Traditionally, the Dam Good Run that happens each spring out at Lake Pleasant Park, provides runners with a unique experience. Runners traverse the dam itself, an area generally restricted from the public, and they delight in seeing the lake from a different vantage point. This year, as we are all looking at the world from a new and unfamiliar perspective, some of the registered DGR participants got out for a virtual Dam Good Time.
Our running community is adaptable. While we may create and adhere to training programs specific to a goal race, there are always factors we simply can’t control. Perhaps you were lucky and had nothing but great training weather leading up to a race, but race day landed on foul weather. Maybe you stepped off a curb and rolled an ankle the week before your big day. Aliens very well could have landed in your town an abducted the Race Director, thus cancelling the event. Anything could happen. While I believe it is fair to say that many of us did not expect to find ourselves dealing with a global pandemic causing us to pause and rethink how we go about our days, minute by minute, here we are. And now, we adapt. It is what we do. It is how we find ourselves to be stronger when we come out on the other side. Things that may have felt trivial or silly in the not too distant past, like virtual high fives and long-distance encouraging words, are now more important than ever. It is how we maintain our community, even as we take measures to maintain our physical distance from one another.
This year, the Dam Good Run took place in multiple states.
Some runners had sunshine; others had snow. Some started early in the morning, others were out in the middle of the day.
Some sent selfies, others focused on the scenery. All of them found a way to get out and move their feet. They completed their chosen distances, and we sent them our virtual high-fives.
We all ran together, in our own way.
Congratulations to all the Dam Good Virtual Runners who got out to run this weekend. We can’t wait for the next chance we have to give you a non-virtual, real-life finish line hug or high-five. We appreciate being a part of your motivation to keep active and enjoy our surroundings.
Stay safe out there!
Check out the results from these Awesome Runners here! (results are formatted as a PDF)
