The love and loss of a beloved pet is what has inspired St. Paul’s first-ever Glow Run this fall, with organizer Tara Severin hoping to see the run provide a boost to the much-needed services of the St. Paul Animal Shelter.
“I am doing this run because animals deserve to have a life like Little Bear did, 18 years of adventure and love,” she said, speaking of the loss of her cat of 18 years.
Severin got Little Bear at age 11, when the kitten was only two weeks old.
“My mom thought she was the ugliest cat I could have picked – mixed, multi-coloured course hair and half a tail,” she recalled fondly.
Little Bear lived on the family’s farm, walking the kids to and from the bus, leaping and catching birds in mid-air and having enough litters to fill up a school, Severin recalled, adding, “I promised her when I was 15 that if she made it till I lived on my own, I would take her with me.”
Indeed, Severin kept her promise and after coming home from college, brought Little Bear to her one-bedroom apartment and on further adventures, every move and step along her life.
“Through tears, heartache and happy moments as we went through almost 18 years together, from watching her grow up to her watching me from a child to having my own (children) is a pretty special thing,” she said, noting that after that long a time spent together, it was heartbreaking to find a lump on Little Bear’s stomach and to have to say goodbye just a week later.
After Severin went to the shelter to drop off Little Bear’s leftover cat food and toys, she started to visit the shelter and gave some thoughts to adopting.
“When I went in there, I was going to adopt (but) I didn’t have the heart to replace her,” said Severin. But having loved a cat for so long, she felt for the animals in their cages, some which had not been adopted in as long as a year, and wanted to do her bit to help, by volunteering to work bingos and taking dogs for walks.
“It just didn’t seem enough to me,” she said, adding that she wanted to do more to help the shelter and all the animals craving love and affection that shelter volunteers provide.
She decided to organize a fun run/walk for individuals and families, and having been part of a similar large-scale event in Edmonton, decided to make it a Glow Run.
“This is definitely a fun run - take it at your own pace. If you come in with a wagon and kids, that’s fine,” said Severin.
While St. Paul’s first-time event is not going to be on as big a scale as the night run in the city, she still encourages people to wear their glow in the dark necklaces and neon clothing and come out for the event that takes place on Sept. 24 at 7 p.m., starting at Reunion Station. People can either walk or run the route, which runs 2.5 kilometres down the Iron Horse Trail before circling back to town.
“The Glow Run is more than 5 km of running or walking. It’s memories of lost pets and giving the chance (for other) animals to have great memories,” she said.
Tickets are $40 per individual, while groups of five are more are $20 each, with all proceeds going to the St. Paul Animal Shelter. Children aged 13 and younger can participate for free. People can even download apps like Resqwalk that will donate money to shelters like the one in St. Paul for every step made, even if it’s while a person is playing Pokemon Go, Severin points out.
If people register for the run by Sept. 20, they will also get a swag bag, but registrations will be taken as late as 6 p.m. on the day of the event as well.
For more information or to sign up, people can contact Tara Severin at 780-214-5021, like the group’s Facebook page Footsteps for Paws or go into the animal shelter for further information and updates.
