Earlier this month, Jessica McClain was well on her way to winning the United States Half Marathon title and earning the right to represent her country at the World Championships. However, with less than three kilometres to go, Jessica took a wrong turn. The police officer assigned to direct competitors to a footbridge left his post to help with a serious incident nearby. Jessica and a handful of other runners missed the turn and ran more than a kilometre off course. By the time they turned around, it was too late. Jessica finished in ninth place. As you can imagine, this incident has sparked a series of protests and created a lot of confusion about what to do next. To be clear, Jessica’s effort was not the issue. She trained hard, ate properly, qualified for the race and showed up on the appointed day. Jessica McClain was, by far, the fastest runner in the field. She just ran the wrong way. That story reminds me of various people I have known over the year...
Consider this