Aren't You Afraid?
Early in 2011 I was talking with the lovely Francine's brother Randy at Happy Hour one Friday evening, when he told me about the Rev 3 Ironman-distance triathlon he had just signed up for. They even still had openings. I managed to hold out until Tuesday before signing up. Then, as I keep telling people to do, I told everybody I was doing it.
A couple weeks later on a Saturday morning run from John Ball Park, a friend came up beside me and said, "I'm really proud of you." "OK, what did I do?" It was about signing up for the triathlon.
Then she asked me a question that surprised me: "Aren't you afraid?"
"Huh?"
"What if you fail? What if you can't do it?"
Wow. I hadn't considered that. I suppose there's that possibility, but what if I did?
Truthfully, I've had things that didn't quite work out before. I had already tried to break the world record for running the seven continents TWICE. Still hadn't done it. I was going to be a millionaire by the time I was 30. And 40. And 50. Maybe I'll make it by 60. But what if I fail?
Some people have questions like that going on in their minds when signing up for a marathon. There's a possibility that you'll fail. But you probably won't.
