No Fear of Failure

Yes, you read that correctly. “Notice of Non-Acceptance” into the 125th Boston Marathon. Was I surprised when I received the notice? No. Was I disappointed? Most definitely. Entry into Boston Marathon is not an easy feat. It is literally the unicorn of all marathons.

I spent many months of intense training with my friend Cylas. We ran our race in January 2020 at the Houston Marathon. The qualifying time for our age group (18-34) is 3 hours and 30 minutes. We crossed the finish line that day in 3 hours and 29 minutes respectively. Although faster than the qualifying time, entry is never guaranteed. Protocols related to Covid-19 added another detour into marathon entry. Social distancing obviously means even less people than before will be admitted into the in-person race in October of 2021, so I already assumed qualifying standards would be modified from previous years. With the non-acceptance notice of entry into the race came also the notice that one had to run 7 minutes and 47 seconds faster than his/her qualifying standard. Blame it on the pandemic year or whatever you want, but it is the largest cutoff in the race’s history. This blog post isn’t about me not getting into Boston. However, it is about not fearing failure. When I submitted my entry, I knew my race time wasn’t fast enough. However, I had a qualifying time and what was it going to hurt to throw in my application? The fear of “non-acceptance?” No way. Brene Brown teaches us to be vulnerable. As defined by Brene, vulnerability is that feeling we get when we take a step out of our comfort zone, or when we are forced to loosen our control over a situation. If put into this same scenario with race registration a few years ago, I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to submit my entry into Boston with the race time I have now, primarily because of what I mentioned previously - the fear of being told no.” Another act of personal vulnerability stemming from this situation is the simple fact that I am actually verbalizing and sharing with others that I failed. I did not receive entry because I needed to run that marathon 6 minutes faster. However, I have learned over the years that it is okay to be told no, and it’s okay to fail. At 32 years old, I plan to be told no and to fail many more times, and I have learned to be okay with that. (Notice I said “learned” because I do not like to fail).

We cannot wait on perfect timing or perfect scenarios before diving in headfirst. We need to be vulnerable. If you are never in situations that don’t make you feel out of your comfort zone, then you may be at risk of living a mediocre life.

Lean on prayer and faith, and learn to give yourself lots of grace! The Lord has a special plan prepared for all of us. As for me, the 125th Boston Marathon is not part of His plan but maybe someday in the future it will happen. All in perfect timing - God’s timing!

love & lead,

KC