Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope didn't start with the first 26.2-mile day he ran on April 12, 1980 on the east coast of Canada.
It started, many months earlier, with just a quarter of a mile.
Over the following weeks, he built up to a mile, then a few more until, eventually, he was running five, six, seven miles a day, said his younger brother, Darrell Fox.
"We weren't aware of Terry's plans until the Prince George-to-Boston race in September of 1979 - he kept it a secret," Fox recalled. "We thought he was training for the Vancouver marathon He lied because he had to convince himself, he had to believe he could do it before he shared it with his immediate family."
That first quarter-mile was on the track at Hastings junior secondary, now Maple Creek middle school, near the family's home in Port Coquitlam. Tucked away at the end of Hastings Street and sheltered by the green belt running along the Coquitlam River, the track was somewhat hidden.
"Terry was initially shy," Fox said. "It was so unusual for someone to show themselves running, let alone walking, on an artificial leg."
Nor did Terry have the benefit of a specialized physiotherapist to help him find his stride with the apparatus.
It was a learning curve that provided few highlights. There were mechanical malfunctions. Terry stumbled, he fell. Some of the school kids teased him.
But as the blows piled up, so did the miles.
Terry progressed from running a lap around the track to running the streets of PoCo, then Coquitlam, then Port Moody, until he was hitting his 10-mile route so consistently that he repeated it twice and three times a day, sometimes with an extra three or four miles at the end.
Hedy Davidson remembers those days well. She was a couple of years younger than Terry and her family's living room window looked into the Fox family's backyard. Davidson (Blom at the time) knew Terry as the neighbourhood athlete, the kid who rallied the rest of them into games of tag and street hockey, whether you wanted to play or not. She also knew Terry had lost his leg to cancer - neighbours had fundraised for a specialized wheelchair so he could keep playing basketball at SFU - but not about his plans for the Marathon of Hope.
"Our first indication that something had changed with Terry was a workout bench and a stack of weights in the backyard," Davidson said. "You could really see him working hard at it. And we knew something was up.
"Then he ran around the block and I went, 'Wow, that kid's really sweating.' Then he ran around the block twice, then he ran around the neighbourhood. The next thing you know, you're seeing that funny hop-step run all over the place."
It wasn't until Davidson and her family saw the news footage of Terry dipping his leg in the Atlantic Ocean, however, that they realized the magnitude of what "the neighbourhood kid" was doing.
"I think it took the country a little bit to cotton on to this little fella with one leg who wanted to change the face of cancer," Davidson said.
Steve Marshall lived on Glen Drive back then and, as a fellow athlete about the same age, knew Terry was particularly determined. But determined enough to run across Canada?
"I thought it was just an amazing undertaking," Marshall said. "But thinking about it now, it's just phenomenal."
He remembers seeing Terry in training and chatting with him at the end of the driveway about what he hoped to accomplish.
"Back then, when you're that age, you kind of believe you're invincible and I thought, 'If he really thinks he can do it and sets his mind to it, well, good on you, maybe he will.'"
It took 3,060 miles of training through the Tri-Cities and beyond for Terry to be ready for the Marathon of Hope and, on April 4, the public will have a chance to run in those same footsteps at the Terry Fox Training Run.
Darrell Fox has driven the 16-km route in the past few weeks and months in preparation for the event and, while the small houses on large lots have given way to highrises, the pavement is the same.
"Glen Drive is still Glen Drive. Ioco Road, Patricia, Hastings - they're still there as they were in 1979," Fox said. "I think it's kind of been left that way for all of us to join Terry, to go for a run on the pavement he trained on."
The Terry Fox Training Run is on April 4, starting from Westwood elementary at 7:30 a.m and following the same path Terry Fox used to train for his 1980 Marathon of Hope. For full details, to register or to sponsor, visit www.terryfoxtrainingrun.com. Volunteers are still needed for the event; anyone interested can contact Donna White of the Terry Fox Foundation at [email protected] or 604-464-2666.
COMMUNITY WALK
On April 4, runners can follow in Terry Fox's footsteps in the Terry Fox Training Run but, if you're not up to jogging the 16-km route, you're certainly not alone.
That's why there will also be a short community walk, suitable for all ages, starting at 10 a.m.
"It's meant to be so that people can walk in Terry's footsteps," said event organizer Mark Pettie. "And in true Terry fashion, we're keeping it low-key."
Walkers will have two routes to choose from; both start from Westwood elementary school (as does the run), with one heading north to Maple Creek middle school and around the track where Fox first learned to run while the other will go south on Hastings Street and loop around the home on Morrill Street where Fox grew up.
"They're very short distances, it's meant to be a family event," Pettie said.
An opening ceremony, with speeches from the Tri-Cities' mayors and MLAs, as well as members of the Fox family, will start at 9:30 a.m.
Participants will also get their first look at the Terry Fox Training Run route markers, the permanent signs that will go up to mark Fox's 16-km route throughout the Tri-Cities.
The project has come together in partnership between the Terry Fox Foundation and each of the Tri-Cities, Pettie said. "Council and staff from Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam and Port Moody have been incredibly supportive and helpful. Without their great efforts the Terry Fox Training Route project would not happen."
@spayneTC
