" running for a reason "

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- terry fox foundation -


so, this morning, i woke up at 5:15am.

we had to be there around 7am, and Lumphini Park is hard to get to on sundays, due to the heavy bangkok traffic. as we pulled up to the park, there were all sorts of people exercising and stretching, jogging and playing badmiton, talking and walking with their kids.

you begin to forget that even in one of the most polluted city on the asian continent, bangkokians still have a desire for fitness and overall healthy well-being. in that same spirit, me and my fellow co-workers arrived at the Terry Fox Annual Run.

the purpose of this annual run, is to raise money and awareness for cancer research, in the name of a 22 year-old who died of cancer, named terry fox. the short run was 5 km and the long run was 10km. you can guess that i chose the 5km, because not only did i have to actively participate, i also had to take photos, and shoot some DV for the show.

and you wanna know something? it's really hard to run normal when you have to keep a parallel focus on both breathing tempo and possible photo ops. between the huffing and cramping, i'm sure i got some usable pictures and fat cells burned off at the same time. which is okay if you give a hoot about such things.

basically, aside from the fact that thailand is hot (like hella hot; hotter than an oven inside the devils sweatroom, um if he had some weird desire to bake some pastries while he is in the sauna...which he most likely wouldn't, but i do like blueberry muffins. yeah, i don't know where this is going either), it feels really good to be running for a worthy cause.

you can look past the present fact that your crappy out-of-shape-always-and-ever state of your body starts to fail you after the first kilometer and a half, and give at least all you have, in serving a larger purpose. i almost passed out twice and saw really cool colors and black spots for about 2 minutes there.

'all for a good cause all for a good causeall for a good causeall for a good causeall for a good cause,' was my mantra.

when i got in, my legs burned in that special lacking-lactic-acid sort of way; the sweat cascading and waterfalling down my back actually cooled me down, and we got to nosh on some fairly delectable breakfast boxes, provided by the four seasons hotel (the main sponser).

you start to realize that there are things which are larger than you. there are movements and causes that go beyond all of the problems you believe you have. once in a while, it's nice to recognize these things, and do something for the benefit of mankind.

tonight's homework:

spend a little time thinking how you can do something for someone else. it could be sponsoring them in an aid's fundraiser run. it could be taking care of them when they're sick. hell, it could be just helping them out of a sticky situation. buddhists believe in the act of making merit; the act of doing something for the goodness of the act, and in return receive nothing. try to lend some of your precious ranting time, for someone that might not have the ability to be helped. in this way, we will all benefit and move forward as a species.

- terry fox -

(c) baystar_one...2347

About Terry Fox

Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada's west coast. An active teenager involved in many sports, Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.

While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
He would call his journey the Marathon of Hope.

After 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles) to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John's, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount.

He ran 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario.

It was a journey that Canadians never forgot.

However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened.

Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at age 22.

The heroic Canadian was gone, but his legacy was just beginning.

To date, more than $360 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry's name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world.

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