Ta-da!!!

It went very well. The weather was gorgeous!!! The weatherman can be forgiven for getting this one wrong. It was a bit nippy at the starting line. The crowds stretched 6 blocks down Georgia Street (but very orderly) and it took over an hour to get to the start, but it was so warm and sunny (around 10C) by the time I got to English Bay that I wrapped my jacket around my waist and ran with just my tshirt.

It was really a wonderful experience to run with almost 60,000 people of all ages, sizes, colours, and abilities and to start the day with a rousing "Oh Canada" sung by all. There were a lot of family groups and I passed several three generation groups and chatted with one four generational group of women from Squamish (about 70,50,30,10) whom I barely beat to the finish line. There were many bands, supporters, and other entertaining people along the way, and it went much faster than I thought.

My goal was to finish in less than 90 minutes. I know I was over that, but unfortunately, the timing chip on your running shoe can't be "timed out" while you stand in line for the portapotties! I was pleased with the pace I maintained, and especially happy that I finished the last 1 km running. My sister Barb and friends Louisa and AnneMarie broke the hour mark which is great considering AnneMarie had never run until this January.

Thanks to all of you for your support, especially my running friends, who gave me good advice. I don't know what I'm going to do next in my life, but can assure you that it will NOT be a marathon. However, I plan to do the SunRun next year for sure. Maybe one day I can aspire to the goal of our friend Mike, but instead of golfing my age, I will run my age. To do that, I will only have to get just a little bit faster, and a lot older. I know I can do the latter!