Terry Fox Run

I won!

Ok, let me back up to the beginning and explain.

Sunday was a rainy, miserable day, but it was Terry Fox Run day, and I couldn't let a little rain keep me inside. 

I don't remember seeing the actual news about Terry Fox running across Canada on his artificial leg, at age 21, raising money for cancer research while battling it himself.  I do remember learning more about him to earn a Brownie badge, hearing his story on the news every September, including the year I spent in China (CCTV4) and I remember my Grade 2 teacher telling us about how she had gone out to see him run when he passed through Toronto, and as she told us, she started to cry.

This year was the 30th year of the Terry Fox Run which is now held in over 30 countries around the world.  I went out to my local event in Quesnel at 9:30 am to hand in a donation and register.

We were off at 10am with the option of doing 5K or 10K.  I'd done 20 miles the day before, so 5K sounded good to me.

It's not really a race.  Given the weather, there were only about 35-40 people there, 11 of whom were the youth that I work with.  Most people were walking.  There were more men than women.  There was no official clock, or chips. There was no gun to signal the start, and I even forgot to start my own Garmin.   It's definitely not a race.  But I led the pack for at least a kilometer.  I started off in the middle and then passed all of the other runners on the first uphill and downhill.  3 men passed me about half way through, and two of them carried on to do the 10K.  No women ever passed me, so I finished behind one man, and was second overall and the first woman to finish. 

Again, it's not a race.  There aren't any medals and everyone gets the same participation ribbon.  This event is really about getting out and raising money for cancer research in memory of Terry Fox, or in memory of others who have dealt with cancer.

But still, I won.

Those orange slices never tasted so good.

:)