Today my cousin Rodney came over. She had been driving around the city, scouting locations for the filming of ValVid 2013. Each year around this time, Rodney rounds up some friends and family to shoot a video that she passes out on Valentine’s Day instead of cards or candy, spreading love and awesomeness. It’s basically just us dancing like maniacs to the song of her choice and she splices it all together to make a music video. So fun.
I started telling her about my friend Ivy, who is leaving her job (we work together) and taking the quintessential “Gap Year”. She’s traveling Asia for 5 months, northwest US national parks for a month, then South America for 2 months. And all with only what she can fit in an REI backpack. This got us talking about fear.
Rodney is a kick-ass athlete (runner, triathlete, mountain biker, trail runner, adventure racer) herself (runs in the family 
). She is also a single mom of 3 and going back to school for a degree in her early 50s. Reflecting on some recent life moments, she told me about a conversation she had with someone who told her this:
Get to height of your terror as quickly as possible so the worst is out of the way.
She said it definitely works. I could identify. It’s been a wild ride and I’ve admittedly been on the verge of hyperventilation and exasperation more than a few times in the last year. The thing is, once you get used to being terrified and afraid, it’s not so bad. The growth and reward from constantly being slightly (and sometimes extremely) uncomfortable make it all worth it.
I started telling her between my work at LBi (I love my job – it demands heart) and putting on this race, I have pretty much been in a constant state of freak out mode for about 6 months.
Then Rodney said the nicest thing ever – “No way man. You’re creating this massive happy zone. It’s healthy. It’s community. It’s what you love. It’s something people can hang their hat on and get excited about.”
That made me really happy. I am so very excited about all this race is and even more about what it will inevitably become.
As my friend Sister Louisa would say, F%$K FEAR!
