There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

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A post shared by Colinmccourt (@colinmccourt) on

Back in March, I first wrote about Colin McCourt (“Man boobs and exploding calves!”), and a few issues later I went long with him in what is still the most-read interview I’ve ever conducted for the morning shakeout. Well, the 32-year-old Brit is still charging hard and dropping pounds, and although he hasn’t run fast enough (yet) to avoid getting the names of 17 friends tattooed to his body, his competitive fire has been reignited and the Olympic Games are back on his radar.

“People fear saying their dreams out loud because they are worried what people will think and what happens if they don’t achieve them,” he wrote in his most recent blog for Athletics Weekly. “I don’t care. I want to be back at my best, I want to compete again, I want to do the thing I have always loved and make an Olympics. It was a dream when I was 14 and it’s still my dream now. I just lost sight of it for a bit. If you are reading this—it is never too late!”

I love everything about this story (which you can watch it all unfold in real-time on Instagram and Strava): the bet with his buddies, the struggle of getting back into shape, the attention to diet and other details, the rekindling of a competitive fire, and now, the audacity to chase an impossible dream.

A version of this post first appeared in the morning shakeout, my weekly email newsletter covering running, writing, media and other topics that interest me. If you’d like for it to land in your inbox first thing on Tuesday mornings, subscribe here.

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