BEAUTIFUL MOMENT: Paige Meets Katrin Davidsdottir

Dave “Saturday, 1:01pm: Dave walks off the North Park field after Event 10 but stops when he hears someone in the stands yelling his name. He walks over to 15 year-old Paige Gershmel, who thrusts an envelope into his hands. “Can you give this to Katrin?” she asks. Dave looks down at the envelope, then hands it back to her. “Let’s have you give it to her,” he says.

Twenty minutes later, Dave leads Paige down the stairs into the concrete underbelly of the coliseum where the athletes are waiting for the Event 11 announcement. Paige approaches Katrin Davidsdottir 🇮🇸 with the astonished look of someone who has just learned unicorns are real. When Katrin says hello, her whole body blushes and she looks like she might die from excitement and fear. “You’ve been my hero since I was 9,” Paige explains, handing over a drawing she made of Kat’s Rogue Fitness sled dog logo. “The mentality you have for everything you do, the way you go through everything—that’s how I want to be.” At this, Katrin pulls her into a hug. “You don’t know how much that means to me,” she says into her ear.

As the women say goodbye, Katrin rummages around in her bag and pulls out one of her NOBULL Games jerseys. She hands it to Paige, who gapes at it like it like it’s the sword of Gryffindor. Speechless, she thanks Katrin by touching one hand to her heart.”

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#MeetYourHeroes

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