“Remember Nando”

7:02 p.m. The sun has set, and they just completed mile 40. They have been running for 13 hours with only a few minutes rest. They stopped to change into dry, warmer clothes: compression tights, hat, neck gator. They hope to grab a hamburger over at the admin tent before heading off into the night, with nothing but a headlamp to help them navigate around, over, and through all of the obstacles before them. They are taking their hiking poles with them for this lap. They had not used them until now. At the end of the video, my allusion to Nando (Parrado) is an inside joke. Nando survived a horrific plane crash back in 1972. Lost in the Andes, he survived for 72 days. Nighttime temperatures dropped to -20 degrees Fahrenheit. We attended a lecture at SMU a while back where Nando spoke. Since then, any time we’re cold or life gets hard, we tell ourselves, “remember Nando.”

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