On a golden-warm evening in Inverness, the post-work running groups are doing their pre-run stretches along the river.
Day-glo running tops shine in the sunlight as legs are limbered and friends catch up. Somewhere in the trees of Ness Islands, a hidden bagpiper practices his skirls.
The notes drift lazily through the warm air towards a running group doing their own warm-up.
Apart from their matching turquoise T-shirts, the group’s members looks like any other. But this is Incredible Feet, an Inverness running club with a difference.
Many of its members have been diagnosed with cancer. All of them have been affected by it.
It is, says founder Rebecca O’Hara, an exercise group mixed with a therapy session. A way for people with cancer to keep moving, and enjoy a chat along the way.
“It’s so much easier to talk because you’re not sitting in a circle with lots of people,” Rebecca, 38, explains. “When you’re not having to look directly at each other, you can talk about the harder things.”
I’m here in shorts and t-shirt to test her theory out.
To take a run with the members of Incredible Feet and hear about their cancer journeys and what this new community group – which started up in March – has done for them.
Along the way, I’ll hear about pain, discomfort and anguish. But I’ll also hear about hope, recovery and the incredible, simple healing powers of a jog along a river.
On the start line with Inverness running group Incredible Feet
I meet Rebecca at the crazy golf carpark beside Bught Park.
She is funneling watermelons from the boot of her car in preparation for end-of-run snacks. We’ve talked on the phone and in person she’s just as bubbly.
With a smile, she tells me the snacks are not usually as premium as this evening. Tonight is special because a journalist is here.
I’m introduced to the other runners and we quickly get to the warm-up. Everyone is keen to get going on this fine summer’s evening.
“We do a great ministry of silly walks,” says Doug Low as everyone bounces on their toes like gazelles.
Doug, an auxiliary nurse, is the only runner this evening that hasn’t had cancer. He’s here to lend support, and embodies Rebecca’s ethos that the group is for anyone affected by the disease.
As we set off, Doug stays back to walk with his friend Pennie Stuart, who is carrying an injury so can’t run.
I ask Pennie if the injury is related to the breast cancer she was diagnosed with in January 2020. Turns out I am way off. She’s just been running too much.
“I’m a nightmare for it,” she says, laughing. The 53-year-old reveals she has a history of over-exertion that breast cancer hasn’t dulled. She recently injured herself river kayaking.
‘There’s a magic in this group’
Indeed, the desire to stay active in the face of cancer is a common bond in Incredible Feet.
“We’re all physically minded, very health minded,” says Pennie, who recently launched a podcast about her cancer journey. “There’s a magic in this group that makes it feel like you are meeting people like you.”
At a crossroad, I see the rest of the group weaving their way along a forest path.
I leave Pennie and Doug and catch up with Brian Eardley.
Brian is the group’s running guide, brought in by Rebecca to lead the run and plot the course.
He’s just taken the group past the Hydro Ness, the armadillo-like renewable energy project opened last year.
Brian hasn’t had cancer. But he gets a lot out of leading Incredible Feet on their twice weekly jogs – the group has a second run on Saturday mornings.
“Everyone is looking out for each other because of what their bodies have been through,” he says. “I hear some of their stories, and it’s just inspirational what they do.”
He tells me about helping one of the group to their first 5K without stopping.
“She was just on cloud nine,” he says.
What Incredible Feet does for cancer survivors in Inverness
Up ahead, Amanda MacNeil is discussing the bureaucratic tangle many cancer patients find themselves in with health care providers.
It’s a complicated and emotive topic, but one she finds easier to discuss here than with family or other friends.
“Unless you’ve been through it, people don’t really understand,” she says.
Amanda, a management consultant, is still getting treatment for her breast cancer. She had a mastectomy, endured various rounds of chemo and had lymph nodes removed from her armpits.
She is preparing now for radiotherapy and talks about how lax she’s been with her mandated physio work.
“You just forget!” she says.
She loves the running group, and even managed to make it out for the runs while undergoing chemo.
“They just tell you to go at your own pace,” she says. “As long as you’re feeling capable, then do what you can.”
But the exercise is only part of it. Amanda’s also here for the camaraderie.
“It makes you come out,” she says. “Otherwise, it might be too easy on a Thursday night just to not bother. If you know everyone is here, it makes you want to come.”
Plus, the jog is a handy distraction.
“It allows you to compartmentalise the cancer. You can push it out of your mind.”
‘I’m strong like a dog!’
I leave Amanda to go run with Joanna Ewing.
Joanna, 42, is at the front of the pack, a position she seems comfortable with. She’s the runner that Brian recently coached to go 5K uninterrupted.
Joanna laughs when I ask her about this. And she admits it is a far cry from before her breast cancer diagnosis in May last year when exercise out of the picture.
Back then, with a husband and two young children, she didn’t do anything. But, as with the other members of Incredible Feet, the cancer came and changed everything.
Now facing a new reality, Joanna started taking the dog for walks. She liked it. So when she heard about the running club she gave it a go.
The results have been – to put it mildly – transformative.
“I’m the fittest I’ve ever been,” Joanna says, laughing.
“I started going to the gym in January. I can now do 85kg hip thrust, I’m strong like a dog… and I love these people!”
The end of the run… time for some watermelon
We reach the end of the run. Warm tops are put on, and Rebecca breaks out the watermelon.
In the glow of the late evening sun, we chat about life, chemo and what we are up to this weekend.
Everyone is excited about going rock climbing later this year, part of Rebecca’s plans to expand activities. The boxing training they tried the other month was a huge success.
Meanwhile, everyone assures me they will continue to go running throughout the Highland winter.
Oh, really? I question their resolve – it might be nice and warm now, but it can get very cold in Inverness. I’m quickly shouted down, though. I’ve clearly forgotten who I’m talking to.
After all, what’s a little bit of cold compared to cancer?
To contact the group see the Incredible Feet Facebook page or email incredible-feet@outlook.com.