On December 31, 2008, I was at a New Year’s Eve party with diamond dealer friends. The conversation turned to fitness. Someone mentioned walking daily. I casually said: “I want to run a marathon.”
The room erupted in laughter.
“You? At 50? You’ve never run one mile in your life. You want to run 26.2 miles? You’re going to die at mile 20.”
But then something shifted. Three friends, still laughing, made bets:
“If you actually complete a marathon, I’ll donate $1,000 to charity of your wish.”
Another: “$1,000 from me too.”
A third: “$10,000.”
Twelve thousand dollars. For poor children in India. That became my fuel.
January 1, 2009. 7am. Freezing cold.
I tied my shoes and started. Run-walk. No experience. No water. No training plan. Just a man who’d been told his best days were behind him, now proving otherwise.
Eight miles that first morning. Sore muscles. But something was awake in me.
May 25, 2009. 5:42:40.
I crossed the finish line of my first marathon at age 50.
All friend didn’t keep their promise. We eventually lost that friendship. Life happens. No regret.
But here’s what I gained: I discovered New Axay.
A man I didn’t know existed. A man capable of things I’d been told were impossible. A man who could take mockery and turn it into motivation. A man who could say: my best days aren’t behind me they’re right now.
Seven months later, December 6, 2009:
I discovered Raw Food. Another curiosity. Another “what if?” Another challenge to what I’d been told about aging.
Sixteen years later, at 66:
I’ve completed seven marathons. My body runs on vital energy. My mind is sharper than it’s ever been. I’m not managing decline I’m accelerating aliveness.
And I want to thank those friends who challenged me. Who laughed. Who bet against me. Because they didn’t give $12,000 for charity.
They gave me something worth infinitely more: permission to discover who I could become.
Here’s what I learned:
At 50, I believed the narrative: aging means decline. Your best days are behind you. Accept it.
At 66, I know: The best days are the ones you’re brave enough to create.
The people who mock you aren’t your enemies. They’re your greatest teachers. They show you what you’re capable of when you refuse to accept their ceiling.
If you’re reading this and you’ve been told you’re “too old” for something:
You’re not. You’re exactly the right age to prove them wrong.
The energy you find when you stop accepting limits? That’s what real vitality looks like.
That’s New You waiting to be discovered.
— Axay Shah
IN NATURE WE TRUST
