The Bigger Win

Last time, I closed with this picture.

Fill the world with memories of sharing time in your best environment.

In my mind, it’s an image of my son looking at me. We’re at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It was 4.5 years since I was last there (2021 article). Axel wasn’t there in 2021, so he doesn’t understand the scale of the turnaround I achieved. My return, stronger, meant more with him as a witness. Sharing the canyon was a bucket list goal, similar to introducing him to the high peaks back home in Colorado.

For Spring Break 2026, I had my Tesla drive this loop. FSD (self driving) is a game changer for exploring. We had two bikes, and all our gear inside, a Model Y.

At the bottom of the canyon, we were both a little anxious. Ax had been sick earlier in week and I’d had food poisoning. Fortunately, we’d been smart across the week and gentle with our descent. The climb out was a lot of fun. At the top, I realized I had returned to having ‘enough’ fitness.

Two favorite questions:

1. How will you know you’ve won?

2. When you feel you need to make a change, write down your reasons. If you don’t write them down then you’ll forget why you needed to change.

I guess the second point isn’t a question. It’s related to the reality that the little-voice-inside-us speaks softly. When I decide to act on the little voice, I write myself a note (and usually publish them).

When it comes to sharing activities with my kids, I’ve acted as if it was my duty to change to fit their desires. I listen to what they like to do and put their activity in a place I like to be. You might find me in the wilderness (with my son) or the Musée d’Orsay (with his sister).

From 2019. I told him the Grand Canyon is similar to an upside down 14er. The main difference is a lot more people die in the canyon than on 14ers. He didn’t believe me, and looked it up. ~12 deaths a year got his attention.

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From 2021 in the canyon. Wrecked with three uphill miles to go. Felt like I was eating lip skin for lunch.

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The best part of having a large physical capacity is being able to dream up random adventures and share them with people I love. In 2021, I realized I was losing that ability and did something about it. I didn’t only write down why I wanted to change, I wrote three books on it.¹

I’m grateful that I learned that winning had nothing to do with racing.

1. One published and two in progress on Endurance Essentials.