With so many books in the wild and politicians and celebrities writing and publishing memoirs in a matter of months, it’s easy to assume that the book publishing business is, well, easy. After all, some estimates pin the number of available print titles on Amazon at nearly 50 million.

I’m going to be a mom. Today, I’m in week 22 of what BabyCenter and The Bump and my doctor say should be a 39-week journey, and I’m excited. Okay. Actually, I’m terrified.

Almost any author will tell you that the road to book publication is arduous and long, like a marathon course that scales high mountain peaks and snakes through twisted canyons. Maybe that’s why, for so many of us, the book doesn’t feel real until we see the final cover.

I always knew I’d want to write an epilogue for Run to the Light, the memoir I penned as a love letter to my little sister. I thought readers would want to know what happened to Taylor, already in the autumn of her life by the final chapter.

For Laura, a flat, fast race felt like the perfect way to break back into racing after a five-month absence fueled by book deadlines, TED talks and sibling weddings, plus an untimely ankle sprain on Halloween night.

The human body is a beautiful, capable, complex machine. Sometimes, it can also be fickle. I figure that’s why I can run a half marathon blindfolded without getting hurt, as I did four years ago this month, yet roll my ankle reaching for a shirt in my closet, like I did last week.

Some days are so unforgettable, so moving, that we live them over and over again, immersed in the moment, for the rest of our lives. I accomplished something I’d never dreamed I could do until this year: I delivered a TED talk.

I didn’t achieve my time goal in Missoula. But I learned a lot of lessons in six weeks of training and 110 minutes of running on race day, the most important of which was this: Failure is important.

My sister taught me that it’s important to push your own limits. And while running a sub-1:40 half marathon might not have a major impact on my own life or anyone else’s, the work I put in to get there will.

A lifelong introvert, Laura shares three strategies she used to overcome her fear of public speaking and advocate for people such as her sister.