Celebrating 3 Cats hard work, community mindset and 1-2-3 at the VAHS Season opener

How do you even start a post about a day like today? Every one of our athletes showed me what it means to truly be a team, to fully commit to your community. Sometimes it shows up in results, not because the results matter, but because the results show a culmination of everything coming together.

1-2-3 is something to celebrate, but so are these junior athletes.

There is just so much more to them and to all of us than just that 1-2-3.

Sometimes it means giving up a spot or two in the results to help a friend who needs you mid-race when the tunnel vision shows up.

Sometimes it means leading out the race and finishing, even if dropped chains start to make you doubt your life choices.

Sometimes it is realizing that you can't do much about traffic, but you fight through it spot by spot anyway.

Sometimes it is the athlete who makes sure my camera batteries are charged in the middle of their own busy day.

I will never stop believing in these kids.

Personally, I want to carry it in my heart, let it imprint on my soul, let it make me better. The way I still carry with me how I felt when Ian MacGregor won U23 Nationals in Park City. That was the proving ground, the day when I truly believed that our little TIAA-CREF experiment was real and tangible. Casey Gibson was the one telling me to keep it together that day.

Today was the same and different.

I never doubted these kids for one minute. I knew we could do this, even when they doubted themselves from time to time.

But being in it, being a part of something bigger than myself, it is magic every race, every time. First place or DNF, life is just better when we are all together.

But I'm not going to lie to you.

That 1-2-3 sure was fun to celebrate.

And no one celebrates each other more than 3 Cats.