Reflections on 2025: Celebrating Endurance, Community, and Purpose

We are endlessly pulled in life by forces that lead us in many directions: expansion versus simplification, taking versus giving, building versus breaking down. Enticed by possibilities, we often seek more and more, resisting streamlining for the sake of ease or out of fear of failure.

As we get older, this push and pull becomes more focused because our limited time on earth becomes more real—especially as we lose those we love.

What is truly important? Achievement, self-aggrandizement, or helping others?

In the end, we come together each year—both athletes and event organizers—as one family. It’s not easy year after year to gather the strength, but we each participate. This year, we celebrate longevity: durability, lastingness, permanence, and long life. It’s about being part of it—heart and soul.

We honor you, the athlete, for enduring the event; our staff, for their commitment to bringing it to you; and our families, who give us the strength and love to seek, achieve, and be who we are.

“The being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one”—to make a difference in the lives of those around us and in the world.

Congratulations on pushing your limits—getting to the start line, crossing the finish line, and ultimately being the light to inspire others.