Liz Palmer at growingbolder.com

Posted on April 28th, 2012 at 5:28 am

Liz Palmer has one message for you -- erase the phrase "I'm too old" from your vocabulary forever.

When you take a risk, sometimes you have no idea just how great the rewards will be.

Liz ran track in college (and she was pretty good) but she suffered what she thought was a career-ending injury.

For the next 25 years, she gave up her true passion -- running fast. She still jogged and competed in 5Ks to stay in shape, but it wasn't the same. She had a need for speed that jogging wasn't filling.

Then one day, she stumbled across an online ad for a masters track event.

The rest is history.

The 51-year-old is now the fastest female sprinter over the age of 50 in human history. She's breaking American and world records, even knocking off some of the all-time greats like Philippa Raschker.

Liz says she wasn't trying to win any records or races; she just wanted to be fast again.

She explains how she was able to get that much speed after a 25-year layoff and how returning to her sport has had an unexpected consequence -- she's now coaching her teenage sons and is closer to them than ever at a time when many teens pull away from their parents.

Even if you're not interested in sports, Liz explains why it's so important for everyone to know that it's never too late to pursue their passions.