WHERE IS OUR VAN!?
About a year ago, I was on my way with a friend of mine, Kevin, to pick up a rental van. We had to travel to Columbia the next day with a team of runners. Six person team of relay runners, one driver for support. I saw the 15 passenger van that reminded me of youth group mission trips, and suddenly it hit me that this was it.
See, I was participating in a road running relay race. The Palmetto 200. Two hundred miles from Columbia, SC, through back roads down to Charleston. Part of a 6 man relay team. 200 miles divided by 6…more than a marathon of running, each.
We had trained diligently, planned who would run which leg of the race, and I was pretty excited to be part of it. It was a pretty serious commitment!
Training for distance and endurance several times per week. Doing it again the next week. And again. You get the idea.
So back at the Enterprise rental place, we walked in and gave the name for the reservation, and pointed at the large van outside.
When she printed out the docs for the rental and we walked outside, she pointed right at the only 15 passenger van there, and said, “That one’s not for y’all. Y’all rented a minvan.”
…wait…WHAT!?
Then out loud, I said, “Ma’am, that can’t be right. We got a 15 passenger van.”
“Sorry dear, that van is already rented, actually by another running team.”
Then began the frantic phone calls to our team mates that somehow we didn’t have a large van, we had a van that had exactly 6 seats, for 6 grown men. Who would be running and then getting back in the van…
It’s actually really impressive how much space they have created in modern minivans.
But it did make the 2 hour trip at 4 am kind of cramped on the way up to Columbia for the start of the race.
Each guy took his turn and crushed each leg of the race. I saw friends push through stress to the point of vomiting, leg cramps that wouldn’t quit, frustration of not performing as well as hoped, all while stuffed in a white Dodge Grand Caravan…
Running a two hundred mile relay race with no injuries on our team is no small thing. Also running safely while on back roads. In the dark. With South Carolina drivers…
Surviving that right there is a miracle in itself. ;)
Looking back a year later, I reminisce about what it means to be on a team. To be a member of something larger than myself. To have another person completely depend on me to pull my weight. To be determined to not let my teammates down when it’s my turn.
When you are on a team, you commit to not giving up when it gets difficult. You commit because people you committed to are counting on you. Counting on you to deliver.
To be a team player takes work. Whether it’s in a sport or simply the team you have for the game of life, it’s hard work.
But our running team accomplished something that no single one of us could. Together everyone achieved more.
And isn’t that really the whole point?
