Micah (left), as a 2017 Summer Whisper Pacer, leads a pack of runners that includes Aiden (gray), Katie (blue), Jude (white), and Cordova (teal).

This morning I ran with Micah Goff, a Whisper Pacer in 2017, one of the OG’s in the program, a solid high school and collegiate runner who is currently pursuing his dream of running in the 2028 Olympic Trials. An incredible human studying Cyber Security at Clark College, Micah ran 14:35 last summer in the 5k, a huge personal best time from the previous summer. How lucky am I, at the ripe young age of 48, to receive an invitation to run with him on a chilly February morning.

Running with Micah is a true joy for a number of reasons, and connecting with him is one of the best parts of Whisper. This is a common theme that parents may hear me say - Blank “is the best part of Whisper!” Whether blank is seeing connections made between runners from different sides of town, or even school districts, watching runners who trained during the winter or summer months reconnect the season that follows when their teams compete against one another, or hearing that the kids are getting together outside of the running realm, where relationships grow stronger. Countless “best parts of Whisper,” with the most recent highlight being the group picture that was taken on Monday, February 20 at Hudson’s Bay. It was six years earlier we had taken our first ever group photo, the same day the quarter-zip long sleeve shirts were distributed. Though there are a handful of runners not pictured on that 2017 summer day, most notably my own children, there were are two individuals who were photographed on that day, who were also present last Monday when we took the 2023 Winter Training group picture. See if you can spot them before scrolling down further where their images are revealed.

Any luck? Scroll down to find out which two runners were in both photos!

And that is the best part of Whisper!