Kikkan Randall is the embodiment of achieving your childhood dreams—she knew from the time she was 5 years old that she wanted to be an Olympic skier. Her dream came true 14 years later, when she competed in her first Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002 at the age of 19. She finished in 44th place and immediately worked out a 10-year plan to make it to the podium—a goal she finally achieved at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, bringing home gold in the women’s team sprint at 35 years old. But her story’s bigger than her gold medal: she’s an inspirational speaker, community leader, and a recent cancer survivor. If you’ve been holding on to a long-time dream, let this conversation with Kikkan inspire you to see it through to reality, no matter how much or how long it may take.