SFTR: The 5:45 A.M. Racetrack Date
Stories From The Road: A pep talk for doubting dreamers, 2 videos you've got to watch, and brief thoughts on discipline.
This post goes out to all my dreamer friends who are currently discouraged and wonder when it is all going to work out. It goes out to the dreamers represented by multiple friends who have shared recently that they were feeling:
Stuck
Depressed
Alone
Scared about the future, about “it” not working out
Unworthy (e.g. struggling to see their worth)
I know these feelings. In fact, I think people are surprised by how many risks I take and how I keep going when they find out that these same things crop up for me too. This post is not about “fixing” any of it. It’s just to let you know you’re normal, that your dreams are worth pursuing, and to share some inspiration from the road, found most recently in Louisville, Kentucky.
My first stop on my just-barely cross-country trek: Louisville, Kentucky. The hardest U.S. city name to pronounce if you ask me, but nobody did. Anyhow, I booked at a hotel called Derby City Gaming figuring there just might be a casino attached. But what I couldn’t have known is that they would also have a racetrack. For horses.
Side note: The track security guard I peppered with questions later in the day shared that it’s actually written into Kentucky law that, to have a casino, you must have a racetrack on the premises. He didn’t have a reason to lie, so let’s trust him, shall we?
You may not know this, but I deeply and passionately love horse racing stories. And the reason why is that I am an absolute sucker for any underdog, come-from-behind, late-bloomer success story, and horse racing has lots of them.
I operate under a very strict rule which says, “You can’t stay 100 yards from a racetrack and not get up early to watch the horses train.” And this is why I was up and outside, watching thoroughbreds train at 5:45 in the blessed, dewey morning.


I could only get so close because of, you know, fences, but for thirty happy minutes, I got to hear the pounding of hooves and the breathing of these horse athletes as they pounded by. Feeling like the luckiest girl in the world to have stumbled upon this experience, that thing in my heart started beating loudly again.
It’s the thing I feel when I watch any person or animal accomplish the unlikely. Defy the odds. Beat records. Do the thing or run the race that they seem born to run. Achieve the thing they’ve worked toward for years when most people thought they were nuts. It’s what every human heart feels in the presence of overcoming, am I right? An urge to be better, to be more disciplined, to work toward the impossible.
My own heart starts beating strong again whenever I’m around others who are working toward their dreams and putting disciplined effort toward them. I feel alive, and like maybe, just maybe, I can keep doing things about the big tugs in my heart. That I just might be uniquely prepared and qualified to help the people I want to help and build the business and life I want to build.
But this isn’t about me. It’s about all of us dreamers. I suspect you have your own moments when your heart starts beating strong with self-belief again. When are those times? Who are the people around whom it happens? And how can you have more of the heart-beating moments and be around the believing people more?
Otherwise, you may end up being a figurative average horse grazing in a field never having run the race you were meant to run. And that would be a real shame for you and for all of us.
It goes without saying that it’s critical to spend less time with those who are critical—of you, of dreams in general, of your dreams. I’m also re-appreciating how important disciplined effort is, and am resolved to cultivate even more of it in my life. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the busyness, chasing comfort, and overthinking of life. And what’s so bad about that? Well, in the spirit of horse racing, if we let life continue to happen to us, it’s almost certain we end up as an average horse grazing in a field never having run the race we were meant to run. And that would be a real shame for all of us.



We’d be worse off if greats like Secretariat and Seabiscuit hadn’t run their races, hadn’t been believed in, hadn’t been connected with the people and trainers and jockeys and opportunities they needed to have their moments which inspire us all. Tell me that you as a dreamer aren’t inspired by these three highlights from Seabiscuit’s story (italics added):
Seabiscuit lost his first 17 races: Many modern horses don’t have 17 races in their career, but Seabiscuit didn’t win until start No. 18…
He never raced in the Kentucky Derby: Though it is the most famous race in the United States, not all great horses run in the Derby. This is mainly because it’s restricted to three-year-old horses and held in early May; some horses, such as Seabiscuit, only display greatness at an older age…
A Hall of Fame trainer couldn’t tap into his potential: “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons was one of the greatest American trainers, preparing two Triple Crown winners (Gallant Fox and Omaha) and winning the earnings title five times. But he thought Seabiscuit was “lazy” and never got him to anything like champion level. For that, Seabiscuit would require a new stable, and a new trainer.1
I’m still figuring out how to more fully tap into my potential—how to design and do more with my dreams—and I certainly don’t have all the answers. But I like what I’m doing and I’m not quitting anytime soon. And I hope you don’t either.
In fact, you might need to get going, and if that’s the case, I hope you do, like today. For me, I’m heading into a season of even more disciplined creativity, and figuring out ways to keep writing and creating about the things that get my heart beating strong, and sharing them in hopes of keeping more dreamers’ hearts beating strong, too.
If you need a boost today for the things in your dreamer heart, here are two videos I think you’ll like:
Watch this 2-min interview with the 2024 Kentucky Derby winner, Brian Hernandez on Mistik Dan. It’s incredible.
Watch this 6-min clip of the come-from-behind 2023 Kentucky Derby win. There’s a really cool moment starting around 3:19 that I won’t spoil for you, but woah. Talk about the beauty of having people in your world who believe in you.
Pick one area where you’re going to show more discipline and design a simple plan for how to incorporate it into your life ASAP. Is it mastering the alarm clock? Getting proactive instead of reactive with your monthly budget? Prioritize making sales calls before you feel ready?
If you care to share any ideas this post sparked for you, I’d love to hear! This post is for paid subscribers only which means the comments are a fun space to share your thoughts within my most invested readers, but you can also respond to this email if you prefer. Either way, let’s be like that guy at 3:19 in the Mage video for each other as we run our individual dreamer races, together 😀
https://www.twinspires.com/edge/racing/10-interesting-facts-about-seabiscuit/