Did you ever have braces or wear a retainer when you were younger?  A lot of my youth was spent in the sterile environment of the orthodontist’s office.  I went through several retainers, one of them called a Frankel, which I was never seen in public with, as it puffed out my cheeks and prevented me from speaking even remotely close to what I had become accustomed to over 14 years of learning how to talk.  I had braces for 5 years on top and bottom.  Throw in the elastics and needless to say, the ortho office wasn’t my favourite place to be!

A couple of months ago, a woman emailed me to say that her office had heard about the run and was trying to support it in any way they could.  I’ll admit that with my time and internet accessibility being somewhat limiting, I didn’t put Andrea’s email on any sort of priority list.  She worked in an orthodontist’s office and I wasn’t really seeing a strong connection.  But when I arrived in Thunder Bay, she emailed me again and asked that I look at their facebook page… and that their orthodontist, Dr. Vendittelli, was in Thunder Bay the same weekend and would love to meet up.  I went to the Forest Hill Orthodontist facebook page to see a picture of 11 staff wearing a shirt that said “Who is Colin Harris?”  Again, I’ll admit I was a little disconcerted by this… I didn’t know any of the staff, so who were these people with my name on their shirt?!  The short of it is this… I met with Dr. Vendittelli and some of his family in Thunder Bay.  He had heard my interview on Metro 1 while in Toronto and believed in the message.  In their own creative way, the office made these shirts (which they wear Tuesdays and Thursdays) to spark some interest so that they could talk to their clients, who were mainly youth, about not only the run, but the message behind it.

Imagine that… an office in the GTA that really has nothing specifically do to with the outdoors, promoting getting youth outside!  After speaking with Andrea and meeting Dr. Vendittelli, I was smiling ear to ear hearing their story.  A smile that seemed worth all those visits to the reclining chair many years ago!

I enjoyed a day off yesterday… a mental health day of sorts.  Today I was back at it and able to put in some solid distance.  The ride back to the RV even came within 10 minutes!  It was a good day!