CREW LOVE
ALL IN TOGETHER A
s much as running challenges you, it also changes you. “Running provides confidence and empowerment both physically and mentally,” says John Stanton, the founder of Running Room. Stanton has seen hundreds of thousands of runner transformations as they cross the line worldwide. He believes that everyone is an athlete and, no matter how fast or slow you go, we have all earned respect. Running is in my heart and soul. It wasn’t always this way, or maybe I just didn’t know I had it in me to run, but I do now. I’ve come to bask in the afterglow of total exhaustion and accomplishment that accompany every finish line I cross. Whether I’m wrapping up a quick 10K early morning training run or crossing the finish line of another marathon, that feeling of exhaustion and exhilaration is like nothing else, and I’m not the only one who enjoys that heady sweet spot. “The first thing I noticed is that running gives me a peace I desperately need and it gives me a confidence I have nowhere else. When I run, I feel at peace, confident and with a sense of mastery that I feel good about,” says Peggy Hickman, who ran her first marathon this past May in Ottawa at the age of 61. The Ottawa resident first began running at her doctor’s suggestion as a way of helping her manage her schizophrenia. Although she was a little nervous at the idea of getting out the door, once she did, she says, “It was love at first step and it turned out to be my passion.” Along with her therapy in the outpatient program at Ottawa’s Royal Hospital for Mental Health, Peggy says
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2017 ISSUE 07
running has been nothing short of magic for someone who had tried just about everything to silence the voices she hears. Following her passion for running helped Nancy Girard get back on her feet after an accident that left her paralyzed. “The accident changed my perspective on life,” says Nancy, and in a similar way, running renewed it. “As a mom, running has showed me how strong a person I am,” she says. While she was paralyzed, Nancy suffered from anxiety, which she also struggled with in her teens. She says the idea of running gave her a tangible goal to work towards. “I started walking, then fast walking, and then running, and even though it was hard,” she says, “it really did give me that runner’s high.” Runners are a rare breed, which basically makes race directors unicorns. These men and women manage the details of events that turn everyday athletes into weekend warriors, and if that’s not magic, what is? For Rachel Munday, the director for the Manitoba Marathon, the experience she gets in her day to day is unlike any other profession. “When our event began forty years ago, there was little competition and runners weren’t travelling to race,” she says. Like runners at her event who aim to score a personal best or qualify for Boston, Rachel’s desire to step up the quality of her event runs deep. “Today, competition isn’t runners in our province, it’s every race,” she says. “No matter where they run, runners want that premium race experience, and even for the ones who only participate in your race, you have to get better and
better. The challenge is to not only draw new runners, it’s to keep the current ones happy and coming back.” It’s the reason she volunteers at races worldwide, including the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon this month. “For me, there are no races bigger than ours in Manitoba, but it’s important to know where else my runners are going and to take the best from those races and appropriate it to our event.” Rachel is equally enamoured by the spirit of race directors who rally around each other. “Helping out is part of the camaraderie of race directors—we all want Canadian road racing to get better because if you’re passionate about it, you want everyone to succeed.” For John Stanton, running gets bigger and brighter every year, with new innovations, new participants, and new people whose lives he gets to watch transform. “In running, one enjoys the newfound physical fitness and friendships, but crossing the finish line is an inner view of one’s soul,” says Stanton. It’s that rawness of running that keeps many runners on track. As I’ve come to realize over the past year especially, when I feel like I’ve got nothing else to give, I can count on the security of the pavement underfoot, the simplicity of feeling, the sweat running down my spine, and the knowledge that I will endure. Whether you run solo or as part of a run crew, race on weekends or run a few blocks around your neighbourhood, it’s a feeling you’ll continue to hear described in many ways, and a feeling you won’t find anywhere else.
iRun because I want to see how far I can go. — Jordanna Kersbergen, Okotoks, Alberta
PHOTOGRAPH BY JUSTIN VAN LEEUWEN
Everyone ultimately runs alone. But our strength comes from our community. By Anna Lee Boschetto