When Gary offered this image as his photo of the week contribution, I was tempted to make a joke about birds of prey circling over IRONMAN racers waiting for them to collapse, but Gary completed his first IRONMAN earlier this month in a mind-blowing time of 11 hours 18 minutes and 56 seconds, coming 29th in his age category, so the joke’s on me, really.

Instead, I think it’s more appropriate to think of this amazing shot of an eagle soaring over the boardwalk of One Mile Lake as an homage to anyone who has decided to bite off a personal challenge and rise above, be it a marathon or summer read-a-thon or eating more iron or trying to be more present with your family, or just trying to be a bit more physically active.