Finding underwear good enough to run in for 5 kilometres. Check.
From the couch to 5k training. Check.
Raising funds for Vancouver's Underwear Affair, where all participants show up in their underwear in support of all below-the-belt cancers, like ovarian, prostrate and colorectal. Check.
Heather Armstrong and Gina Sampson, Prince George residents, will participate in a happy event today for a sad cause.
Sampson lost her mom, Melanie Mcleod, on May 25, 2013 to the silent killer, ovarian cancer, after a year-long, hard-fought battle.
"She was only 58 - I lost her way too early," said Sampson. "She fought it and fought it for the first year and the last month it just completely took over her body."
The first few months after losing her mom, Sampson and Armstrong were sad and it was a gentler time for them both, Armstrong said. But now they've gotten a bit of an attitude toward cancer by naming their team of two Fuck Cancer. With that attitude they take on the multilayered event of the Underwear Affair where's there's a 10K, a 5K and a Booty Hunt.
"I said to my friend Heather that all the other events in town are wonderful but I need something fun, I want something fun because that was my mom - she was a fun lady and I came across this event - the Underwear Affair - and thought it was perfect," said Sampson.
Armstrong tends to agree.
"Melanie was very social and she loved to dance," said Armstrong. "The Underwear Affair is the perfect way to celebrate Melanie's life the way she would."
They haven't quite completed their training for the run but the spirit is willing.
"We're not runners at all but we have been training for it using the couch to 5K training method," Sampson said.
Google it, there's even an app for it and everything, she added.
And really, are you ready to run in your underwear?
"Well, no, I don't know if I'm really ready to run in my underwear but ..." Sampson laughed.
There are photos on the Underwear Affair website where people are wearing their underwear on the outside of their shorts and yoga pants and that might be a better option.
Sampson and Armstrong have chosen to wear the colour that symbolizes ovarian cancer. So it's teal tank tops and teal bikini underwear over their yoga capris for them.
They've got lots of great supporters and met their goal of raising $300 each, said Sampson.
"I want women to be really in tune with their bodies because ovarian cancer is an awful, awful cancer," said Sampson. "To watch somebody suffer through it, especially if it's someone close to you, is hard." Check and double check.
To donate to the cause through the Sampson and Armstrong team, visit http://va14.uncoverthecure.org, click on donate and enter Heather Armstrong or Gina Sampson into the search.
