Monday, June 9, 2008

Amazing people

This weekend, I was part of a relay team. It took 15 of us, to run a total of 258km from Castle Junction (in Banff National Park), to the town of Jasper (in Jasper National Park). The run was through the mountains along one of the most scenic highways on the planet. It was truly beautiful. And, we had all kinds of weather: rain, snow, sleet, sun, all of it comprised various parts of the day. Everyone ran their best and we finished. Our team name was Pigs Might Fly, and we can proudly say that they did!! 

What I found most amazing though was the group of people that we had assembled. It created a web of various connections. Some people worked with me. Some people did Team In Training with me. Some people did Team In Training with some of the other people on the team. Some were relatives. Some were friends. Some did spin class together. Some were last minute replacements that nobody knew. Yet everyone melded together and we had a great weekend. 

My faith in humanity has been restored. There were no issues to be had. Any time some problem arose, we figured a way to solve it. From using fancy broaches as pins, to having one of our injured runners step in to fill a gap, to another runner helping out someone who was struggling, to a complete stranger showing up to get us to the finish line. We chatted, we laughed, we took pictures, and overall had a great time. It was fun. 

I needed this weekend. I needed to hang out with people who love to run. I needed to hang out with people who stayed true to their word and got us all to the end. I needed to be part of the team. I am so grateful to everyone who participated. It was a lot of fun, and it wouldn't have happened without all 15 runners and our support crew. You guys are amazing. Thanks for giving me such a great weekend!!

Oh, and we saw bears, on three separate occasions. One was even a grizzly bear!! This was also amazing. They are really neat creatures!! That made the trip better than it already was.