Hey y'all , and welcome back to the Find your Edge podcast . Today is all about sharing my 2025 challenge to you , and hopefully , I would love to hear your 2025 challenge Now . The reason why I bring this up is because last week , I had the opportunity to do what's called a values test . Now you can search for them online , preferably finding something that's validated . In essence , it is a test that determines what values are the most important to you , so let me give you a few examples . They could be anything from control , certainty , security , financial stability , wealth , excitement , creativity , authority , beauty , influence , love , popularity , appreciation , family , forgiveness , passion , success , growth , intelligence , equality , teamwork , contribution , spirituality , justice , tolerance , freedom , and that's just to name a few . So one of the ones that came up for me was challenge . So I tried to think of okay , I really do need to race and to be competitive and to find something that really works for me . So let me give you the definition of challenge . It's testing your own abilities or competition .
Speaker 1Taking up challenges is often the result of a strong need to test yourself . These are activities that require us to leave our comfort zone and face something new and unknown . They awaken our imagination and shape our character . Some strengths are that challenges reveal our hidden potential . Picking them allows us to know ourselves better , and some dangers are to keep your limitations in mind and think about whether you are taking excessive risks .
Speaker 1So , as some of you know , my preferred mode of triathlon is off-road , so that presents a challenge in and of itself . Just because it's very niche already , there are not necessarily a lot of people who do it in the first place , and certainly there are fewer women who do it overall , and the reason why I got into this , in fact , was about 15 years ago . I was riding on the road and I actually got in an accident with a car . So it was actually a sweet little old lady who didn't see me and she turned in front of me and ended up hitting me , and that was when my husband said that's enough . And I thought to myself well , man , I still got to ride my bike and I love it . So he was kind enough and that cause that was his original sport was riding off-road . He was kind enough to help me along that journey of figuring out how to navigate off-road , and I hated it at first . I was terrified . I didn't know where traction was , I didn't know the skill , but I stuck with it and I am still in the process of learning , and I think that's why I love mountain biking so much because of the challenge .
Speaker 1So here we are , back to my challenge for 2025 is that I am going to do the XTERRA North American Championship . I have no idea how I'm going to do , because when you look up the results , it's all in . What are the conditions ? Certainly on the bike course , is it dry , is it wet ? What's the elevation look like ? How technical is it ? Et cetera . Same thing for the run .
Speaker 1So , for example , this past year , the North American championship was in Alabama . It was a 1500 meter swim , a 33K bike and a 10K run . So 33K is about 20 miles . So it's very hard to compare that on road to off road . But there were 225 overall race participants and only about 20% of those were women . So maybe chances are higher that I could potentially qualify for worlds . That's not why I'm doing this . I'm doing this as an opportunity to say that I had the opportunity to qualify for Worlds . So that extra level of challenge is what motivates me . So there you go , I'm putting that out there .
Speaker 1When you decide on your challenge , is it gonna push you way out of your comfort zone . Is it something that's achievable ? I don't have any doubt that I can finish . That's not the challenge . But can I improve my skills and improve my fitness enough to be competitive ? That's my personal challenge to myself . And then when I show up on race day , I show up on race day . You also never know what's going to happen . So For some comparison , the female fastest swimmer was 22 minutes , the female fastest cyclist was an hour and 33 minutes and the female fastest runner was about 44 minutes . And it looks like women in my age group were doing this . The swim somewhere around an average of 35 minutes , the bike was maybe somewhere around two to 45 and the run it was more like one 20 , an hour and 20 minutes . So somewhere on average of finishing in about four hours and 45 minutes .
Speaker 1So therein lies the additional challenge of not only do you have to navigate off-road , but then you also have to figure out how are you going to fuel and hydrate , especially when your hands are occupied . So those types of things are what really get me excited . So when you're looking for your challenge , is the comparison factor going to freak you out , or is it ? Hey , I really want to . I generally don't climb well , so maybe I'll pick a flatter course so that I can challenge myself to go faster . Or is it that I'm going to challenge myself to do something that I don't know if I can do or not and do it that way ? So I'm curious , now that I've shared my challenge for 2025 , or not , and do it that way ? So I'm curious , now that I've shared my challenge for 2025 , I want to hear what your challenge is , and is that something that's like lighting you up ? Are you a little bit scared , but also a little bit excited ? So let me know , and I look forward to hearing from you .