Ask me to talk about myself in twenty words or less and I would likely say I am proud to be a nurse, I have a great family and I love to run and read. Ask someone else and they might describe me as a fanatical runner and what they would mean is I don’t let weather get in my way. When I started running, it was truly to give me some time by myself. I could only run two kilometres at a time and it was not easy but I persevered; it allowed me to get some exercise and with two small children at home, I could just put my runners on and head out the door.
Today, about eighteen years later, I get a lot of that cathartic mind clearing as I run and I am proud to say I have increased my distance! Generally I run about 12 kilometres at a time and once a week I push the limits to run 21k – a half marathon. I usually do this on Saturdays, but I got a chance to do it twice this week when a Friday meeting was pushed back and it felt so wonderful. Running gives me peace and a tremendous sense of well-being.
However, when I approached my team at the Dementia Society to run with me, there seemed to be some trepidation. Most people, it turns out, don’t find pleasure in the idea of running 21 kilometres, or ten. Or, even running at all!
Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend
Of course, I didn’t (and don’t) expect my co-workers to join me in the half marathon during the Tamarack Race Weekend, coming up at the end of May. There are other options – a 10k, a 5k, and a 2k run just to be involved. And with that, I had sign-ups! Lisa, Dean, and Danielle have all signed up to run with me and raise money for The Dementia Society.
Once again, the Tamarack Race Weekend provides me with an opportunity to combine two of my great passions. Running and raising money for The Dementia Society, which is fortunate to be a featured charity as part of the Scotiabank Charity Challenge component of race weekend.
I look forward to running with this wonderful team, and I can’t wait for the half marathon to start! You can join us to run any distance, pledge money for our runners, and follow our progress on our Facebook event page. And for those of you who really don’t like running in any form, there is of course our Walk, which is coming up May 11th!