After the Kerr County flood tore through Camp Mystic and took the lives of 25 young campers and two counselors last July, a group of Houston parents and runners found each other in grief. What started as a simple idea between friends - “Let’s run it for the girls” - took root and grew into Team 27: a Texas-based running group that participates in local races, like the Houston Marathon, to race and raise money for the Heaven’s 27 Foundation.

When Kendra Molden toes the starting line for her first attempt at the 26.2-mile distance at the second annual Every Woman’s Marathon in Scottsdale on November 16, she will await the starting gun knowing she has a secret weapon.

I caught up with Payne at a spot in her running where recovery from July’s High Lonesome 100, (where she finished in seventh place) was morphing into training for the Mammoth 200 – her first 200-mile race – to be run on September 26th.

“I’m always excited for others. I sort of live vicariously through others and their athletic pursuits, and always had been. I’ve always been a big sports fan. And Ross knew I was genuinely interested, because I’d always ask him about his latest race or whatnot.”

Andrew didn’t know it at the time, but his own athletic experiences were about to become a whole lot less vicarious

Derived from the Italian for the word cadence, Cadenza signifies a specific passage in a musical composition where the soloist has the freedom to showcase their creativity. For one breathtaking moment a solitary member of the group steps outside the already stunning artistry of the ensemble as a whole, and delivers a virtuoso performance, one that not only brings to the fore the soloist’s talent, but magnifies the cooperative talent of the orchestra. For a shining moment one voice, one cadence, steps from the cadence of the collective, the harmonious togetherness of the group, to shine alone.