August 2012 - The sweaty locker room of a triathlon club in Aalborg, Denmark.

"What's your goal?"

The entire locker room went quite.

One of the competitive athletes had seized me up during training and was now confronting me in front of the entire squad.

I was clearly not on home turf with my skinny fat body that had come from a year of hanging out with the party boys at University.

This guy looked like a greek god with abs like rocks.

He looked at me with pessimism.

"I asked you. What's your goal?"

I hesitated a bit.

Then with the most confidence I could possibly muster I told him:

"I... I want to go to the Olympics."

The entire locker room laughed.

And honestly, I don't blame them.

I was a 20-year-old who'd never done any structured running or swimming, and they'd just watched me nearly drown in the pool.

I was a nobody.

Then the room went quiet and the guy looked at me again.

"I just did 1,000 metres in 11 minutes. You did it in 20. How are you ever going to compete?"

This time. I smiled.

"How long have you been swimming?" I asked.

"10 years."

"Well, in 10 years I'm going to beat your time."

4 years later I swam 1,000 metres in 10 minutes and 53 seconds.

The guy who had seized me up?

11 minutes and 4 seconds on the same day.

So why could I be so confident on that day in august?

Honestly, I didn't know I'd get there.

But through years of competing I've learned one thing.

Most people aren't more talented than you. They've just been doing it longer.

So the next time you see someone posting a sub-15 minute 5K or a 2:20 marathon and feel like you're miles behind ask yourself this.

How long have you actually been training with structure?

And how long have they?

Chances are you're not behind. They're just years ahead of you. And the only thing that separates you from getting a seat at the fast runners table is for you to keep going.

You're not behind.

You're just early,

Nicklas

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