Running for the Cure

This was my Sunday: running for the cure (to breast cancer, particularly in this case; that link leads to a page where you can donate, if you feel like doing so, and my thanks if you do). the_pixie_mouse and I turned out for the local adjunct to this national event, a 5k run/walk along the streets and later the riverside trail. I'm on the left, the_pixie_mouse to the right. This was taken in Tim Horton's, of course, because where else would a Canadian go on their way to or from an event like this?

Being someone who uses a cane, I chose the walk side, while she went for a run. We were sure not alone in being there, though!
This is Your Humble Narrator's back half, showing the name of one of the people for whom I walked today: wilfulcait (her LiveJournal name), a woman who shared a birth year and a name with me, who died a little over two years ago after the cancer overcame her fightfulness.


She's far from the only one: there's my friend's mom (who's still fighting), and my ex's mother (in remission), and my Evil Twin (still fighting), and my former teammate (in remission), and too many others. I think what affected me most on the day, and I did kinda cry a few times about it, was the sheer number of people there - and the awful truth of how many different names they wore on their bodies - mothers, sisters, colleagues, teammates, so many, many women. It was wonderful to see so many people out, but it was also grueling to realize what it meant about the toll this disease takes.

It took me well over an hour to get through the course, but I wasn't exactly going for speed - honestly, just finishing the last km was hard, as my hips and S-I joint and back were all competing to see who could hurt more. Thankfully, my knees took it well, with the second half of the course on a dirt trail by the river, through a lovely semi-wild area full of trees and birds and bushes.

We went early on to get registered, then came back to my apartment to rest for an hour before heading back to the park for the start. When we got there the first time, I realized that everyone was wearing pink of some sort, so when we went home, I got my pink Pooh pyjamas, and I did the walk in them:


This was about half a kilometre into the walk, I stopped for a bit of water, and looked back on a river of people (not sure how this one got weirdly compressed, but I'm running out of body-vertical time here).

This is a shot of the trail as we walked along it. The river is to the right, out of the frame, because of the thick belt of trees.

And one I took of the river, during another brief water stop, about 4km through the course.