172. What Can A Race Teach You?
The Saturday before Thanksgiving, my grandson Zachariah Price was part of the four-person team that won the Tough Mudder in New Jersey. I have to confess that I had never heard of a Tough Mudder race, but when I got the details, I was impressed.
This one was a 10-mile course with 32 obstacles per lap, lasting 24 hours. Zack’s team completed six laps and won the race. On Thanksgiving Day when I saw him, he was limping because of the chafing behind his knees from wearing a wet suit. When we had dinner this Thursday night his limp was gone.
He and I talked on Thanksgiving about the race. He said he was glad he’d done it. He thought it was the hardest thing he’d ever done. He felt it was good to be part of a team since they each had different strengths. And he was impressed with the humanity of the race. He said he never saw anybody with a hand out for help that didn’t get it. You pulled your own teammates over obstacles and you pulled anybody else who wanted or needed help.
The fun for me of listening to Zack reflect on the race was him getting in 24-hours both the concept of teamwork and the very real experience of helping others. In days of go-it-alone and watch out for Number 1, those are powerful concepts.
I would hope they would last for a long time for Zachariah. Actually I hope we all get hold of them and they last for all of us.
