Jody Avergan

I knew that.

But then it's like all those things that I love, they just go away.

What a racket.

My name is Jody Avergier, and this is Good Sport from the TED Audio Collective.

This episode will get some guidance from athletes much wiser and much more accomplished than me who faced this change and found their own answer to the big question, what comes next?

I promise this isn't just a therapy session.

You'll meet some great athletes.

You'll learn something, too, about how all of us, athletes or not, can think about aging and the years ahead with a little more insight and a little more optimism.

So what comes next?

Well, for one, the show's theme music and then, you know, more podcast.

As a top pro athlete, Carly Lloyd practically lived on the road.

And that grind got more and more grueling the older she got.

It's tough, but at some level it's like the highs are worth it to put up with the 12 hours a day of, of grind and BS.

I asked Carly if she felt like she had to give up any semblance of a normal life in order to play at that highest level.

Carly lived in that extreme almost her entire life.

But now she was in her late 30s.

And for any athlete that age, you inevitably ask every season, is this going to be my last one?

It's one of those strange things about retiring from sports.

You make this huge life transition pretty early in your life, way before most people consider their careers over.

And it can be hard to know when to call it quits.