34. Badass

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    Have you ever heard of a woman named Leah Goldstein? Until recently I hadn't either. After hearing her story though, I am convinced that more people should.

    Leah is currently 53 and almost exactly one year ago this week she won the overall solo division for the grueling Race Across America (RAAM).

    RAAM is trans continental cycling race and one of the worlds premier ultra endurance competitions. The starting line is in Oceanside, CA and finishes 3,000 miles away in Annapolis, MD. Leah beat all the women, she beat all the men too, and won the race in a little over 11 days.

    To go coast to coast in such a short amount of time Leah had to ride at an average of about 12 mph almost non-stop. She rode for the first 40 hours without sleeping, transitioned to sleeping 3 hours a day for a little under a week before cutting to 90 minutes a day for the final three days.

    Unbelievable.

    Leah's victory alone is impressive but to understand what makes it truly inspiring you have to go back a couple years to when she was racing as a professional cyclist ...

    Unbreakable

    In 2005, at age 36, Leah suffered through a horrific race crash during a 45mph decent. She slammed face first into the pavement resulting in a broken pelvis, ankle, cheekbone, dislocated her arm and shoulder and lost massive amounts of skin from scraping the pavement.

    After the incident her doctors told her she would never walk again without a cane or walking aid. Leah spent the next two and half months hospitalized unable to move without pain.

    ...

    Leah of course wouldn't accept the future forecasted by her doctors. At first she could only squeeze her abs but slowly she regained her strength and began moving her body again. As soon as she was able, she would ride her wheelchair around a track. As her bones started to rebind she moved to a stationary bike.

    Within a year, after months of painful rehab, she was back racing.

    But this wasn't even the last crash.

    Leah had multiple smaller incidents over the coming years and was eventually  forced to retire in 2010 after she was literally hit by a car because the driver was texting ...

    So instead of racing professionally she switched to endurance competitions and ended up completing her first RAAM in 2011.

    Ten years later she would win it.


    Too old for what?

    I love Leah' story because it's a testament to two things.

    The first is the power of human will. Leah's story makes it so clear how tenacity and commitment to your goals is a force multiplier. Especially if you're not "gifted" or "talented" or "lucky".

    The second is to the resilience of the human body. How many times have you heard someone say that they're too old for something or they have too many injuries etc.

    Your body does age. This is a hard fact.

    But the reality is that our potential to perform at a high level irrespective of age and injury history is vastly underrated. Physically we are all far more capable than we allow ourselves to believe. So if you find yourself stuck, or in pain, or slowing down, it's likely because you just haven't found the right path forward and haven't stuck with it long enough.

    Get after it! 💪 🚴

    Nick

    P.S. If you want to learn more about Leah I highly recommend looking her up. Not only was she a pro cyclist she is a former member of the Israeli defense forces and a world champion kickboxer. Such a badass ...

    © Nick Nathan, 2022