Sunday morning of September 14th, I woke up at 8:00 am ready and was excited to run in the annual Terry fox Marathon of Hope. After jumping out of bed, I had a quick shower and put on my favorite running shorts & shirt and headed into the kitchen for a bowl of rice crispy cereal and a few bananas.After feeling the energy from breakfast, I quickly called my friend Paul Chan from my work and to see if he was alright from arriving into Calgary from Los Angeles last night. After several calls and Blackberry text messages, he was not up.
I assembled my sports gear, went out to the car and headed downtown as we were required to complete the pre-event registration. On the way, I made another phone call to Paul and could tell that he was still not up. "I wonder what happened... Did he make it back in time?" Questions I asked myself.
Finally I found a great parking spot near the intersection of 4th avenue & third street. I decided to call Paul again to let him know that I was close to Eau Claire and ready to rock and roll. Finally I heard the tired voice answered on the other end. He did not get to sleep until 1:30 am and he realized himself that he better hustle and start driving downtown.
Walking into the Eau Claire Shopping center, I completed my registration and waited for Paul to show up. After 30 minutes later, he arrived and we finalized our pre-event tasks together and went outside to the starting line. A quick glance around the starting gate area, I was surprised at the vast number of participants that were ready to take on the 10 KM challenge raising funds for the Terry Fox Cancer Foundation.
A few minutes later after a few leg stretches, the event organizer started his count down and we were off!!!! Since I have not done 10 km for a long time, I decided to take it easy and get myself into a comfortable pace. I was not in this for the time, I was not in this for the competition, I was not in this for attention, I was simply in this because deep inside I wanted to support the ongoing charity and at the same time keep my body in shape. I did one in Vietnam so I knew exactly what I was getting myself into.
The run itself was not bad at all, it was a beautiful day with the bright sunshine over us and very little wind coming from the north. We covered the distance along the south side of the Bow River from Eau Claire all the way to Edworthy park and ventured back on the north side of the river pathways. Half way through the run, we ran into my boss from work and hung out for 20 minutes before he had to slow down.
At the end, after running through Price Island we finally passed the finish line taking 50 minutes. We did not have any watches on us however a media crewman filming at the finish line told us the time and we were both shocked that we did it in 50 minutes.
After we waited for my boss to finish the run, the three of us hung out and had a few snacks to eat and listed to the local post-run events. Music, the smell of BBQ hot dogs, Terry Fox souvenirs, and the history of the Marathon of Hope filled the atmosphere. After waving good bye to my boss, Paul and I headed to Chinatown for a big Asian lunch and reflected on the last two hours.
Saying good bye to Paul after our lunch, I walked back to the car and the first thing I did was called someone very special in my life and said:
"Dad, I finished the 10KM run here in Calgary and I want to dedicate this day to you after knowing the hardships you been through"... I could not finish the phone call as my tears and emotions were overwhelming...
