Well, what a weekend! Dianne and our two nephews, Andrew and Jonathan, drove up to our house Friday night. We drove to Toronto on Saturday morning to pick up our bib numbers and schwag (a technical term meaning all the goodies and freebies in your pick up kit and at the expo). Then we spent day resting and digging into our traditional pasta dinner, and early to bed. Our alarm woke us up from our nightmares at 4:00am (both Gerry and Dianne dreamt of missing the start time) and we had a light breakfast in the dark. It's funny that our alarm clock normally wakes us up at 5:30, and it feels like morning, but just 1.5 hours earlier, it still feels like nighttime. We were in the car by 5:30 (still dark) and off to Toronto. There was a bit of a traffic jam at our turnoff (lots and lots of runners: 13,000), but we managed to get a good parking spot. Then, we did what all other runners do. No, not stretch, queue for the port-o-lets (still in the dark). 
Gerry lined up at the sub-elite corral, which was really close to the start line. Dianne and I trekked over to the open corral, which was not close to the start line. We heard a lot of noise at 7:00 and thought it must be the start of the race. By 7:06, Gerry would have already passed the 1K marker, and Dianne and I were just about reaching the start line.
The weather was absolutely great. Here's how we all did:Lois: 2:13:54.8 and 190/371 out of
Women 45 - 49
Dianne: 2:29:18.7 and 138/228 out of
Women 50 - 54
Gerry: 52nd overall. Clock time: 2:56:11.1 Chip time: 2:55:56.5 and 2/245 out of Men 45 - 49.
Dianne and I didn't have personal bests, but we were satisfied with our times and the race we ran. Gerry did have a personal best time. The man who came in 1/245 actually won one of the top masters awards, so Gerry was awarded 1st place in his age category. When the results were posted, we knew we had to stay and watch Gerry collect his award. Would it be money? a plaque? We were so excited. Finally, the awards ceremony started and finally, Gerry's name was announced. We whooped and cheered for Gerry as he went to the announcer's desk to pick up his award. The last photo shows Gerry proudly showing off his .. thermos. Yes, it's a bit of an odd gift to be sure, but it looks just fine on our mantel.
The day ended with a great BBQ, thanks to Jonathan's grilling prowess, and a welcome post-race beer (Gerry and I had been eating super healthy and spurning all alcohol for the month of September to get ready for the race, so the beer went down very nicely....maybe we could use the thermos to keep the beer cold for future post-race parties....)
Lastly, if you notice Gerry in one photo talking to an older gentleman. That's Ed Whitlock, the 76 year old that I mentioned in my last note. Ed was having knee problems, so didn't run this year.
We had a super fun weekend! Now, it's time to prepare for Disney in January (my first full marathon, Gerry's first Goofy, meaning running the half on Saturday and the full on Sunday).
That's all from us!Lois, Gerry, and Schnitzel 
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