Although the speed of the runners, myself included, was average for a 5K run, nothing about the commitment of the late Michael Daly’s friends and family was anything but exceptional. They honored the life of their brother, son and friend with their walk/run benefit to cure juvenile diabetes. After the air-horn start, two young teen boys led the way along the shoreline of Old Saybrook, starting at Harvey’s Beach and continuing along beautiful Cornfield Point then back to Harvey’s.  When my parents saw the third place finisher from a distance, they figured it was another young teen, until they realized that it was me finishing the race in third place overall at a 6:46 per mile pace. Soon after I crossed the finished line, Mary Daly, Michael’s sister in law also finished the race at about a 7 minute mile pace along with several of her school-age children. Next year I plan to volunteer for this event, hopefully along with some of my other family members and friends. Look for more information about this race next summer! I will be looking forward to helping Michael’s family honor him in 2013.