Wings For Life" width="300" height="169" /> Lisa Femerling My university proposed that a couple of students go to Rouen to support the "Wings for Life World Run" on May 3rd. After having looked at their website, I agreed immediately to go. The idea of the race is that on 6 continents and in 33 countries from the US West Coast all the way to Japan, people race together at the same time "for those who can't". The "Wings for Life Run" is a 100% charity run aiming to raise awareness and collect funds for the Wings for Life foundation, researching cures for spinal cord injury so that affected people can enjoy a life without a wheelchair again. To really emphasize this, competitive runners of all levels, people who run for leisure, and injured people in wheelchairs all start the race together to go as far as they can. This aspect made the whole ambiance of the race and created a feeling of community that I haven't experienced in another race yet! Everyone goes as far as they can, that is until the "catcher car" catches them. This car leaves 30 min after the runners and, at an increasing speed, follows them. Once it catches you, you reached your personal finish line. So, the faster you run, the further you can go. I was able to run 26,04km in 2h11min which is a personal best for me but the global winner of all locations ran 79,9km in about 5h! The "Wings for Life World Run" was a great experience, both in terms of event ambiance and in terms of athletics. As there is no real goal, one really has to have a good pacing to not start too fast or too slow. In any case, I will race this again next year and highly recommend it to everyone! :-)
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