The air miles were cashed in, the friends I had not seen in ages were called, and voila, I was there, no kids, no responsibilities, I was free to run! I would also be there to promote my recent labor of love; www.canadianmarathonstories.ca

A month before the race, I read of the sudden passing of a business colleague of mine. I had worked with Linda Graham for 6 years, I saw her every day of the week. She was, in many ways, larger than life, full of life & vitality, and now, she was gone, stricken by cancer. I had not seen her in several years, yet my grief was profound, and during one of my training runs, I found myself talking with her. She did not know that I had become a runner. During "our" run, I thought of running Calgary in her memory, and raising funds for cancer research.

That night, I called Linda's husband, and a short 3 weeks later, just under $1,700.00 was raised in her memory.

July 6th, 7:30am, the gun goes off, and under partly cloudy skies, 7 degrees, the running conditions could not be more perfect;a flat course, including a trip thru the zoo, across the Bow River and along its banks proved to be very scenic indeed.

I would try to stay with the 2 hr. & 15 min. pace bunny., surprisingly, even with the higher elevation that I am not use to running in, I did remain with him. At one point, he checked on me, noticed my mental struggle, and suggested a few things. He also reminded me that it was for fun, and of course the obvious is often neglected. Go on, I told him and he ran away. I would see him at the finish. I was close to the end, but knew that this was my time now, with Linda G. The end was near, and I wanted to be done with this race, but the end would
also mean the end of "our run".

I stopped, walked a bit, and felt a hand on my shoulder. He said, you are doing a good thing, just think of your friend for the last 2K. I saw the 19K sign, asked him to take a picture of my back & the sign. The back of my shirt said "In Memory of Linda Graham, June 5th, 2003, from Ottawa"

John Stanton had also reminded us, during his pep talk the day before to remember to smile at the end, look good, even though you felt awful, smile and adjust your posture. John, I did everything but the lipstick!

I finished strong, and beat my personal best by about 7 minutes.  I had run Calgary for both of us, and Linda G. made me a faster runner.

To see pictures, click on .
http://www2.entrenet.com/calgary03

Linda Wagar, Ottawa, Ontario, March 2003

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