“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly … who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly” – Teddy Roosevelt
I went through a leadership training course this past year and the above quote was included on our certificate of completion and it absolutely stuck with me. What stuck with me wasn’t so much about getting credit for doing anything special but for daring greatly. Daring greatly is remarkable.
We are Ragnarians. We Believe….Together We Can Accomplish Anything
For soon to be 5 years, I’ve recruited runners to participate in a race that tests your ability to handle some long distance running in multiple sets throughout a 30 hour time period, more or less, depending on how fast of a team we had and just in the running, I’d say we’ve dared greatly.
We’ve also dared greatly when it’s come to how far we’ve reached and strived for in our fundraising on behalf of others within our community. In four campaigns alone, we raised raised nearly $17,000 for Kate’s Kart, and then just this year, we raised just a tad short of $7500 for NeighborLink Fort Wayne. Our 5 race total is almost $25,000!
We’ve always strove for doing better from one year to the next but we largely stayed within the idea of attacking the challenge directly in front of us and again, we’ve been wildly successful but I keep having this burning feeling that there’s more to be done.
If we’re here to dare greatly and do a lot of good, then my belief is that the team is truly limited by two things: Only working in the here and now and having someone else’s likeness as our name and logo.
We could keep doing what we are doing, which would be great. We’ve had a lot of success doing this but I think we’d be shrinking and doing the safe thing by sticking to the same yearly plan. We’d also be holding back an untapped potential.
The team and I have been blessed this year to watch and witness the kindness and genuineness of the folks at NeighborLink Fort Wayne and a significant part of this next evolution of this crazy running adventure is inspired by their willingness to look outwardly towards those that need help around them.
There are many details to share in the coming weeks but for now the only guarantee I can share is that we will ALWAYS contribute to NeighborLink Fort Wayne and that the vision is to make a greater impact within the Fort Wayne community but also beyond.
Thanks for your patience and stay tuned!
– Gabe
Runners Doing Good 