Reflections

Starting this blog has got me reflecting on my lifetime of running. I even went out to the garage this morning and retrieved my memory box of old photos, medals, and ribbons that I had saved from high school and college. I also spent some time looking back at the many photos that Michelle and I have taken over the years from the various races we have participated in. Looking back and reminiscing on decades of running has made me realize how running has enriched my life.

I can divide my life of running into two time periods which are divided by the Red Deer Advocate 10K Road Race in 1984 when I went on my first date with Michelle. The period before that date includes my experiences from elementary school to post-secondary education, and the period after that event includes experiences while married and raising a family. In this entry, I want to recount my life of running before I met Michelle.

My earliest memory of running was when my family lived in Scapa, a small hamlet just south of Hanna where my Dad was a teacher. The school he taught in was an elementary school with only two classrooms and he was assigned to teach the older students. Back then it was a common practice for country schools to take turns hosting track meets for the surrounding schools. The year I started grade one it was Dad’s school’s turn to host the track meet and Dad was one of the marshals. I don’t recall what events I participated in or how well I did, but I do remember standing behind Dad in the official’s booth where he was announcing awards for the top athletes in each grade. He would announce the athlete’s name and they would then come up to the booth to receive a crest that could be sewn on to a jacket. I was standing behind Dad in the booth when he called my name out to come up to receive an award. Dad was looking out into the crowd for me to come up to the booth. I knew he wouldn’t be able to see me, so I shouted in an excited voice; “Dad, Dad, I’m here!” I am not sure if he didn’t hear me, or that he was just teasing me and knew I was standing right behind him, but he called my name again. I vaguely recall someone saying; “Mr. Johnston, he is right behind you.” I finally got my Dad’s attention and received my crest. I lost the crest, but not the memory of Dad that day.

Three years later, Dad accepted a teaching position in Alix, where I would begin grade 4. This was the second time in a short period that I had to started at a new school which was difficult for me because I was shy when it came to making new friends. It didn’t help that most of my new classmates knew each other well already.

One day at the beginning of the school year, a classmate challenged me to a race during recess. During recess the boys in our class liked to organize different games; my favorite was a football game called Kick Catch and Run. Once I got the ball, usually no could catch me, so that may have been the reason why Dennis challenged me to a race. I was very nervous about having to race him but in the end, I beat him quite easily. It was through playing sports with my classmates that I gained acceptance and made friends.

The track and field events that I liked the most were the sprinting and jumping events and I avoided the middle and long-distance running events because no matter how hard I tried, I did not do well. I always hated the feeling of lactic acid building up to the point where I felt like throwing up. If you are going to feel that awful during a race, there should be some reward, and finishing near the back was not a reward for me. My aversion to endurance running was a problem when I got to junior high school where cross country running meets took the place of track meets.

I sucked at long-distance running back then. The practices involved running around the football goal posts during gym class a few times before the meet so I was never well-prepared. Also, my muscles were made up of predominately fast-twitch fibers, which were good for sprinting, rather than and slow-twitch fibers, which are good for endurance events. I also didn’t understand the concept of pacing and would race out to the front of the pack only to disappear to the back after 300 m. Back then I would have never envisioned that I would one day want to run a marathon.

It wasn’t until I was in grade 12 that I would again participate in a track meet. The C.W.A.S.A.A. track meet was being held in Red Deer at Lindsay Thurber High School. The meet involved all the schools in Central West Alberta and included larger schools such as Lacombe, Ponoka, Rocky Mountain House, Stettler, and the two Red Deer Schools. All the athletes arrived on buses and had a coach and the luxury of track practices before the meet.

Alix was a small school and didn’t have a track program. I had to take the initiative to ask my Phys. Ed teacher, Mr. Borggard, to enter me in the C.W.A.S.A.A. meet. I drove myself to Red Deer and showed up the morning of the event without a coach. The only practice I had before the meet was during gym class. Mr. Borggard was able to scrounge up some track shoes for me to take and it would be the first time I would run on a track with track shoes.

I entered five events: 100m, 200m, high jump, long jump, and hurdles. At the end of the day I had first place ribbons for the 200m, the long jump, and hurdles; second place for the 100 m sprint; and fourth place in the high jump. I also walked away with the Grand Aggregate Medal for my age group.

I would then move onto the Southern Alberta Track Meet for a chance to qualify for Provincials. At the Southern Alberta Track Meet, I finished in the top two in hurdles and qualified for Provincials in Calgary. In Calgary, I finished fifth; the four runners ahead of me were from Edmonton and Calgary and their track teams trained year-round. Fifth place was not bad for a country kid with no formal coaching and who had never run on a track.

My success at the C.W.A.A.S.A track meet gave me the confidence to join the track teams at the University of Alberta and The University of Calgary. My track career in university was disappointing because I had to drop out of both schools and never had a chance to determine my potential. At the U of A, I decided to switch from Computing Science to Education and returned to Red Deer College and at the U of C, I tore a cartilage in my knee from playing basketball.

During my brief time at U of A, the track coach saw, to my disappointment, a high jumper and pole vaulter rather than a sprinter. He probably took a look at my tall skinny body and saw that I didn’t have the body type to gain muscle mass and become an explosive sprinter. So my track practices involved a lot of jumping exercises and learning the proper form for high jumping and pole vaulting. If I were to continue, the coach said, he would have me jumping over 2.0 m.

At the University of Calgary, I had no time to make an impression before I injured myself and had to drop out. The injury still affects me to this day. Not being able to be coached and train on a track team to find out my potential is one of my disappointments in life.

When I returned to Red Deer College I was saddened to find out that there was no track, only cross country running. Damn! Even though I still disliked endurance sports, I decided to give cross country running a try. I was the worst runner on the men’s team because everyone else had been on high school teams and were likely recruited by our coach, Brian Stackhouse. Brian was a great coach, and in a matter of three months, he turned me into a cross country runner. The practices no longer involved running around the goalposts as they did in junior high school. We had hour-long practices every day and he ran our asses off. I improved from running at the back of the pack to running in the middle of the pack. I am proud that I ran a personal best in the A.C.A.A. championship and my time contributed to a third overall placement in the team event.

My experience at Red Deer College ignited a love for competing in road races. The A.C.A.A. championship may have been the last time I would compete in a school setting, but it was the beginning of many more races to come. It was soon after I graduated from University that I met Michelle and we went in our first race together.