The Underwear Affair…

Last Saturday my sister, Anne, and I participated in Vancouver’s 10K run for ‘Cancer below the waist’ aka “The Underwear Affair”. Anne had raised $1,360.00 on her website for this cause.  To take part in this race you must raise at least $350.00, plus pay a $25.00 sign up.  She did this run for our dad.  He was diagnosed with prostate cancer five years ago.

When Anne told me she was doing this race, I was so proud of her.  She is the kind of person that will help you and is always there for everyone.  So I wasn’t surprised that she was doing this for our Dad.  I then found out that nobody would be there to to cheer her on as friends and relatives were attending a family birthday party.  When she signed up for the race she also thought it would be in the morning and not at 6 pm.  I asked her if I could run with her and she was happy for the company and support as 10k is a long way for a beginner.

Saturday afternoon proved to be hottest day in a long time.  Of course it was, because we were running 10k!  We arrived downtown Vancouver early to pick up Anne’s race package.  The event was well organized and many of the people who showed up were in fabulous costumes. There were many groups of runners dressed in theme; some were wearing just underwear or underwear over their running outfits.  Anne wore a Welsh t-shirt and underwear with a red dragon on her bum.  I wasn’t that brave.  I wore my Welsh t-shirt and shorts.  My Dad is Welsh and us kids are originally from Wales.

As the gun went off we all shot out the start door.  What a feeling! I was so excited to be part of this event.  Everyone was cheering and yelling like crazy.

Now I haven’t had much experience running as you will have read my previous posts.  I just started training for a half-marathon last week and here I am, running a 10K that neither of us trained for.  And in this heat!  We took it slow – ran 6 minutes and walked 1.  All along the way there were so many people cheering us on.

We were coming to the end of the race, and we both felt good. When we started across the Burrard Street Bridge, I got goose bumps from people in cars honking, cheering and yelling for us.

We crossed the finish line with the time of 1:06 which I thought was awesome, considering we did not train at all. We were delighted to receive two beers by the organizers to cheer the end of the race!!  If you get a chance to participate in this event next year, I strongly recommend doing so.  Next year I will be taking part and making sure I stay for the party afterward!  It looked like it would be quite fun.