Seven-years ago I got a PR in a 5k. My time was twenty-minutes – zero seconds.

Almost a sub-twenty…almost.

This was at fifty-years old.  Just six months later I qualified for the Boston marathon for the fourth time and did it with time to spare all the while holding back knowing it was just a ‘B’ race.

Later that year I finished the Leadville 100 run and bike just separated by a week (the bike just after the cut-off).

It all felt easy…

Failure is freightening.

Mostly, the fear of failure seems to come from a fear of what other people ‘may’ think of us. Usually those thoughts are our own projections of stories that we’ve told ourselves over and over again throughout our lives.

While the thought crossed my mind for a few moments to not compete as I knew there was a certain risk (of severe injury or worse) I also knew that I could be composed enough to not ‘race,’ take my time navigating terrain that was above my ability, challenge myself in other areas, grow as a rider and get stronger, preparing for races later in the season.

The opportunity was in the mindset.