Medical Note and Post Race
Just as a follow up to my previous post, I just want to point out that NEVER at any point did She need to worry or stress out about a medical bill. There was NEVER a question of how She was going to pay for the surgery or whether She would have to choose between feeding her family, selling her home, or having the surgery to save her life. That includes both the mastectomy, the follow up scans, the Extra bone scan and Extra skin surgery (as a precaution) required to clear her of all cancer. Say what you will about Universal Health Care, but when someone you love is saved from the stress of having to deal with insurance policies YET receives some of the best care that even money can buy (her surgeon actually had Americans flying up to her and paying for the same procedure themselves), I say the system works!
***
Yesterday, on Canadian thanksgiving, the day of my first 10k race finally arrived. It was a crisp, cool, and sunny day, perfect for running! Des accompanied me to the site and was the perfect cheerleader (meaning he took pictures for me and carried all my non-essential running gear). Overall the race was fantastic, I ran at a much faster pace than any of my training runs. With over 7000 runners, the start of the race was a little frustrating. You were constantly forced to weave in and out of people as you tried to find your pace and the water stations were just littered with tiny paper cups that crushed under your feet. The highlights for me were running past the redline train as the passengers waved and cheered you on, my friend Emily showing up at the 2 mile mark and again at the 4 mile mark just to cheer me on, and running across the Mass Ave bridge with the Boston skyline and thousands of runners looming ahead of you. I had originally hoped to finish around 66 minutes (as that was my pace during my training) but actually finished the race at 64 minutes. I guess the energy of the crowds and my competitive nature (I think I can pass her!) really helped.
So Many Bananas!
There go the Elite Runners. I believe the winner of the race finished at around 32 minutes.
And me at the start of the race, wearing Red and White for Canada. When Des asked me why I wasn't wearing the shirt they gave me for signing up, I replied that I had to wear this shirt b/c I am Team Canada!
***
Yesterday, on Canadian thanksgiving, the day of my first 10k race finally arrived. It was a crisp, cool, and sunny day, perfect for running! Des accompanied me to the site and was the perfect cheerleader (meaning he took pictures for me and carried all my non-essential running gear). Overall the race was fantastic, I ran at a much faster pace than any of my training runs. With over 7000 runners, the start of the race was a little frustrating. You were constantly forced to weave in and out of people as you tried to find your pace and the water stations were just littered with tiny paper cups that crushed under your feet. The highlights for me were running past the redline train as the passengers waved and cheered you on, my friend Emily showing up at the 2 mile mark and again at the 4 mile mark just to cheer me on, and running across the Mass Ave bridge with the Boston skyline and thousands of runners looming ahead of you. I had originally hoped to finish around 66 minutes (as that was my pace during my training) but actually finished the race at 64 minutes. I guess the energy of the crowds and my competitive nature (I think I can pass her!) really helped.
So Many Bananas!
There go the Elite Runners. I believe the winner of the race finished at around 32 minutes.
And me at the start of the race, wearing Red and White for Canada. When Des asked me why I wasn't wearing the shirt they gave me for signing up, I replied that I had to wear this shirt b/c I am Team Canada!