

she had chosen herself. Choreography she

had helped design a program that looked like someone genuinely enjoying what they had been doing rather than executing a task they had been assigned.

She was the first American woman to win Olympic gold in figure skating in 24 years. Arthur was in the stands with her

years. Arthur was in the stands with her four siblings cheering loud enough to be heard on the ice. She had won on her own terms and the medal was entirely hers.

I mean, it means so much to me and kind of everything that I've been through. My

last skating experience, my time away, and this time around, I'm so happy. I

guess I don't know. I'm mostly glad that I could put out two of my best performances. Um, I'm really happy with

performances. Um, I'm really happy with how my program went today.

And after that, she became an internet sensation. Why? Simply put, it's her

sensation. Why? Simply put, it's her character. And I cannot stress enough

character. And I cannot stress enough how visibly relaxed she looks competing at the Olympics, surrounded by the best athletes in the world. But above

everything else, the talent, the titles, the comeback, it's her mindset that stays with you. as she puts it herself.

I connect with everything, but I'm not attached to anything. So,

Alisa Lou spent years skating inside someone else's vision of her career before she built her own.

Um, I was thinking I have to do a clean program. Um, I want to do a clean

program. Um, I want to do a clean program and that's all I'm here for.

Well, I I like fun. Um, and skating is really fun and I wanted to do it all the time and yeah, so now I get to do it all the time. The next person never had that

the time. The next person never had that problem because nobody in his industry was willing to let him through the door in the first place. And the man in question, she is the goat of music. She let her

voice and music by narrating a video introduced first rule in this world, baby. Don't

pay attention to anything you see in the news.

I am the number one most impactful artist of our generation. I am

Shakespeare in the flesh. Walt Disney,

Nike, Google. Now, who's going to be the Medici family and stand up and let me create more?

By 2001, Kanye West was one of the most valuable producers in hip hop. He had

built the beats for Jay-Z's The Blueprint, an album that would eventually appear on every serious list of the greatest rap records ever made.

He was producing for A tier artists like Alicia Keys, Ludicrous, Common, and the list goes on. Inside Rockefeller

Records, his worth as a behind-the-scenes talent was not in question. The problem was that being

question. The problem was that being behind the scenes was not what he wanted. To understand what Kanye was

wanted. To understand what Kanye was stepping into when he said he wanted to rap, you have to understand what hip-hop looked like in 2002. This was the era of

50 Cent, The Game, Eminem, NAS. The

dominant mode was gangster rap. And the

industry had a very specific picture of what a rapper was supposed to be.

Someone who came from the streets, who had lived through violence and poverty, who carried that experience in every bar and every image. Multiple record labels, including Capital Records, denied him

because he didn't fit the image.

I didn't expect it. I expected I expected other people that were in my crew to be Kanye. I expected someone to do those things, but I didn't know it would be him. Kanye had grown up in the suburbs of Chicago, the son of a

photojournalist father and an English professor mother.

You the best bar.

Jay-Z, who had been rapping on Kanye's beats for 2 years, was even more direct.

We all grew up street guys who had to do whatever we had to do to get by. Then

there's Kanye, who to my knowledge has never hustled a day in his life. I

didn't see how it could work. He refused

to stop. He pushed his way into every room he could. Kept putting his unreleased songs in front of every executive who would listen. He played

them Jesus walks. He played them all falls down songs we now call definite bangers. He tried to explain that his

bangers. He tried to explain that his background was not a weakness but an entirely different kind of story. The

story of the kid who went to college, the kid who felt the pressure to conform. The kid who didn't fit any of

conform. The kid who didn't fit any of the norms and knew there were millions more just like him. I was always rapping and it just so happened that really

really phenomenal rappers got to rap on my beats before I got a chance to. So

that pushed me into the classification of a producer. But I'm a rapper from the heart. Like I got something to say. I

heart. Like I got something to say. I

feel like everything that anybody ever said in life would be a disadvantage to me. I'mma make it my advantage. When I

me. I'mma make it my advantage. When I

was playing basketball, everybody said I was too short. I'm killing them with the scoops. You know what I'm saying?

scoops. You know what I'm saying?

