Hey Reader,

My co-host and I got talking about Western States on this week’s pod.

For people who are not very familiar with sports, it’s the biggest ultra race on the U.S. calendar.

Think the Super Bowl, but everyone’s running 100 miles through canyons instead of throwing a ball.

One name that came up in the conversation was Kilian Jornet.

He won the race back in 2011, 15 years ago.

He didn’t come back to race it again until last year.

And he came third.

Sure, he didn’t win, but he came 15 years later and came third.

That’s something in terms of longevity. But what does it say about performance?

The common view is that we get slower as we get older.

But I’m a big believer that our potential to keep growing outweighs the decline of age, because of where we are in our journeys.

🧠 Getting older, getting slower?

I think a lot of us do the opposite of what Kilian did.

The moment something feels a little harder than it used to, or a bit slower, we think we’ve lost our edge.

We switch to protecting what we’ve built so far.

That’s fair, to be honest. But what about the potential we haven’t touched? What about building more?

Setting slightly smaller goals can seem like the safest and most realistic thing to do at that point.

And it feels sensible, because it’s not like anyone’s telling you to slow down.

It’s just… age is coming for you, or things are not all lined up in your favor this time around, or it’s been such a long time since you did it, or you feel you’ve had your run at it.

But it isn’t proof of anything.

Very logical reasons, but quite limiting too.

❤️ There’s still so much to give

You have to trust that you’re not done just because it’s starting to feel a bit harder.

You actually don't know when you’re done.

You just decide you are, and then you live like it’s true.

I’m not saying pretend nothing is changing as you age.

Just stop deciding you’ve peaked based on a feeling.

And keep building until reality actually proves you need to stop.

When you pay less attention to limiting factors, you get to keep going.

You stop measuring yourself against constraints that are actually made up in your head.

You stop seeing hard times or getting older as proof that the good stuff is behind you.

You get to keep chasing the bigger goals.

You know you can still get faster, better, and still build the life you actually want.

And yes, you can still win at something you haven’t done in years.

Because the room to keep growing is much bigger than all those crazy mind-made factors.

So what’s that goal that looks so scary right now?

What are you really afraid of?

Not strong enough? Not young enough? Not ready enough?

Take it from me, it’s all in your mind.

You didn’t come this far to limit yourself.

Go for it.

You’ll be amazed at how much you can still achieve.

You’ve got this.

With appreciation,

Huw

P.S: We got into this on this week’s pod.

We also talked about how to train in extreme heat, where in the world you’d choose to live if running was a factor, and lots more fun topics.

Take a listen.​

Ep 15. Running in a heatwave... Jun 30 · Two Average Runners 52:33   ​

Huw Edwards Founder & CEO, h3.xyz​

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