To my son Elrik, my apologies for missed activities and my often very short fuse as I let my self-induced panic and fatigue get the best of me at times, I'm looking forwards to a less rigorous training schedule for the next few months, to our canoe triathlon relay and especially to our boys weekend and just hanging out together. And also for being at the race with Sonia for over 5 hours, taking photos of all the purple people, and for your encouragement, bell ringing and super home-made sign at the race.
To my daughter Riana, for understanding why I chose the marathon and couldn't run with her this race weekend, for being there to cheer me on with high fives and one "Kick Ass" sign and for being late for an equally important social event so that she could be there for my finish and to give me that great post-race hug.
To my brother-in-law and coach, thank you for all the encouragement, support, plans, advice and flexibility and for helping me to understand what all those odd running terms mean and how to deal with all the side effects of long distance training and tapering.
To my many experienced marathon and 1/2 marathon friends for your encouragement and advice and for sharing your race and training experiences to help put my mind at ease.
To so many of you who showed up at different spots around the course to cheer me one, offer high fives and take photos, those were the spots where I found renewed energy and focus to pull me through.
To my friend Rod for jumping on his bike and following me around to be at a few spots to cheer me on...sucks that you ended up with a flat...free change service as soon as I can bend my knees again.
To my running mate Jane M. for your wonderful banter in those 29km that we were able to do together...my apologies for not being able to stay with you and leaving you to do oh so many more km alone...I hope that we can race together again and that I can be better prepared to run a sub 4:30 with you.
To the woman with the HUGE free high fives sign who moved around to different spots along the route...I think I managed to get one every time I saw you.
To all my wonderful Team in Training Team Mates for teaching and sharing with me how to Train Endure Achieve and Matter, you are truly a special breed and no matter your result yesterday, you should all be proud of everything you have achieved!!
To all of you no matter how you offered your support, through your generosity and encouragement, I personally raised over $7200. Team in Training for this event alone raised over $200,000 and in their 22 years, they have raised over 1 Billion dollars to fund research to find a cure for blood cancers and offer patient support to those fighting blood cancers.
And finally, to my friend, honouree and inspiration...Derek, thank you for all of that and for reaffirming in those last 7km that we ran together exactly why I was out there...that it wasn't really about getting that sub 4:3o time, for reminding me where you were a year ago and what the efforts of Team in Training and the Leukemia Society of Canada have done for you and others living with and fighting blood cancers.
This was my first marathon, but it will not be my last. Although I did not achieve the sub 4:30 goal I set out for myself I think we as a collective achieved something much more meaningful.
I will be back to take a shot at that goal again and you have all shown me that I will have the support I need to meet that goal as well as the fundraising goals that I set along the way.
THANK YOU!!
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