Everybody says you can't rap cuz you a producer. Okay. Oh, I ain't hear that

producer. Okay. Oh, I ain't hear that beat. Oh yeah, I know. I produced it. I

beat. Oh yeah, I know. I produced it. I

just wrapped on it before you got a chance to hear it. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm going to use everything

saying? Like I'm going to use everything that everybody says that I can't do or and I'mma flip it to the positive. Like

I look at everything as a glass half full and half empty.

Even when Damon Dash finally signed him to Rockefeller in 2002, it wasn't really a vote of confidence in what Kanye wanted to be. It was a retention

strategy they wanted the producer locked in and the rapper was a side arrangement they were willing to tolerate to keep the beats coming. Then on October 23rd,

2002, driving home late from a recording session in Los Angeles, Kanye fell asleep at the wheel and was involved in a head-on collision. He woke up in a hospital with his jaw shattered and his

face wired shut. For most people, that is the moment you stop. You recover, you reassess, you come back when you're ready. Kanye was back in the studio 2

ready. Kanye was back in the studio 2 weeks later. He recorded through the

weeks later. He recorded through the wire with his jaw still wired together, looping a chaka can sample underneath his swollen, barely functional voice,

wrapping through metal about the accident, about his ambitions, about refusing to stop. The good part about it was the recovery. I used Through the

Wire and this entire album as um my rehabilitation. It was the first

rehabilitation. It was the first opportunity I had to tell people I'm not going to the studio and instead of staying at the hotel, I snuck in and I

made songs that inspired me, songs that gave me life. I feel like this album was kind of like my angel that helped heal me. It it revived my spirits. It was the

me. It it revived my spirits. It was the songs, you know, I couldn't eat. I

couldn't enjoy food. There was a lot of things I couldn't do, but one thing I could do is go to the studio and turn it up loud. And that's the reason why a lot

up loud. And that's the reason why a lot of the music on there, they they they evoke a certain emotion. They raise your spirits. The College Dropout dropped in

spirits. The College Dropout dropped in February 2004. It sold 2 million copies

February 2004. It sold 2 million copies by the spring. It got 10 Grammy nominations and won three, including best rap album. It was an album about

anxiety, class, the pressure to conform, and the specific experience of a young black man who did not fit the norms that other people had built for him. and it

connected with millions precisely because that experience was far more common than the industry had ever wanted to admit. His mother, Donda West, the

to admit. His mother, Donda West, the English professor, put it better than any critic ever could.

Although Kanye is the college dropout, he drop in doing something else. And he

very much supports anybody who wants to go to college. Whatever you put your mind to, just never give up. What

followed was a decade of records, each one refusing to be what the previous one had been. Late registration pushed

had been. Late registration pushed further into orchestral production and social commentary. Graduation went

social commentary. Graduation went somewhere bigger and more euphoric than anything he had made before. Then in

2008, after his mother died from surgical complications and his engagement fell apart, he went to Hawaii and recorded an album almost entirely sung through a

vocoder released into an industry that expected something commercial and received something raw, griefstricken, and deeply personal instead. Critics

were not so sure at the time. The

generation of artists who came after had no doubt. Drake, Juiceworld, Lil Uzi

no doubt. Drake, Juiceworld, Lil Uzi Vert, and a wide sweep of what became the next era of music all trace a direct line back to that album's emotional

honesty and sonic experimentation. In

2010, after the Taylor Swift VMAs incident turned him into the most publicly hated figure in entertainment, he pulled back to Hawaii and recorded My

Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in focused isolation. What came out of that

focused isolation. What came out of that silence is now widely considered a masterpiece. Every time the world rode

masterpiece. Every time the world rode him off, he went somewhere quiet and came back with something gorgeous. He

said it himself once in a way that gets right to the heart of everything. I

always felt like I could do anything.

