Day 51 – 42.3 km (total – 1139.9 km)
New friends… so great!
Remember the movie Groundhog Day? Bill Murray’s character was stuck in the same day, repeated over and over again. I sort of wish today could be one of those days for me, as it was definitely a day to remember. I got to run with four incredible people… and came away from the day with four new friends.
At about 9:30 this morning, a car pulled over at the side of the highway and out popped these 4 individuals. Rob teaches and is currently on March Break. We’ve had contact and he told me he’d love to come up and run with me for a bit. Jennifer is the mother of 3 kids that he teaches and the two have been chatting about Take Me Outside and what they could do to support us. Jennifer joined Rob today in the two and a half hour drive from Halifax and brought her 2 girls, Fleur and Blythe.
Morning run with Rob… loved it!
Rob is a phys ed teacher at Armbrae Academy in Halifax. He caught wind of our project as it started and has been an advocate of it ever since. Today as we ran together, we swapped stories and he shared how his students have really latched on to this run in a way he didn’t expect. He is one of those teachers every student should have – a heart of gold and a passion for education that exemplifies what it means to truly facilitate a student’s learning experience. He joined me for about 14 km in the morning, and it didn’t take long to feel like we were kindred spirits. What other guys in their 30’s both love curling and owned a 1970 VW?!
Jennifer is a mother of three, two of whom I met today. Jennifer recently turned 40 and decided to commit to 40 philanthropic acts/events in honour of her 40th year. You can check out some of the things she has already done at [LINK=http://forty4change.blogspot.com/]her blog[/LINK]. She ran with me for about 9 k this afternoon, and we had a good chance to chat about some of the things we’re both passionate about. She did well for staying engaged in conversation as trucks and cars whizzed by us – it’s not the most calming experience running the TCH. It didn’t take long to sense the good energy coming from Jen. I would imagine most people around her feel it too – a true gift to share.
Fleur and Blythe ran with Rob and I for a bit through Antigonish and it felt great to feel like we were running as a team! After a brief pit stop at Timmie’s, we showed the girls the RV and introduced them to Sammy and Koona. We gave our best tour of the RV we could, and they were polite enough to tell us it didn’t even smell that bad! Jen gave us a beautiful gift basket filled with fresh fruit and dog treats – it’s all still really overwhelming! Rob’s students all wrote letters to us, and so over the next few nights, we’ll LOVE reading those! We will visit their school soon and can’t wait to put some of the names on these letters to actual faces.
It’s hard not to go on and on…
I’m so grateful for their company and their generousity.
Thank you!
