Another staring line picture, this time at the VRPro Waterfront Trail 8km in Burlington, Ontario, September 20, 2014. It’s a great race mostly on the Burlington waterfront, out to the light house on the pier and back!
Category Archives: Team Rocket
Team Rocket: Running with Amanda
“Team Rocket” in the home stretch to the finish line at the
2006 London Ontario, Forest City Marathon.
Why do we do what we do? I guess I really should say, “Why I do what I do?” I can’t speak for Amanda and she can’t explain it to you in words.
First off, let me tell you a little bit about Amanda. She is our middle child and she was born in 1985 with cerebral palsy that affects her speech and muscle control. She is pretty much confined to her wheelchair and has to have constant care. Amanda is also developmentally challenged, but she seems to be unaware she’s handicapped and she behaves like a happy, mischievous little kid.
A Village Of Runners
Team Rocket – Amanda & Mark Collis.
Haiti Charity Run 5k, 2000
It’s often said that it takes a whole village to raise a child. Sometimes it takes a small town to raise some kids and sometimes that larger village isn’t enough. However, when the right group of people gets together, miracles can happen.
Now, many people wouldn’t think that having the responsibility for looking after a severely handicapped child would be a blessing, but in some ways it has been. With challenges in life there sometimes comes opportunities for revealing the best within you and in those around you.
Wet and Wild – Tough Ass Half Marathon
Team Rocket at the start of the Burlington Tough Ass Half Marathon held May 2, 2004 . Amanda is looking and laughing at her dad. She’s was real trouble maker that day.
As Amanda and I are unofficially sponsored runners for the VRPro races in Burlington, Ontario (mostly because Kelly Arnott, the race director, likes Amanda and won’t take my money), I arranged registration for us in the half marathon. We have a full marathon in two weeks, so I figured that Team Rocket would do the Tough Ass Half as a “training run”. We’d take it easy and run to finish rather than run for time. Besides, I was still in recovery mode from that nasty can of whoop-ass that the 2004 Boston Marathon opened up on all us unsuspecting runners, almost two weeks previous.
Sometimes Christmas Comes Early
“Team Rocket” relaxing after the J.C. Bagel 5km, September 6, 2000
This was Amanda’s very first race.
I don’t need a Christmas present this year. Mine arrived in June via FedEx, courtesy of the Burlington Runners Club in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
You may not have met my daughter Amanda. Amanda is special. She is mentally and physically handicapped, essentially non-verbal, stuck developmentally at about one and a half and confined to a wheel chair. We are lucky in that she has no serious health problems. She is alert, aware, she has a sense of humour and a smile to melt your heart. It does put limitations on what we can do together as a family but she does like to get out.