That's the main thing people are controlled by thoughts. Their perception

of themselves. They're slowed down by their perception of themselves. If

you're taught you can't do anything, you won't do anything. Kanye West spent years fighting people who told him he did not belong. Every door that closed

on him was a human decision. But the

next person faced a different kind of resistance. A number that had become a

resistance. A number that had become a mind's barrier, a limit the entire scientific world had agreed no human being could cross. A marathon in under

two hours. And the man in question is of

two hours. And the man in question is of course Elliot Tipigible. this humble

farmer who used to run 2 miles to school every day and back. He used to go to the nearest town on his bike to sell milk at the local market. And now through hard

work and discipline, he's pointing. Come

on, he says.

Ellit Kipchog was born in 1984, raised in a small village in the Rift Valley of Kenya by a single mother. The Kenins do not respect anyone raised by a woman, he

said later. They do not even think of

said later. They do not even think of giving them leadership and they say it openly. His mother was a nursery school

openly. His mother was a nursery school teacher who earned very little. When she

retired, she supported the family by brewing and selling traditional alcohol, though she never drank it herself. Every

day, Kipchigo ran the two miles to school and the two miles back home. Not

because it was a form of training, but simply because that was how far away the classroom was. As a teenager, he earned

classroom was. As a teenager, he earned money delivering milk on a bicycle, a 40 km round trip from his family home to a nearby town, collecting milk from

farmers and selling it. He was paid one Kenyon shilling per liter. With that

money, he saved for 5 months to buy his first pair of running shoes. He didn't

yet know what they were going to carry him toward. His neighbor Patrick Sang

him toward. His neighbor Patrick Sang was a former Olympic silver medalist and a coach. As a child, Hipogga would

a coach. As a child, Hipogga would gather with friends around the black and white television to watch Sang compete.

At 16, he approached Sang directly, asked for help putting together a training program, and their relationship began. It has lasted over 20 years

began. It has lasted over 20 years without any interruption. In 2003 at 18 years old, he won the world under 20 cross country title. Then came back

three months later and won the senior world 5000 meter championship, beating established legends to take the gold. He

won Olympic bronze at Athens in 2004, silver at Beijing in 2008. He dominated

the track for a decade, but when he failed to qualify for the 2012 Olympic squad in the 5,000 meters and made a clear decision to move to the marathon.

I enjoyed my 10 years on the track and I'm satisfied with the results I got. He

said, I believe I left my mark on the track and I have no regrets about moving to the roads. He made his marathon debut in Hamburg in 2013 and won. He went to

London and won. He went to Berlin and won. He won the Olympic marathon gold in

won. He won the Olympic marathon gold in Rio in 2016, then defended it in Tokyo in 2020. He set the official world

in 2020. He set the official world record at the 2018 Berlin Marathon with a time of 2 hours 1 minute 39 seconds, improving the previous record by 78

seconds, which was the biggest single improvement to the marathon world record in over 50 years. Through his whole career, he won 16 of the 24 marathons he

entered. By every reasonable measure, he

entered. By every reasonable measure, he was the greatest marathon runner who had ever lived. And still, there was one

ever lived. And still, there was one thing he had not done. The two-hour

barrier had sat at the edge of human possibility for as long as port scientists had been paying attention to it. For years, the consensus was that it

it. For years, the consensus was that it simply couldn't be done. That the

metabolic and cardiovascular demands of running 42.2 km at that pace were beyond what the human body could sustain. 2

hours was not just a target. It was a wall. In 2017, Nike organized an attempt

wall. In 2017, Nike organized an attempt called Breaking 2 in Monza, Italy.

Controlled conditions, pacemakers, a precision course, everything engineered to give him the best possible chance.

For 42.2 km, it looked like it might actually happen. And then at the finish

actually happen. And then at the finish line, the clock read 2 hours, 0 minutes, and 25 seconds. 25 seconds. That was the

entire margin between him and something no human being had ever done. He had

come closer than anyone in history. And

it wasn't enough. He went back to his training camp in Capagat. Back to the twice daily sessions, back to the altitude, back to the quiet work that nobody was watching.

