Dani Zibell and Alan Wolfe married just over four years ago and are such a great match-up. Dani was a devotee of running and in the course of their marriage the couple have competed in four Bloomsdays, a number of 5Ks for charity, two duathlons, four half-marathons and over the weekend their very first marathon.

It's been a running joke, no pun intended, between the two that Dani always beats Alan. Of course whenever Alan has grumbled about his winning wife, it's with a large amount of pride. Dani's winning streak has officially ended with the Portland Marathon. A triumphant Alan crossed the finish line four minutes ahead of his wife.

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Kootenai County was well-represented this past weekend in Idaho Falls for the Idaho Distinguished Young Woman program. Post Falls' DYW Lauren Smith earned $1,550 in scholarships, including talent for her ballet en point, as she placed 2nd finalist to the Distinguished Young Woman of Idaho. Coeur d'Alene's DYW, Jordan Finney earned scholarships for scholastics and interview, placing in the Top 10. Congratulations to all and to the dedicated volunteers who coordinate the local DYW programs. Note: Distinguished Young Woman of the Year is the new name for the longstanding scholarship program, America's Jr. Miss.

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On Saturday morning the Memorial Walk to Prevent Suicide will take place at 10 a.m., starting at O'Shays on Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive. "We walk to remember one lost, and to save one still with us" is the theme. There's no registration fee to walk but shirts are available for a $10 donation. There's more info at www.spanidaho.org.

In memory of the late Sam Mann, here's an excerpt from my column on the subject of suicide published a year ago ... "Like hundreds of people who knew Sam personally and/or professionally in his career as a personal fitness trainer I've alternated between being really angry at him and in tears with a heavy heart. That's the to-be-expected result of a suicide, the emotional debris field that's left in the wake of a decision made from the depths of despair that's hard to comprehend.

I met Sam in 2006. With a million watt smile and no shortage of charm, he signed me on for training and we began our journey together, becoming fast friends in the process. We shared a lot of laughs in what I referred to as the torture chamber of gym equipment. He'd stand by my side while I struggled saying, "don't you quit on me, Kerri!" Oh, how I wish I could have said his own words back to him in recent weeks. It's not for me to understand or make sense of Sam's choice, but I'll celebrate the fact that I'm better for having known him. Samuel Joseph Mann mattered."

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I know exactly where I was seven years ago today, a beautiful sunny October day in 2004. I was getting dressed that morning, on deadline for my column, when my mother called and said my father had been taken to the emergency room. He'd been recuperating at Ivy Court after bypass surgery and I'd just talked to him the day before.

With concern but no sense of foreboding, I headed into Coeur d'Alene and my mother was driving in from Kidd Island Bay. Arriving at the hospital, giving the nurse my name, telling her my father had been brought in and that my mother was on her way... she directed me to the "quiet room" where the last few moments of life as I had known it for 52 years was about to be changed forever. A doctor came in and told me that they'd done everything they could but he had not survived. In disbelief I recall clearly asking the doctor who he was talking about. Surely it couldn't be my bigger-than-life, tough as nails, beloved father. "Mr. Rankin," he said.

Much of the next hours, days and weeks were a blur. And now seven years later my heart is not quite as fragile and I recall my father more often with a smile than a tear. I love when people tell me their favorite stories of my father or mention in passing that they sure miss him. I do, too.

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Happy Birthday today to Jeff Yates, Donnie Murrell, Alan Brown and McKade Brown. Tomorrow celebrants are Edna Martin turning 83, Jeff Johnson marking the big 3-0, Derek Scharf making it legal at 18, and Judy Bennett. On Friday Leslie Lien, Jeff Elder and Suzanne Metzger have birthdays and Saturday's birthdays are marked by Don Sausser, Dee Jameson, Shawn Gust, Laurie Dixon, Beth Myles, Greg Cossette and Patty Cheesman. Oct.16 is the birthdate of Clint Robertson and Mike Farquhar. Starting the week off with birthdays are Karen Deering, Laurie Cook, Dana Albanese and Rosemary Fuller on Monday with Terry Gurno, Kevin Clement, Kathy Reid, Keith Erickson, Will Wolff and Arlene Pischner celebrating on Tuesday.

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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. She was voted Best Local Writer for 2010 by the readers of the North Idaho Business Journal. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press. Kerri can be reached at [email protected]