I remember driving through the light snow drizzle in route to the airport in Minnesota. It was the day after Ray had finised his 55 hour feat in the artic-like cold of Northern Minnesota and their notorious foot race called Arrowhead.
Be Change Runners, Michelle Purcell and Ashley Loucks were headed home to rest from crewing Ray the week before in the Brazil 135. In less than 10 days, he had completed two of three 135 mile races; some say the hardest races on the planet. I was stunned at Ray's dramatic finish of 54+ hours in temps, that at times, was (-)55 below zero while pulling a sled that oddly weighed 50+ pounds.
Ray sat looking out the window. He doesn't talk much. Out of no where, I blurted it out.
"Ray, as we get closer to this, people are gonna want to not just know how you did it, but more importantly, WHY YOU DO IT."
He looked over at me and grinned. He knew what I was talking about. His efforts and thus accomplished goals has thrown our Be Change/Equal Start inner-city health and education initiatives into a national spotlight.
After TrailRunner's article, Endurance News interview Ray, Michelle, and I. He was the runner. We were the Calorie Chemists who learned to make high-octane/performance fuels driving on the winding roads of the Andes Mountains of South America and the Endurance Eskimos who had to figure out ways to keep blocks of Hammer products from freezing in sub-zero temps.
Here is the article. Its part grit, part guts, and a whole lot of valuable vision! Rarely does Ray light up to talk. But in this moment, talking about Be Change, Ray expressed that when he runs, he runs for a reason.
Buckle up,
It's about to get interesting.
JHARP
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