As Courtney Atkinson found himself among the leaders at Saturday's Gold Coast world series race, the Australian triathlete knew he'd made the right choice.
After walking away from short-form triathlon following the 2012 London Olympics, Atkinson lined up in his first ITU World Series race in two-and-a-half years, eventually finishing 10th.
Series leader and Olympic bronze medallist Jonathan Brownlee was the winner on the day, pulling away on the 10km run leg to finish 20 seconds clear of Spanish pair Mario Mola and Javier Gomez.
But Atkinson felt like a winner after an impressive display which shows his hopes of qualifying for a third Olympic Games at Rio next year are far from just wishful thinking.
The highlight for the 35-year-old Queenslander was during the run when he found himself keeping pace with the likes of Mola and Gomez.
"It was only five weeks ago I was snowboarding in Japan and not training," Atkinson said.
"To run two and a half k's or three and a half k's with the best guys and watch their pace out and then when they settled I could settle with them and it wasn't a pacing thing, it's just a tolerance thing.
"I probably hung on a little bit too long to the front group but I was never going to win the race here. I had my goals that I wanted to achieve... it's early days, I just need to be there with them enough (for them) to then go: he's still alright."
Brownlee's win was his second in a row and ensures he heads back the United Kingdom with a handy lead of 219 points in the series.
The 24-year-old will now take a break from racing to recover from back-to-back events in Auckland and Gold Coast with an eye on this year's Olympic test event in Rio and the Chicago ITU race where Britain's selectors will largely make their decisions on who will represent them at Rio.
"(Today) was a hard, hard race, it's going to take me a while to get over that," Brownlee said.
"It's a long season and I wanted a season of two halves and the first half or the first section is done now and it's gone well.
"I want to go home and relax, go away from triathlon for a few days and then I'll miss it again."
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