Last week at the Dances With Dirt trail race I witnessed true heroes in action when the women's 50K leader took a fall and broke a leg. Three runners put their own ultra goals and races aside to be with her and help with her evactuation. From the post-race e-mail thread I can see that helping others in crisis can bring a more personal reward than our personal goals... And can create lifelong friendships and bonds.

Running teaches us the value of long term goals and delayed gratification as we put in our daily miles to be ready for an event months away. These skills transfer over to our business and personal lives to move us forward. Some good examples are a couple of the long term charitable commitments made by RF Events, committing $25,000 over 5 years to "Karen's Trail", a project in memory of friend and world class athlete Karen McKeachie, and $25,000 to the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. These commitments help keep our fires lit and remind us daily to do the best we can to produce events that will be successful and allow us to accomplish these goals. That said, you can't beat the immediate gratification of writing a check for $31,294 to the Congenital Heart Center at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital from the proceeds of the Shamrocks and Shenanigans 5K & 1K, made possible by those who ran! Rewarding stuff!

Get in those miles, the rewards will follow,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who is proud of our running community and humbled to be associated with so many heroic athletes and just plain great people.

PS: My friend and dentist John Farah wrote a great article to share with anyone who might be considering entering their first 5K! Share the article and share the gift of running. Some great 5Ks can be found at rfevents.com/calendar ... just sayin'.