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Ottawa Race Weekend 2010

This weekend was great. Absolutely fantastic. The CIM team ran at the Ottawa Marathon Race Weekend.

Now that it’s over I’ll admit it; Ottawa Race Weekend had been weighing heavy on my body and mind. I wasn’t getting in as much training as I had wanted to, my muscles felt like lethargic sponges on most training runs, team members were dropping like flies due to injury and other commitments, I’d said we were having a Team BBQ dinner before the races and then found out the place we were hosting it at had no BBQ…the list of stressors and logistics went on. I arrived in Ottawa on Friday feeling ‘heavy’ with the details of organizing a event in a city a 5-hour drive away.

Then, I met Daphne.

Daphne was my breath of fresh air.
When the exuberant Type 1 12 year old arrived on Saturday at the start of the 2K family run with her family, she was literally bubbling over with excitement. When the rest of her family introduced themselves, Mom Kim and Dad Bob, Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie and two wee siblings Owen and Audrey, it was easy to see where all the enthusiasm came from!

Daphne, her two younger siblings, Aunt and Dad ran the race with Chris Jarvis. Her grandparents, mom and a few of the CIM team were there to cheer them on. Daphne exuded positive energy at the start line, literally bouncing up and down with a massive smile lighting up her face.  With her CGM, pump, Contour Link meter and stash of Dex4 in her SPI Belt, she was right on top of her BG’s before, during and after the race, a real super star managing her diabetes – she was a role model for all of us this weekend.

After crossing the finish line with Chris, that same brilliant smile still on her face, the two of them came over to show off identical CGM graphs (right between 6-7 mmol/L for the whole race!). Way to go guys!

Then, Jaime arrived, all the way from Philadelphia. She brought cookies, hilarious opinions and observations about Canadians, and, like Daphne, a free-flowing supply of enthusiasm and positivity. A self proclaimed ‘newbie’ to diabetes (3 years), Jaime is a go-getter that doesn’t let diabetes slow her down. In an attempt to be ‘more Canadian’ she changed her pump to mmol/L…for about an hour…then the chore of mulitplying her CGM #’s by 18 got the best of her and she reverted to mg/dL. She’s flown up to Canada twice this year to get involved with CIM events and she brings just as much, if not more, to the team than the experiences she takes away. Jaime kept me laughing the entire weekend.

By Saturday night, the entire CIM team had gathered at The Otesha House (check this organization out!) for our team BBQ pasta dinner. Our team was composed of some familiar and new CIM faces, some seasoned runners and some first timers, a crew of teachers from Lakefield College School and a few great friends and supporters.

The lack of a BBQ didn’t stop us from having a fabulous dinner with great company. Out on the back porch, over big plates of pasta and salad, we laughed and yacked about pumps, jobs, Otesha, travelling, facebook privacy settings and race day preparations. After dinner, well fed, well hydrated and well dressed in CIM running gear, everyone headed home to prep for an early start the next morning. Eight of us were registered in the 1/2 or full marathons the next day.

Luckily, race day was overcast and cooler than the days leading up to the runs. We assembled at the insanely crowded start line, basal rates reduced, meters and Dex4 stashed in SPI Belts and pre-race jitters in our stomachs.

From the sounds of it,  everyone had great races. The full marathoners all rocked the 42km course in under 4 hours. The half marathoners had similar success. Everyone achieved or exceeded their goal times. Truly a great effort and achievement on everyone’s part.

Inevitably, when organizing events there will be logistics to get bogged down in, but a CIM event is about so much more than that.

It’s about one smiling, ecstatic 12 year old with perfect blood sugars crossing the finish line with her super hero mentor and a fabulous supportive family by her side. It’s about the passion and commitment of Jaime coming all the way from Philly to run with her team. It’s about Alaina, Laura, Heather, Bri-Anne and Rob setting goals and achieving them – and sporting CIM gear in the process. It’s about our incredible cheering squad – Rob, Jen and Sam with signs and hand fulls of Dex 4 on the sideline as we ran by.

This weekend I was jolted back to reality by a few incredible people and some wonderful moments. I didn’t even know that I had drifted off into the land of details and logistics until – smack! – I was right back into what CIM is all about. It’s about people, personal successes, positive experiences and accomplishing goals as a team.

And what about my spongy lethargic legs? Well, they woke up fresh and ready to run on race day! With Alaina’s pair right beside them, they carried me across the finish line 21kms later in under my goal time. I think all they needed was a breath of fresh air.

Check out the article that was published in the May 30th edition of The Ottawa Citizen HERE!