Run for the Cure - Oct 4th 2009

Well it was a wonderfully brisk morning on Sunday as I got up and ready to head to Yorkdale Subway station to head down to Nathan Phillips Square for my 2nd year of participating in the CIBC - Run for the Cure in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Every year the company I work for, DAC Group, fields a team of enthausists to take on the 1k walk or the 5K walk / run.
I've become the resident fundraising benchmark for the office and thanks to the generousity of family & friends ( including some of my running family) I exceeded my goal of $500.00 this year. Armed with my daughter, a cup of Timmie's Mint Tea, my Canon Digital SLR & a high spirit, I boarded the 9am train from Yorkdale to Osgoode Station.

I arrived at Nathan Philips Square with time to spare and glanced around where I had only the week before, celebrated my 44th birthday by running in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. What a wonderful day that was, but I'll blog on that experience later. ( if I remember - yikes) I located my colleagues, gave Chelsea the camera and started pumping up the team. "WOOT WOOT... YAHHHOOO!! 5 K this is EXCITING... no no no I'm not going to run quickly. What?? Oh heavens no beat last years time? Gosh folks this is for charity - it's all about coming up with a cure to this disease, plus I'm still recovering from the 42.2k I did last weekend."
Then my boss nudged me and said " It's time to line up!" Whaaat? Damn... arrggh... she's a runner too - runs about 3 miles every other day. Small, weighs all of a toothpick and has different flavoured tic tacs for her meals. Argghh... Trying to be non-chalant about it all. Last year I lost her in the crowd and beat her by about a minute. This year I was determined to keep pace with her.
I mean who wants to have this charity run reflect poorly on their yearly performance review? Not me...

So we lined up, patiently waiting for 10am. 10:05. 10:07. 10:10. What the .... We were a bit further back than we had cared to be so we couldn't see what the delay was. I found out yesterday on the news. The Jonas Brothers were in town and decide to run the 5K - so I'm thinking they let them go first. Cheaters.

Well about 2 minutes into the run - I couldn't find my boss. *heavy sigh* I did it again. Oh what the heck - in for a penny in for a pound I say. I took one last look around - no boss & off I went.

I must say, I think they tax the air in Toronto because there was very little of it as I ran the course. At points it felt like my lungs were bursting. I thought perhaps because I was an out of towner I wasn't allowed the same amount of air as locals, no one else seemed to be looking like they couldn't breathe. So I carried on. Past the entertainment. Past the kilometre marker sign holders. Past the Police Officers. Past the water station --- whhooaa... hang on; crap I forgot my water belt. Yeah get your fingers out of the water cup & just hand it to me. Oh gloves, okay not so worried. I drank my cup of water, tossed it in the bin and carried on.

And what to my wondering eyes should appear? A blond gal in the same pink Ottawa Marathon 2009 shirt. " Hey NOOOICE shirt!!" " Gee thanks, sadly I haven't run since." " Really, how sad" I said as I ran past her as well. " Take that" I thought to myself. Air was still at a premium & I thought to myself, why the HECK am I running like this. There's no bling. So I slowed my pace ( I had no Garmin because of course this was for fun. I only had my sports watch's timer on). Then suddenly that familar pink marathon shirt was next to me, then in front of me. DAMN!!! Argh...

Off I went again.

Over the finish line in 24:13 - a personal best in the 5K for me, I managed to sneak by the pink marathon copy cat shirt wearer - I have the picture to prove it.

The best thing of all was that I was part of a bigger picture. 4.1 million dollars was raised in Toronto alone for Breast Cancer research. I was saddened to see so many pink survivors t-shirts in the crowds of runner/walkers Chelsea & I cheered in after. Then I stopped for a moment and reflected. That many pink shirts was actually A GOOD thing. That means our money is working to finding a cure. All these pink shirts mean SURVIVOR... they are here still. WOW... that actually brings tears to my eyes and a huge lump in my throat. I can understand that feeling of being a survivor. I'm SO HAPPY for them.

And thanks to everyone that sponsored monetarily and those that sponsored me with confidence. You all are special.

I can't wait for next year's run!!
Woot woot.

Joan vH

p.s. for those of you wonder - I beat my boss by about 2 minutes.