High Fives

Once again this weekend I participated as a runner in Ottawa Race Weekend. Unlike so many other years the weather, as many others openly remarked before the start, was pretty much perfect. Combine that with the fantastic crowds lining the route, it made it a lot of fun to push through the physical discomfort of a long, fast road race. For myself I will only say that while I didn't do as well as I wished, I did as well as I could reasonably expect. That counts as a success.

That, however, is not what I wanted to draw notice to in this retrospective look at the event. What I noticed this time is the number of little kids lining the route holding their hands up and out hoping for a high five from passing runners. I've seen this before but not to the extent that I witnessed this year. But there they were, standing on their own, usually next to siblings or hand-in-hand with their parents, pretty well everywhere.

After watching some of the runners making the brief detours to the road edge to meet the demand, I joined in. This is a bit tricky when you're physically extended and moving fast, but the reward is lots of shy smiles lighting up the kids' faces. It was well worth the effort to carefully connect with their outreaching palms. Despite some initial worry, it was actually quite easy to gauge how to manage this high-speed manoeuver without slowing me done or slapping their hands too hard.

That's a wonderful memory that keeps me smiling even as I sit here in some discomfort as my body recuperates from the punishment of the run.