The next period of my life of running started after I met Michelle in the fall of 1983. Over the 37 years that I have known her, Michelle and I have done a lot of running together. It is a passion that we both share.
I met Michelle just after I had finished university and moved home to work as a substitute teacher while I was looking for a teaching position. I was often called in to substitute teach at the high school where my dad worked. Michelle was one of several other young teachers on staff who liked to play basketball after school. They had a staff team called MACC Attack after the name of the school: MACC Alix High School. It wasn’t long before Michelle and her group of friends invited me to come out and play basketball with them. This eventually led to other group activities and Michelle and I became friends. Michelle had just started running and eventually, I got the courage to ask her to enter the Red Deer Advocate Road Race with me. The race was held on May 5th, 1984, and would become the first of many races we would enter together. There is some debate between Michelle and me whether or not this was our first date, but I figure it was because it took some courage for me to ask her. Within two years we were married. Little did I know at the time about how much running would become part of our lives.
We entered several races every year. We both wanted to be able to run faster and also to remain fit. Neither of us is an elite runner, so our motivation was never about trying to win.–the only competition was against ourselves and attempting to run the race faster than previous races. Wanting to run faster would require us to run as many kilometers a possible during the week, which meant getting out and running on days when we least felt like it. This was especially true during the winter months before we had a treadmill. The results of the races were not always what we hoped, but at the end of the day, we achieved at least one of our goals, and that is to remain fit.
I estimate that we have participated in close to one hundred races during our marriage. Many of the races that we entered were out of town, in places like Edmonton, Calgary, and Victoria. We didn’t limit ourselves to the large popular races, but also ran smaller races in communities around Red Deer, like Eckville and Lacombe. The time of the year was also not a factor and we would often run in the New Years Day run during bone-chilling weather.
Michelle and I enjoyed the social aspect of racing as well. One of the races we enjoyed was the Mother’s Day run in which our three sons would participate and the Woody’s Half-Marathon where we would know many of the participants and organizers from our community. The added benefit is that most of the races supported a good cause. For example, there was Run For the Cure that raised money for the Canadian Cancer Foundation, and the Pride Run, that helped bring awareness for the LGBT*TQ community in Edmonton.
Over the years Michelle and I have also involved our three sons, Brett, Keegan, and Joel, in our passion for running. When they were young we would enter them in fun runs that were sometimes held before races that Michelle and I entered. We even organized our own fun run and invited friends and their children over for a race along trails near our house, with a barbeque afterward. We also entered them in Kids of Steel, a triathlon meant for school-aged children. As they got older we encouraged them to enter some of the same races that Michelle and I like to enter. In the past few years, Joel ran with us in the Kananaskis relay and Edmonton Half Marathon and Keegan in the Edmonton Half Marathon.
One of our favorite races was the Kananaskis relay. The race is 100 miles long and runs through the Kananaskis Provincial Park, starting in Longview and finishing at Nakiska. The race has ten legs, each with its own challenge. The early legs are relatively flat, but they required the runner to camp the night before in Longview and then get up very early to run, often in freezing temperatures. Leg 5 was the most difficult because it was a long uphill run. For this leg, we often recruited Randy, my brother-in-law. Leg six was short and downhill, but it was difficult because it required you to use muscles you don’t normally use to slow yourself down during the run. Joel, my youngest son, ran this leg for us one year. The later legs are long and rolling and often during the heat of the day. No matter which leg you ran, you had to be prepared.
Completing the race successfully required a lot of organizing. All ten runners needed to be dropped off at the right time at the start of their legs and then picked up when they were done. Every runner had to be given a start time for their leg to make sure the handoff took place, which was often difficult to predict. Plans also had to be made to provide support to the runner using a designated support vehicle. Michelle always took on the logistical task of scheduling everyone so that all the runners and support were in the proper location at the correct time.
The Kananaskis relay was a lot of fun; being part of a team, and having friends and family cheering you on. One year we had Jill and Barbie, Michelle’s sisters; Brenda, my sister; and Randy, all on the team. All members of the team would encourage each other because we all wanted everyone to do well. Often encouragement from teammates motivated you to keep running when your mind was telling you to just stop and walk. All the runners were exhausted when they finished their legs and appreciated the congratulations from fellow teammates and family members for their effort. Michelle’s Dad came along to cheer the year that three of his daughters and two of his sons-in-law were running.
The furthest destination we traveled to participate in a race was New York City. We ran in New York twice, under very different circumstances. The first race was when we traveled to New York for our 25th wedding anniversary and entered a 10 km race through Central Park. The race was difficult because it was during the summer on a hot muggy day, not the best conditions for running. Several years later we ran the New York City Marathon on a route that runs through all the boroughs in New York City. This race was also difficult because marathons are inherently challenging. It was also freezing at the start that day. However, we enjoyed both races and got to experience New York in a rather unique way.
I am fortunate that Michelle and I are both avid runners. It is an activity that we have enjoyed doing together, whether it is running in the same race, or just going for a run together. Well, sometimes Michelle enjoyed going for a run with me, but that’s another story. We have experienced a lot of the same runs together, but the best running experience that we shared is without a doubt is the New York Marathon. If it wasn’t for Michelle I would have never entered this race and run my first marathon. It was an amazing experience and the topic of my next blog.
One Last Kick 