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Refusal to play small

I’ve been running marathons for more than a decade.

In early 2022, I was diagnosed with a heart condition that threatened the active life I had built. The obvious response was to scale back. A few weeks later, I signed up for my first IronmanFootnote 1.

Not because constraints don’t matter. Because they do.

Endurance taught me to accept what I cannot change, control what I can, and keep showing up. Long rides and runs create space — sometimes to think deeply, sometimes to stop thinking altogether. Doing hard things voluntarily makes everything else feel more manageable.

Accept the constraint. Refuse to let it define the ambition.

Footnotes

  1. Three Ironmans later, I continue to train and race in close consultation with my cardiologist.