I’m afraid. There, I admitted it. In less than 48 hours I will be running a distance that I have never run before, on an ankle that has been giving me some issues for the past two weeks.

The Disneyland Half-Marathon is this Sunday and my transformation from couch potato to wannabe runner has been an 8 month long journey. Am I fast? No. Am I learning? Yes. I’ve battled injuries, aches, pain, 6 months of plantar fasciitis, shin splints, and now a bum ankle that has me a little concerned. To become an good athlete you need patience — not a trait that I have in spades. But I’m learning what my body can take and what I am capable of.

I’ll get better, faster, stronger. But it isn’t going to be an overnight process.

Here’s a pic of me jumping off the rock at Waimea Bay on the North Shore of O’ahu, Hawaii last month. The jump is about 18-20 feet, down into about 8 feet of water. Standing at the top looking down, my feet did NOT want to jump off that rock. My brain was on high alert saying “Do not do this.” Fear.

I had jumped off the rock as a kid and remembered being pretty scared then, but just going for it. And I loved it after I jumped the first time. Looking down into the water 20 years later from the top of that rock, fear threatened to overwhelm me again.

After staring down at the water for what felt like a decade, I finally summoned up enough courage to watch for the incoming swell, crouched like a tiger, and leapt off the rock.

Sometimes you have to do the very thing that scares you to overcome your fear. The feeling of accomplishment when you conquer your fear, whether it’s just jumping off a high rock or completing a half-marathon, is worth it.

Just tell yourself, “I can do this.” Believe in your training plan. Take the fear and put it into a little desk drawer in your mind and close that drawer. Then just leap.