As a change to our weekly regiment of cycling, AB and I decided to participate in the annual Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research this weekend. A brief recap for those who are not familiar with Terry Fox's tale:
Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.
While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
He would call his journey the Marathon of Hope.
After 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles) to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount. He ran 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario.
It was a journey that Canadians never forgot.
However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at age 22.
(Terry Fox Foundation Website)
Millions around the world have continued the Marathon of Hope. The Terry Fox Run is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research. People can elect to participate in a 5km (~ 3.1 miles) or 10km (~6.2 miles) run.
This is the forth or fifth time I have participated in the Terry Fox Run, though it would be my first time in 8 years. I remember last time I was able to jog for 5-6km, before I started walking. My goal this year would be to keep jogging for the entire run. Several people had asked how long it would take to run the entire 10km. Walking speed is like 3-4km/hr, so I guessed 1-1.5 hrs depending on the person.
Arrived at 8:30am for registration. They offered people bibs with "I am participating in the Terry Fox Run in honour of _____". Naturally, I attached one for D, which makes today's run even more special. The map of the run is here.
The horn blasted at around 9:15am and about 200-300 people took off. AB and I started off at the back of the pack and set a decent pace. We filtered through most of the people, till there were about 10 people left in front of us. As we passed the 1km mark, AB couldn't take it much more, and decided to walk. I continued on. After 2km, I saw that I was just over 11 minutes into the run. A quick mental calculation said that I had a chance to finish in less than an hour, if I could keep the pace up. This became my new goal.
From that point on, I settled into a nice pace behind this fellow jogger, Brad (I learned after the race). He was sweating profusely, but still manage to maintain a good speed. First water station at 2.5km marker. I just love grabbing water on the fly, dunking it down onto the dry throat. The next couple kilometers of the race were essentially just concentration and maintaining the pace. I was surprised that by the 5km mark, I was still feeling really awesome. A little tired but not too out of breath or sore. I passed the 5km within 26 minutes. The 1 hour goal is still achievable, though I knew that at 6km was a high incline grade and the last 2 km's were steady uphill climbs too.
As I got to the 6km hill, I had almost 30 minutes left for only 4 more kilometers! This was enough motivation for me to grind up that steep hill. I actually picked up speed on the uphill portion, though by the time I got up to the top, I was a bit out of breath. At 8km mark, I decided to make my move. I gathered some reserve energy and made a push to overtake Brad. For the rest of the race, he was biting my dust. At 9km, only 1 more kilometer to go and I had 14 minutes to finish!!! I started having some cramping in my right abdominal muscles. The last portion was essentially an uphill stretch and we were mixed in with everyone returning from the 5km run. Aside from having to dodge kids, dogs, baby carriages (I don't know why they don't move out of the way), this cramp was really taking its toil on me. The thought of walking this last stretch popped into my mind a few times, but I was so close to achieving my original goal and the fact that Brad was essentially right behind me, forced me to battle through the pain.
Ended up finishing the race in 52:43!! No one passed me today and I passed a few people, so I'm pretty sure I finished in top 10. Here is a breakdown of my run and the approximate timings:
1km - 5 minutes
2km - 11 minutes (+6 min)
3km - 16 minutes (+5 min)
4km - 21 minutes (+5 min)
5km - 26 minutes (+5 min)
6km - 31 minutes (+5 min)
7km - 36 minutes (+5 min)
8km - 41 minutes (+5 min)
9km - 46 minutes (+5 min)
10km - 52:43:51 minutes (+ 7 minutes)
52 minutes 43 seconds! This was definitely a personal best for me - totally beyond my expectations. I could not have given much more. Wow. My body was aching all over from the lactic acid buildup, but it totally paled in comparison with the immense feeling of self-fulfillment. Downed three bottles of water afterwards and met up with Brad. I thanked him for setting the pace for most of the race, and he, in turn, thanked me for keeping it up in the last 2km. He would have probably walked had I not overtaken him.
To break it down, 10 km in 52:43 is equivalent to an average speed of 11.37km/hr - 7.06mph - 3.16m/s - 10.36 ft/s! The world record for 10km is 27:02 (totally insane), so I was going just under twice as slow. I fear I set myself up for quite a challenge in next year's run, but I'm quite happy with the accomplishment. I think D would have been proud too. :)
P.S. The site raised over $20,000. If anyone want to donate some $, you can make an online donation at the Terry Fox Run web site.