The honeymoon is definitely not over for Leanne Garrison and her newlywed husband T.J. Winslade.
Now that they're hitched, they do everything together. Like running five-kilometre races – dressed in their wedding clothes.
Garrison had to hike up her full-length gold dress a bit to keep from tripping over it and Winslade was feeling the heat in his suit and tie wrapped in a vest during their run at the Canadian Tire YMCA Road Race Sunday morning, but they both finished with an impressive time, united at the finish.
"We just got married on Monday and we signed up for the race thinking it would be a fun thing to do in our wedding attire," said the 36-year-old Garrison. "We love to run together, we do all our runs at home together and we train together so we might as well play together.
"I had to lift my dress up a bit. I didn't feel like face-planting so I figured it was safer to lift it. These things don't exactly breathe very well."
Their time of 26 minutes 55 seconds was the 18th quickest of the 124 who entered the five-kilometre race.
"It was very hot, it's good, though, to sweat it off," said Winslade, 41.
The race drew 206 runners who ranged in age from six years (Paige Stewart) to 89 years (Grant Yule). The 31st annual event included five- and 10-kilometre distances.
Jacqui Pettersen, in her first race since the Boston Marathon in April, was the fastest of the 5K runners, finishing in 20:03, 18 seconds ahead of Shar Balogh.
"For this race I didn't know what to expect because I haven't run a 5K for quite awhile and I was kind of viewing it as a speedwork session," said Pettersen. "I was right about 20 minutes, which is what I was aiming for. My goal is to run sub-20 one day."
Pettersen was a last-minute entry in the world's most famous marathon. She qualified for Boston for the second time last year but a knee injury kept her from training for three months. Her doctor gave her clearance to resume running in October, the night before the deadline to enter the race.
"My big focus this year was to finish Boston," said the 45-year-old Pettersen. "That was in April and typically it's a hard time of year to run in Prince George because of the snow, but fortunately we didn't have a lot of snow and that wasn't good for the skiers but it was good for runners."
Running her marathon in 25 C heat, she posted a time of 3:47:41, finishing 11,986th in a field of 27,222 who started the race.
"I qualified for Boston in 2015 but developed an Achilles injury and had to forego it so it felt like a gift to go again, especially after the knee injury," Pettersen said. "It was very exciting, the spectator energy was incredible, the volunteers were amazing and the group of runners, such positive energy."
Pettersen is now training for the Chicago Marathon, Oct. 8 and is hoping to have her name drawn to race in the London Marathon, next April 22.
Balogh competed in her first running race since giving birth to her 5 1/2-month-old daughter Olivia and finished just two minutes shy of her personal record in the 5K – 18:20.
"The legs still remember how to go, but the fitness isn't quite there yet," said Balogh. "I tried to stick with Jacqui and started out a little faster than I should have and she was a little smarter and hung back and passed me with about 2K to go."
Her husband Dennis pushed the baby in a stroller and finished ninth overall in 23:03.
Blake Mason won the male 10km race in 38:17, while Tara Klassen was the female winner in 47:03. Klassen, 40, had done only three previous 10km races before Sunday.
"That was unexpected," said Klassen, who had the 13th quickest 10km time.
"I couldn't figure out my speed. There was one woman right beside me for the first three or four K and I kind of wanted to win this race and she made me pick up my pace. There were a few guys ahead of me and I was trying to get them, but it just didn't happen."
Complete results are posted at www.strideandglide.ca.
