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In October, “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”, the CIBC Run for the Cure took place all over Canada.  The Run is one of Canada's largest single-day, volunteer-led fundraising event dedicated to raising money and awareness for breast cancer research and education.

Each year, thousands of Canadians of all ages and from all walks of life unite to participate in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Run for the Cure. Individual reasons for participating in the run vary, but the goal is always the same: to create a future without breast cancer.

In light of the Run for the Cure this year, all the ladies from the Sales & Marketing, Product Development, Services and Accounting Departments at Truition decided to make their own unique contributions, and cooked up some lip-smacking lunch dishes for a company-wide Pot Luck, in an effort to raise money to support the Run for the Cure.  

Truition employees enjoyed a variety of dishes wonderfully reflecting Canadian Multiculturalism. Employees from every department at the Truition Corporate Headquarters in Toronto stepped up and gave generously towards this cause - and had fun while doing it!

Our own Michelle Elmaleh, Truition’s Marketing Communications Intern, participated in the run on September 30th.   Cheers to the Team Truition for coming together on a personal level to donate to this extremely worthy cause.

On Saturday June 30th, a small group of Truites (Truition Employees) embarked on a mission that would bring any normal human to their knees.  This journey brought the team in and out of small towns, through wilderness heavily populated by wild sylvilagus floridanus, and treacherous roads.  This small, but formidable team, road 820 kilometers.

Now let me fill in the gaps...  This team, lead and organized by Bruce Waters, road a combined total of 820kms.  Bruce contributed 420kms - four hundred and twenty kilometers - HIMSELF.  While Bruce planned on sleeping early Friday night at a hotel in preparation for an early start, he forgot to consider that most people consider his 1am start time to be a part of Friday night, not Saturday morning.  Lets just say Bruce didn't get much sleep.

When Luigi arrived at 5am, Bruce had already put about 150kms on his bike.  He was making good time despite the lack of sleep.  The two of them put on a few kilometers before the rest of us were supposed to arrive at 6:45am.

Matthew arrived around 6:30am and was ready to ride.  I dragged myself in at 7:01am, to find everyone on their bikes riding around in the parking lot waiting for me.  I yelled out the window, told them that the road was for cars, unpacked my stuff and we were off about 3 minutes later.

Viliam caught up to us about 45 minutes into our ride.  He turned out to be a critical member of the team.  About 30 minutes later, while Bruce was pacing us at 27km/hr into the wind (note - 33km/hr on both Luigi and my computers), his tire burst.  While I hate to say it, I was relieved - my heart rate was out of control, my legs were burning, it was only a matter of time before I fell off my bike.  Anyways, Viliam changed the tube and assessed the tire.  It looked rough, but would get us back to the hotel were Bruce had a cache of spare parts and tools.

When we got back to the hotel and properly pumped up the tire, it was clearly not going to work - the tube was sticking out through a hole in the tire.  This is where Viliam saved the day - he taped the inside of the tire to keep the tube in.  It held for another few hundred kilometers.  Aside from being a one man support team, he personally contributed 89kms to the cause.

As noted in previous rides, this is where things get blurry. 

At the end of it all, Bruce burst one more tire about 6km from the hotel with no spare.  After unsuccessfully trying to hitch a ride, he rode on the rim back to the hotel, swapped his back wheel with Luigi's and finished the full 420kms.  Unbelievable effort Bruce.

Luigi contributed 200kms, beating his previous best by 94kms - which he clocked for the first time a few weeks earlier.  Luigi is a machine. Apparently this was all possible because of 4 bowls of pasta the night before, and pasta for breakfast.  Mental note - pasta is okay for breakfast.

Matthew contributed 63kms.  What was significant about his ride was the fact that he rode the last 3 of those kilometers with no hands while chatting with Bruce.  Or at least it seemed that way when I saw him do it.

I added a personal high of 53kms, beating my previous best by 16kms - ya, it's my second distance ride ever, and on a mountain bike no less.  Though Matthew made this feel like much less of an accomplishment when he did that 'no hands' thing on his mountain bike.  I'll be sure to blow his doors off the next time we're on the ice.

The team goal was 900kms, but we were short 2 riders, and Luigi picked up most of the slack.  So it was a complete success.  However, Tuesday morning when most of the staff wandered all bleary-eyed into the office, a few of us were limping.  Apparently my knees were meant for sitting.

We also managed to raise $705 dollars for reBOOT, a non-profit organization that refurbishes used IT equipment to charities, non-profits and local communities.  After speaking to Rich Roxborough, the Executive Director of reBOOT Canada, you realize how important it is to re-purpose or properly dispose of old hardware.  If you recently upgraded hardware, PLEASE donate your old equipment rather than storing it in the basement until it is completely useless.  :)

Congratulations on a successful event Bruce!  It was great to be a part of it.

Over the last few weeks, word of a '7:00am ride' has been floating around the office.  While I would normally prefer to be snoozing my alarm at 7:00am, I reluctantly decided to participate.  How hard could it be?

5:45am - Saturday morning - this is hard already.  The last thing I want to do is get up and try to fit a mountain bike into the trunk of my car.  I get up anyways.  I manage to get the bike into the BACK SEAT of my car WITHOUT taking the quick-release front wheel off.  Even now I wonder how I managed to do that.

6:20am - I'm on the road, heading to our meeting point - Tim Hortons.

6:55am - I'm not going to make it for 7:00am, I call Bruce to tell him I will be late and he informs me that I'm 10 minutes closer to our meeting point than he is.  Perfect.

7:15am - I arrive, Bruce arrives with Kevin and another co-worker.  Shortly thereafter, another co-worker arrives.  We're all here, our bikes are being unloaded, Kevin orders a pre-ride coffee and we're set for a pre-ride picture.

7:35am - An early morning picture of a diverse set of riders - Project Management, Sales, Core Development and Engineering Services.

7:40am - We're on the road.  I'm feeling good, and am realizing that a road bike might be easier to ride than a mountain bike for long flat surfaces.  We're averaging about 20km/hr.  This pace is perfect for someone who hasn't taken a ride longer than a 5km commute to work in... my life?

8:00am - Chugging along.  Feeling good.  A co-worker notes that the pace has picked up and we're now averaging about 27km/hr.  I am okay with it, so I let it ride.

8:40am-ish - This is about where I start losing track of time.  We have already hit our turnaround point, are now riding into the wind and still increasing our pace.  The last I hear our pace has increased to 30km/hr.

?:??am - 5km to go - I can tell by the signs on the highway next to us.  I check the pace with a co-worker, he notes it at 33km/hr.  I feel like I'm slurring my words.  We're at the 32km mark.

More time passes...  I see the Tim Hortons and feel like I am riding in the tour and make a break for the finish-line (i.e. my car).  I drop my bike and manage to stand while my legs continue to burn.  Everyone else seems content, and the idea of continuing for another short ride is raised.  I say nothing, but am dreaming of my bed.  Thankfully Kevin had an appointment back in the city, so we continued to pack-up. 

The idea of celebrating with a Tim Hortons donut is suggested by a co-worker, so the three development staff on the ride (myself included) show our true colours by eating a post-ride donut.  It seemed a fitting reward for our hard work.

There is no after-shot.  I had enough trouble finding my car, never mind finding my camera.  But I did remember to take the front wheel off my bike prior to putting it in the trunk.   :)

Thanks for the ride guys.