Profile: Patricia Leclaire

I am an avid hiker, kayaker and backpacker/camper. Did sea-kayaking around the San Juans while working in the Pacific Northwest, and have hiked and camped in several European countries and many American states. After arriving in Florida in February 2007, I found several Meetup groups with whom I could continue these much-loved outdoor activities, and have enjoyed exploring from the Everglades to Ocala National Forest.

I participated in several 2007-2008 Track Shack events with friends.

I'm a member of the YMCA and, up until the first week of April 2009, was doing interval training (cardio + muscle toning) at the gym 5 - 6 times a week.

Then life changed unexpectedly:

On April 6 2009, I went to bed feeling fit and healthy; when I got out of bed the following morning I realized that I was having difficulty balancing on my legs - I had to consciously think about how to walk. There wasn't pain for the first few days .... that was all to come ..... and so began 9 months of nerve and muscle problems with both legs, hips and left arm. I remained under the care of many specialists during that time, including eventually the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, FL.

I had physiotherapy twice a week for 8 months. What I owe the physiotherapy team at Florida Hospital is more than I can ever repay. At a time when I feared that my active life was ended forever, with all the attendant sadness and depression that comes with seeing life so impossibly and negatively altered, the physiotherapists saw me me through - knew my hopes for a return to complete activity .... hikers, kayakers, dancers and bicyclists themselves they knew my goals and put me back on the path to recovery with knowledge, compassion, humor and sheer human decency.

Although the disabling pain, inflammation and inflexibility is no longer a daily challenge, I do experience occasional flare-ups that put me down hard and send me back to the meds, the ice pack and the heating pad.

But I am back to the gym whenever possible, given the scheduling challenges of a full-time job + two graduate courses for my doctoral program, and am starting from the basics again. Sometimes hard to be patient and give my body time to complete the healing process!

So, I have several reasons for participating in the Corporate 5K:

• I believe in the value of Online Learning at UCF and want to publicly support and promote it.

• Having participated in Track Shack's "Race For the Trees", after which my team donated trees for planting in the Parramore, I would like to continue supporting efforts for that area of the city.

• April 15th. is the day after my birthday. On my birthday last year I was considering a possible future spent in a wheelchair - so this birthday, and this event, is my personal "victory dance".