The whole family (decked out in orange) and I geared up and headed out the door at 8 am for the Casablanca 8 km race in Grimsby. It started out a bit chilly. Kids were in winter coats but they came off mid-morning. What a great day. Beautiful weather. There was quite a strong head-wind and my time was 28:48 (wanted < 28:00) but I'm happy with my 2nd place performance. I could see Lucy Njeri ahead but the 30 second lead was just too much. It's not like a marathon where you have lots of time to catch them! I decided not to wear my Garmin today, just my watch. I glanced at it a few times but it was so hard to determine my pace with the wind that I just ... ran. I had a few guys running with me, which was nice. Was great to see and chat with Tyler Lord, Megan Brown, Danielle Charbonneau, and Coach Ken. I've got some ideas brewing in my head...will have to sort them out before blogging!
Jerry Friesen was certainly honoured this morning. They had arm bands and bibs w/ his pictures and many great stories. Lots of energy at the race today, that is for sure. Apparently the number of people there was nearly doubled (runners, volunteers, etc.) from last year. One very special moment was when Jerry's daughter, Rachel came over to Leah, smiling at her. She later got a snuggle w/ Leah and I was able to offer my condolences.
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2nd Woman.