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why we started
two runners. twenty-five years of shared miles across different terrain, different
coasts. same obsession.
syndicate running started in 1999, during a pancake eating contest at xc camp way
out at the base of dead indian mountain, a road with eight miles of switchbacks of
~7% grade a few miles northwest of cody, wyoming. like a lot of things that end up
completely changing your life, the twenty minutes of shared suffering seemed
inconsequential at the time. but the bond was made.
we were teenagers on paavo west, a two week cross-country running camp run by
marshall sellers, who we lost this past year. we rode in different 15-passenger
vans across two dozen states, logging miles on roads we'd never see again
with people we'd never forget. we didn't know each other well. we
didn't need to. the miles and shared work did the talking.
two years later, we bumped into each other purely by chance at the mall at indiana
university in bloomington. early fall, 2001. peer pressure to show up for a
morning run on campus turned into thousands of shared miles, shared drinks, shared
housing, and a lifelong friendship.
over the next two decades, we never lived in the same city. but we never stopped
connecting over miles. marathons, trail races, beer miles, dog miles, and
everything in between. today, one of us chases mountain ultras in the pacific
northwest. the other is chasing masters records on midwestern roads. different
terrain. same obsession.
syndicate running sits at the comfortable midpoint of that journey.
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