Nick Bare

For the last seven to eight years, it's been prep to prep to prep.

And we document these preps and we film all of it.

And it's extremely time-demanding, energy-demanding stuff.

doesn't just take away from my physical and mental energy, but it takes away from my physical and mental energy for my family and the team.

And I love training.

I love competing.

I love racing.

But I found that my identity became rooted in performance, in these preps, in achieving.

And I didn't want that any longer.

I didn't need that to be my identity any longer.

And I learned a lot of these last seven to eight years.

I love training.

I love training.

I'm still getting after it every day.

This morning, I ran five miles and then I lifted with a team.

Like I said, during the team lift, I did a back and biceps workout.

health, fitness, training, doing hard things, pushing myself will always for the rest of my life be foundational, fundamental, instrumental.

But the chapter and era of me going from race to race to race, competition to competition to competition, because my identity was rooted in those preps in the performance is over.

Not to say that I'll never do a prep again or a race again or a competition again, but I don't need them to justify my worth and who I am.

Because I know who I am and what I'm rooted in is much greater than the fitness prep, the competition, the race.