welcome to the backyard family
.
how do you sum up a weekend like this?
it is impossible to even start a list of the accomplishments.
the number of records set;
world, national, and personal.
.
the number of runners who went out for one more yard,
not to add to their own tally,
but because the team needed it.
.
there is no way to tell all the epic stories;
japan’s magnificent and impossible charge to try and make the podium.
iceland’s amazing run in the small country division, against countries a thousand times their size… finishing runner-up and barely nosed out of the win.
ukraine running their race in the face of war.
.
maybe meryjn and ivo summed up the championships best in their final act.
when they walked off the course together.
ending their greatest with a positive message.
Together Everyone Achieves More.
.
amid the avalanche of negative stories we hear today,
there is this.
two men worked together to reach the pinnacle of their sport.
and then walked away from personal victory at the expense of the other.
they had already achieved all there was to achieve on this day.
.
for a few days in october
men and women around the world united in the pursuit of one more yard.
i received a message afterwards from tina staub,
the organizer of the mauritius backyard championship that says it all:
“We felt so small compared to USA and at the same time we felt so great being part of this championships.”
truth is,
we are all small individually
but together we are great!
.
welcome to the backyard family!