There are two kinds of fear: the kind that keeps you alive — and the kind that keeps you from living.

In this final episode of Awake Athlete: The Road to El Cruce, I share what it was like to stand on the starting line in Argentina after 27 weeks of becoming — confident, grounded, and deeply ready. Not because nothing could go wrong, but because I trusted what I would do with whatever came up.

We talk about the intelligence of life itself — and the willingness to feel all feelings and experience all experiences as the true gateway to transformation. I reflect on the electric energy of Argentinian culture, the unexpected gift of the language barrier, and why being unable to understand the words around me created a rare clarity and inner stillness.

I walk through my strategy for each stage, the mantras that carried me, and the failsafe mindset I return to again and again — in racing and in life — as an antidote to overwhelm and fear.

We explore what fueled a fluid, responsive mind on the trail, and why readiness is not about certainty, but about trust.

This episode isn’t about what happened to me out there. It’s about how I met it. And why that way of meeting life is available to all of us.