The Rutherfords' International PBR

Today Chris ran his first race, a 5K in Windsor called Run Under the Sun. Boy was it ever, though it really should have been called Run Back and Forth Several Times Under the Sun and in and out of the Wind Along the Noisy Highway. The 5K runners did two "loops" consisting of running out three-quarters of a mile and "looping" around a cone guarded by a man and a motorcycle while the 10K runners had four "loops." I ran the 10K and as far as I know, I counted my "loops" correctly.



The proceeds from the race went to support organ donor awareness in Canada. Our awesome friend Karen, who loves all things cool (like running, travel, wine and charitable events) also ran. Her father was the recipient of a heart some twenty years ago and is still doing great! Though I didn't meet him, it was an honor to meet others who were either organ recipients or families who had donated their loved ones' organs.


Chris ran an impressive 28:32. He's been hitting the triathlon training pretty hard, but has only been out running a half a dozen times. He has perfect running form too, which, of course, I've been working on for the majority of my life and it still causes me angst. I assume that this is probably because he does what feels good rather than scouring decades of running magazines debating the elements of proper running form.


I ran a PR (personal record) of 48:52 (formally 51:40) and even placed third in my age group. Today I decided that my name spoken over the loud speaker has quite a nice ring to it. I received one of those white ribbons you get on Field Day in elementary school. Finally I got my white ribbon! I remember being annoyed in Kindergarten when I earned a blue ribbon but thought the white one was prettier.

Karen congratulated us both on our PBs (personal bests, as Canadians like to say) but we insisted that we both had run a PR. We decided to split the difference and call it a PBR, but since by ribbon was white, it didn't seem quite right to crack open a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon to celebrate...so we didn't.