Let's talk about how fabulous by @ss looks in this picture...

Last Sunday was the Road 2 Hope race weekend and it was a family affair, to say the least.

Dearest Cousin Toque made the trip down from the nation's capital to run the half marathon with me, arriving late Friday night. It only seems fitting now that Toque and I do distances together... I might be lost without him by my side at the starting line. Altogether this makes, ooo, 4 marathon/half-marathon/around-the-bay-type things we've done together. Somewhat of a tradition, I suppose, although it would be nice to spend a weekend with the guy and not have to forgo the beer.

I digress. We were up early on Saturday, sitting around with our fingers in our noses (not literally) when I had the idea to call Beef and see if she'd like to pal around with us for the day while we hydrated and carbo loaded.. Low and behold we find she'd marched her own bad @ss slef down to run the 5km race!

Side note: I remember my own first 5km race and how proud I was of the accomplishment. 5km is to the new runner what 21.1km is to the experienced.

Needless to say we weren't about to let this run go uncelebrated, especially considering the metaphorical distance Beef has already travelled in 2011 (to hell and back). She is an inspiration in her strength and bravery, not to mention her sweet new hot bod! So we jumped in the car and zoomed down to the park to watch her run. I nearly tackled her at the finish line where she took a whopping 9 minutes off her PB to date. Three cheers for Beef--hip hip hurray!

The next day Toque, and I alongside my good friend Jas ran our own distance. It was a glorious sunny day with the wind at our backs for most of the ride. While the elusive 1:59 escaped my clutches yet again, I'm happy to say I finished the day in 2:03:51, complete with a smile on my face (thank you to Beef for taking my finish line glamour shots...)

(That's Cousin Toque in the red!)