Sometimes Finishing isn't what's Important

Aaron and his brother share a Fargo marathon medal.

In Runner's 101, we teach runners to set a variety of race goals: three different achievable time goals as well as performance goals such as running an even effort or having fun. For all of us, one of these goals is almost always to finish. But sometimes course conditions, weather or some other variable out of our control gets in the way and its better to bow out and live to run another day.

This past weekend two PB runners attempted to run a humid marathon in Fargo. Carl got lost and succumbed to blisters and Aaron became confused as he suffered from dehydration. His brother took him off the course at twenty miles and completed the last six miles for him. Now they share a medal as an impromptu relay team.

Both Carl and Aaron listened to their bodies and ran with dignity. I'll be adding running with dignity to my list of race goals. Congrats Carl and Aaron!