A happy man to run a marathon in 2 hours. So I think that the world now is

hours. So I think that the world now is just 25 seconds away. In 2019, a company called Inos agreed to fund a second attempt. Vienna was chosen, a flat,

attempt. Vienna was chosen, a flat, sheltered avenue through the Prader Park. Excellent weather conditions. 41

Park. Excellent weather conditions. 41

elite pacemakers were assembled from across the world, including world championship medalists and Olympic finalists. They would rotate in shifts

finalists. They would rotate in shifts because no other runner alive could hold Kipogi's pace long enough to stay beside him for the full distance. His wife,

Grace, and his three children, who had never watched him race in person, flew to Vienna. He wanted them at the finish

to Vienna. He wanted them at the finish line. Before the attempt, a journalist

line. Before the attempt, a journalist asked him to distinguish between what Berlin had meant and what Vienna meant.

It's like the first man to go to the moon, he said. I will be the first man to run under 2 hours. October 12th,

2019, 8:15 in the morning, 9° C, almost no wind. The clock started on the Reicha

no wind. The clock started on the Reicha Bridge. And for the next two hours, the

Bridge. And for the next two hours, the entire world was watching a man try to do something that science had spent decades saying was impossible. Kipcho

went through the halfway point 11 seconds ahead of schedule. Pacemakers

rotating around him in shifts because no other runner alive could hold his pace for long enough to stay beside him for the full distance. His face showed

nothing. In the final 500 m, the last

nothing. In the final 500 m, the last pacemakers peeled away and he was completely alone. He says, "Come on,

completely alone. He says, "Come on, this is it." Shelina, final point.

This is incredible. Elliot's performance

is such a gift to the world. His running

is a gift to all of us.

This humble farmer who used to run two miles to school every day and back. He

used to go to the nearest town on his bike to sell milk at the local market.

And now through hard work and discipline, he's pointing. Come on, he says. Elliot Kipig has the hand of

says. Elliot Kipig has the hand of history on his shoulder.

He has less than 200 meters to go.

Elliot Kipchigible. Let's keep an eye on the clock. Into the final 20 seconds.

the clock. Into the final 20 seconds.

Elliot Kipchig on his shoulder. 140

140 the unofficial time. There's his

wife.

Elliot. Elliot Kipig storms into the history books in Vienna.

15940 the unofficial time. No human

being had ever run a marathon in under two hours. At the Oxford Union the

two hours. At the Oxford Union the following December, he described what it had actually meant. In fact, I had a friend in India who told me that he will

die before you see a human being running two hours plan. I met him one month ago in New York and I joked with him will never tie again because you have seen me

running 2 hours.

The performance was not ratified as a world record. The conditions, the

world record. The conditions, the rotating pacemakers, the controlled course meant world athletics could not recognize it in the record books. But

what he had done in Vienna was never primarily about the record books. It was

about demonstrating in the clearest possible terms that the limit everyone had agreed on was not the actual limit.

In order to inspire many people to tell people that no human is limited, you can do it. I'm expecting more of the

do it. I'm expecting more of the athletes in peace all over the world to run under two hours after after after today.

That was his conclusion from Vienna.

Three years later in Berlin in 2022, he returned to the official record books and lowered his world record to 2 hours 1 minute and 9 seconds. He was 37 years

old. The boy who had saved 5 months of

old. The boy who had saved 5 months of milk delivery wages to buy running shoes, who had grown up in a community that looked down on children raised by single mothers, who had run to school

because the distance demanded it. He had

become the greatest marathon runner in history, not by accident, but by 20 years of disciplined daily decisions made in quiet places where no camera was

watching. the scientists in the old

watching. the scientists in the old world and saying the first human being to run 2 hours or under two hours will

be in the year 2075.

But I proved them wrong.

Alyssa Louu walked away from skating at 16, came back on her own terms, and won Olympic gold. Kanye West was told by

Olympic gold. Kanye West was told by every label in the industry that he did not belong as a rapper and responded by making some of the most important records of the last 20 years. Elliot

Kipchig ran a distance that science had declared impossible and then ran the second half faster than the first. None

of them were guaranteed anything. They

just refused to let someone else's ceiling become their own. So my question is, would you believe in what you believe in if you were the only one who believed it?