Get in the Race!

So, I walked right in and I signed up. If you hesitate, you’ll start thinking about all the fear. You’ll be thinking about the risk. You’ll be thinking about, “Holy cow, Gary, are you stupid? You’ve been on a dogsled only seven times in your life, and you’re going to run a race in territory you’ve never even been in, where you don’t even know the terrain? And you’ve got all of these health problems?” Of course, I could go that way. But instead, I signed up. I just did it!

If you want to succeed, get in the race and don’t look back. It doesn’t matter what people tell you. You’re in charge of your life; nobody else is. That doesn’t mean you can’t discuss your thoughts with them; but ultimately, it’s your choice.

Mary talked to me and talked to me and talked to me, and I’m sure she thought that I was 100 percent deaf, not just partially, because I didn’t listen to her. “Honey, you don’t need to do this. Honey, you could be writing a book instead of doing this. Honey, you could be making other choices. Honey, you could do—. Honey, Honey—.” Well, she had so many honey-dos. Of course, I could have done those other things, but this is what I chose to do.

The start of the race was a scary moment. Do you want to know why? Because a lady musher with a 20-year history of mushing rolled her sled at the start. And I’m coming up there, never been in a race in my life, I’ve been on a dogsled only seven times; and I thought, “Holy criminy, Gary, are you absolutely crazy? Here’s a professional musher, who just rolled her sled in the takeoff right in front of you!”