“What the hell are you two doing?”
That’s what people ask when they hear about our “retirement” plan:
My wife is defending her Masters World Championship in Downhill Mountain Biking in Australia this May.
I’m racing Romaniacs – the world’s toughest 5-day Hard Enduro rally.
Again. At 50+.
Our daily routine?
• Muscles screaming for mercy
• Family WhatsApp group flooding with workout updates (my daughter joins in)
• Clean eating becoming a religion
• Craft-forging becoming an obsession
In Special Ops, we lived by: “Sweat in training or bleed in battle.”
As the text on the T-shirt captures. 😉
But at our age, people ask: “Why?”
Why the relentless training?
Why the daily discomfort?
Why push against time itself?
Here’s why:
Because everything not growing is dying.
Because growth lives outside comfort.
Because time is a limited resource.
I did this exercise:
1. Write your obituary. The way it would look if you died today.
Yes, pretty morbid, just stick with me.
What would it say?
How does it look to you? Bland and ´Vanilla´?
2. Write your obituary the way you would want it to look.
3. Fill in the gaps.
I am filling in the gaps.
The most dangerous lie we tell ourselves once we hit 30 and beyond isn’t “I can’t.”
It’s “I’m too old to try.”
Age isn’t a cage unless you build the bars yourself.
Your body is capable of extraordinary things at any age.
But first, you must reject ordinary expectations.
Don’t play small.
It serves no one.
Not you.
Not your family.
Not the world waiting for your example.
Play big.
Because someday, your kids will tell your story.
Make it one worth telling.
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