Every year, after the end of the cross-country season, our NRXC runners gather on the Northridge track to test their fitness by running the Knight Mile. It’s an all-out, mass start mile race, and a really fun tradition that the kids enjoy. This year it also happened to coincide with Asher Garaway’s (Sr.) birthday (see below)!
2023 was a year in which our team had some tough challenges that prompted a lot of growth.
I don’t have the Knight Mile times to post them here, but to me the times are incidental. Of course, they matter, and everyone wants to see their races get faster week after week and year after year. The kids certainly remember what they ran from year to year, haha!
But I love effort most of all! The progress I care about most is watching a 9th grader come to the first workout of their freshman year, uncertain of how fast they can run, and not knowing what they can push through. Then, when I watch that same runner as a senior, perhaps still nervous about the outcome, but knowing just how far they can push themselves and what effort they are capable of, I get a bit emotional. That is incredibly rewarding, and such an important life lesson.
Running is something of a silly sport for most of us. 99% of us aren’t racing to win. We compete against a few people who are running close to us in a race, but in truth, we’re out here competing with ourselves. And when someone learns, whether it be through running or through doing something else hard, that with hard work and effort they can transcend what they thought where their limitations, THAT is a life changing realization! And I love to see it.
And maybe it means that running really isn’t that silly, even if a lot of people can’t understand it, haha.
We have great kids run for us at NRXC. They give so much to each other and in pursuit of their own personal excellence. I’m so grateful for how they came out and played, laughed, supported each other, worked hard, and, yes, ran hard, during 2023. They’ll do great things, and I’m already looking forward to 2024!
Here’s the video. Happy Birthday, Asher!