Terry Fox Run

Today I did the Terry Fox run in Springbank Park in London Ontario. Jenny is on a vacation in the Caribbean with her longtime friend, Leslie, but Karen and Tori joined me for the run and we made a healthy donation to, what I believe is, one of the best-run charitable organizations in Canada, and certainly providing funds for cancer research is a very worthy cause.

The standard Terry Fox run in London was a 2.2k loop that runners were to do 5 times for a total of 11k. I joined Paula Muxlow and her London Pacers friends, Nancy Johnston, Donna Kraft, and one other, the name of whom I didn't catch. And we caught up to Gwyn Hayman as well, who had arrived a few minutes after the official start of the run. I was, as Paula said, the 'token male' in the group.

The run was quite pleasant and at a very easy pace. I did a 6th lap on my own at a quick pace (around 7:00/mile) -- and I should have done an extra 3 miles but we were all going to go out for lunch, so I got changed into some non-smelly clothes instead.

There were two other pleasant parts of this run. First, Springbank Park is a very nice place to run, although it certainly isn't flat. My GPS said a difference of 125 feet between the lowest and highest spots on the 2.2k loop -- and there were multiple sections of rolling hills within the loop. But as far as having a pretty run, it sure beats the long straight roads of the Lucan area! The other very nice part of the run was that it was right across the river from my boyhood home, so I could see my old house multiple times throughout the run. Unfortunately, it looked to be in a significant state of disrepair -- certainly in need of a paint job at the very least. But it was still nice to be around my old stomping grounds!

After the run, we went to Kelsey's restaurant in London to "replenish the carbs", as I like to call it. I had a couple of Guiness beers (high in iron, I understand) and an excellent meal with Tori, Karen, Gwyn, Paula and Paula's coach, Sherri Watts. A very pleasant cap to a very pleasant run!