James Lawrence

The ultimate guide to mental toughness by James “Iron Cowboy” Lawrence―the greatest endurance athlete in human history.

Lawrence’s accomplishments are nearly impossible to comprehend. After breaking two Guinness World Records, he shattered possibilities in 2015 by completing 50 full-distance triathlons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days. Yes, THE IRONMAN®, “the single most difficult day in sports”– a 2.4-mile swim, 112 miles on a bike, then a 26.2-mile run, all completed in under 17 hours. It is a race so intense that less than .01% of the population have completed one.

Afterwards, Lawrence subjected his body to exhaustive physical testing, to every genetic test known to science. The stunning discovery is that physically, James Lawrence is unspecial in every way. The secret to his bulletproof body is his bulletproof mentality.

Even those accomplishments weren’t enough for James. In 2021, he set out on another endurance endeavor, this one so difficult he wondered if he would even live. He set out to complete a staggering 100 full-distance triathlons in 100 consecutive days. By persevering, he wanted to inspire people to do the same for whatever difficulties they are going through.

How does a person develop the mental fortitude necessary to overcome incredible exhaustion, immeasurable suffering, and unfathomable pain in order to achieve impossible goals? With Iron Hope, that’s exactly what James “Iron Cowboy” Lawrence shows readers how to do. Lawrence explains how readers can forge an iron will by making and keeping small promises to themselves again and again, amassing experience and building momentum until giving up becomes impossible. Combine a big dream with small improvements repeated with great consistency and make your goals and dreams a reality.

Iron Cowboy is an endurance memoir in the tradition of Dean Karnazes’s Ultramarathon Man—a lifetime’s worth of intensely lived experience packed into twenty riveting chapters. Readers will discover the secret to redefining their own goals and achieving great success. When James Lawrence (aka the Iron Cowboy) announced his plan to complete 50 Full Distance Triathlons in 50 consecutive days in all 50 states, the only person who believed that he could pull it off was James himself (and his wife, Sunny). An Ironman consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run. In Lawrence’s case, he would have to complete those distances and then make it to the next state in time to do it all over again the next day. Even Lawrence’s coach didn’t think he could do it; he penciled in another event the day Lawrence was supposed to complete the challenge. But with the support of Sunny and their five children in tow, and with grassroots support conjured always at the last minute via Facebook, Lawrence accomplished exactly what he set out to do. Iron Cowboy is the story of Lawrence’s herculean 50-day journey and all the wonderful, miserable, and life-threatening events that happened along the way, as well as a glance at his life leading up to the mission, and winning two prior world records. Lawrence holds two world records in the Guinness Book of World Records: one for completing 22 half-Ironmans in one year (2010) and one for completing 30 full Ironmans in one year (2012). In 2015, he set a record for completing 50 Ironman distances in 50 states in 50 days. Through social media and press, Lawrence was able to find fans in each state—anywhere from 3 to 500 people—to complete some of the Ironman alongside him, and supporters were invited to join him for the Iron Cowboy 5k (the last 3.1 miles of James’s marathon); for his last Ironman in his home state of Utah, more than 3,500 people showed up. Along the way, Lawrence survived tropical storms, internal bleeding, hypothermia, hyperthermia, dehydration, nerve damage, infected foot blisters, a blood-clot scare, extreme sleep deprivation (he only got four to five hours of sleep each night), and a bike crash!