I'm Too Old For That!

Well, it happened again, I tried to avoid it, but every year it happens again and again....it was my birthday and I turned another year older! In truth, I love my birthday, and I think anyone who dreads getting older and doesn't like to celebrate their birthday is crazy! It's the one day per year that you can say "hey everyone, today is MY special day!" But I know many people who use their age as an excuse to not do something. I hear over and over, "there is no way I could do that, I'm way too old". You're only as old as you allow yourself to believe. Last month I was fortunate enough to take overall 1st place in the Makahiki challenge, which is an obstacle course race through the mountains. Not only did I win, I smoked the competition (sorry, had to brag a little haha). I was happy to have won the race, but what made me even more happy was several weeks later at another event I ran into the guy who came in 4th place. He came up to me, shook my hand, and said that he couldn't believe his eyes when he looked at the final results and saw how old I was. This brought a huge smile across my face. He said he thought I was his age (which was 26). Felt good to know that I could still take down the young bucks! In fact, people in their mid to late-thirties are the ones who usually dominate the endurance sports, not the young-fit 20 year olds. There are examples of this in many other sports though. Look at Kelly Slater who continues to beat up on the younger generation. In the NBA, Vince Carter, Manu Ginobili, and Dirk Nowitzki are all pushing 40 years old. There are multiple all-star players in baseball as well. Granted the more physical sports like football/hockey don't have as many older players, but there were still guys like Brett Favre who played into their 40's. It all comes back down to mindset. If you've read any of my last articles, then you should be starting to see a trend. If you let your mind believe that you can't do something, then your body will follow. But if you believe in yourself and give it a try, you will probably find out that in fact you CAN do it! So next time someone tells you that you're too old to do something and you can't compete with the young kids; smack that person in the face and then go out and show them what you can do!