First off, I would like to thank everyone who donated to our team! Sarah and I raised $1000!!!! Very exciting. Makes it a little less embarrassing when we show up at register our little two-man team. The guy at the registration desk totally high fived us for having such a tiny team.
So Sarah picked me up at my condo at the ungodly hour at 7:30am on Sunday morning and, after a few U-turns due to the Gardiner being closed, we arrived at 8:00am!
We parked and took the shuttle in. It was cold enough that we could see our breaths so I was glad that I wore pants and a sweater. But I would come to regret that once I started running. haha. As you walk in they have all these posters and articles about Terry, along with hats and shirts from old runs. It is pretty neat if you take the time to read them!
We did our traditional "find our team name on the sign" task. We are totally legit like that. FYI- we were Team Amazing. I was too tired to actually point to the team name.
I didn't wear my Tfox shirt that they sent me for being team captain because it got a stain on it from my anthralin treatment. I don't even know HOW since I didn't wear it when doing my treatment, but that is just how anthralin rolls- it gets on everything.
After a set up speeches (including a tear-worthy one from a 12 yr old cancer survivor) we lined up at the starting line!
I tried to get a shot of the streamer guns going off, but I suck. haha. And don't worry about litter- all the kids picked up every bit of that sparkly stuff!
The next 30 minutes or so were pure torture. It was a total mental battle for me to run 5km. It sounds so sad because I feel like people do this all the time (in my mind) but I did not train at all and I am not naturally athletic. I ran in just my bandana because a wig would be too hot, and at some point a woman running beside me asked if I was a cancer survivor. Yikes, I wouldn't want to steal the real survivors thunder on that day so I explained!
So yes, I struggled with pretty much every step. At one point I was running beside an old man and was like "I can't stop now!" and then I thought about this news story once where this woman ran a marathon WITHOUT TRAINING! She was supposed to walk 10km with her friends for charity and she took the wrong shuttle bus and got to the marathon start. They wouldn't shuttle her back so she decided not to let down those who sponsored her and she ran the entire marathon! I tried to find the article, but I couldn't.
Anyway, finally I saw the finish sign and I had made it!!
Sarah came in about 10 minutes after me because she had taken the course at her own pace. We then went straight for the good stuff- barbequed corn, hot dogs, fruit, juice, cookies, and so much more!!
All the food is donated and it is always our favourite part of doing the run! So yummy and such a nice way to spend the morning. They have entertainment every year and we just chill out, eat, and watch the show.
All in all, it was a great run this year! I can't wait to go back again in 2013 for Team Amazing's 5th Terry Fox Run!
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