When Terry Fox recovered from the surgery that amputated his right leg, he already had the kernel of a plan forming: to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
Some might say such an idea was borne more of bravado than brains but, typical of a young man of 18, it was one Fox considered entirely doable. The distance of well over 5,000 km didn't seem to sway him.
Perhaps that's because, growing up, Fox was accustomed to accomplishing athletic challenges that initially seemed out of reach. He loved basketball and while he displayed a tremendous amount of passion, he wasn't much good at it.
But he trained constantly, showing up early for practice and hitting the hoops on weekends. By Grade 11, he was a starting guard for the Port Coquitlam Ravens - they're the Terry Fox Ravens now - and he earned a spot on the junior varsity basketball team in his first year at Simon Fraser University.
Fox showed the same determination in preparing for the Marathon of Hope, logging 5,000 km (3,107 miles) in 18 months of training.
Thirty-five years later, the Terry Fox Foundation is celebrating that sense of grit with the Terry Fox Training Run on April 4. It's a 16.1-km run tracing the route Fox used to prepare for his Marathon of Hope, taking runners from Port Coquitlam through Coquitlam and out to the far reaches of Port Moody and back again.
Joining in the fun will be two members of The Tri-City News team. Neither of us possesses anything close to the energy of a young Fox - if anything, we are firmly in the bone-crunching, creaking-joint grips of middle age - but figure our weekend warrior jogs will be enough to help us survive the 10-mile route.
Production manager Mike Kingston has been running for most of his 51 years and has no qualms about polishing off 16 km. One of the quieter members of The Tri-City News crew, Kingston changes gears in his off hours and tears up back-country trails with the running club XSNRG. The group tackles trails in Ridge Meadows and the Tri-Cities twice a week, usually covering about 20 to 30 km. Each member has done at least one marathon; Kingston's was in 2012, when he squeaked in under his four-hour goal with a time of 3:59, exhausted and with a blister that made the last 5 km "quite painful."
How about running a marathon every day? For 143 days?
"That just seems completely not possible," Kingston said.
How about on one leg?
"That's even more impossible."
Speaking of impossible, I enjoy running but it's been a long, long time since I logged anything close to 16 km. It was likely in 2009 in preparation for a half-marathon, a feat that left me feeling rather like I had an all-time worst hangover for the rest of the day.
So it is with much more trepidation than Kingston that I face the prospect of running a distance about three times longer than what I've been doing recently.
I have three weeks to prepare, though, and there will be plenty of motivation along the way in the form of permanent training route signs featuring Fox, trivia tidbits and inspirational quotes.
And both my colleague and I (and our fellow runners, we presume) are hoping for plenty of folks to line the route on April 4 and cheer us on, much like those who whooped for Fox as he passed by their homes some 35 years ago, logging step after step in preparation for the Marathon of Hope.
Said Kingston: "I think it will be an emotional day, when people realize where they're running and why."
THE DETAILS
Registration for the Terry Fox Training Run is now open, along with a route map, at www.terryfoxtrainingrun.com.
The 16.1-km run starts at Westwood elementary (3610 Hastings St., PoCo) at 7:30 a.m. The opening ceremony begins at 9:45 a.m. and the community walk is at 10 a.m.
Volunteers are needed for the April 4 event; contact Donna White at 604-464-2666 or [email protected]. Visit www.terryfoxtrainingrun.com for more information.
@spayneTC
