Why I do the things I do...

Before summer holidays, my colleagues, fellow teachers, always ask, “What crazy plans do you have for the summer?” Most of them have worked with me long enough to expect some kind of physical adventure; trail racing in the mountains, ramping up my mileage to prepare for a race, etc… Usually the response I get in return is, “you’re crazy!” or “why do you put yourself through that?”

A few weeks ago on the Trail Running Canada Facebook page a fellow runner, Doone Watson (who seems to be an inspiration to many) posted a question in regards to the selfish nature (or the perceived selfish nature) of training for long distance running events. Many points of view were shared; the great majority of the responses to the post were overwhelmingly positive and most made reference to the benefits of running over the possible perception of being selfish.

Personally I have asked myself the above mentionned questions many times.

“Why am I putting myself through this?”

“I must be crazy to think that I am even capable of doing something like that.”

“Shouldn’t I be spending time with my wife and kids rather than spending 3 or 4 hours out running on the riverbank?”

And never have I really taken the time to reflect on why I do the things I do. So here are some of my reflections (mulled over in my brain while running of course!)

I know one reason why I do the training and the racing (and yes racing is a relative term, I truly believe that I am racing!) is because I can. Spring of 1997, at the ripe old age of 21, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer.  This became my “aha” moment.  I vowed that if I got through the operation and treatments, I would not waste one minute of one day being afraid of challenges or trying new things.  Can running 50 km be as difficult as surviving 2 months of radiation treatments?

Since that spring/summer, I challenge myself to do things that normally I would hesitate to do. Try and run a 5 km? Sure why not? And gradually over a 10 year span, my confidence grew. Register for an actual race. Run 10 km. Run 15 km. Run a half marathon and finally last year a 50 km ultra. I figure I was given a second lease on life and I do not want to waste any opportunities (and by the way, 14 years later I am healthy, have 3 wonderful children, a 4^th due any day and defying science at every turn!).

My last run did not last  as long as I was hoping, so I didn’t have the time to fully formulate my motivation behind my second reason for doing this thing called running; my children. I’m sure I’ll get this reason all figured out during this week's long snowy run!

À la prochaine,

SK Clydesdale

De bonnes nouvelles

Bon, me voilà pour mon deuxième essai.

Cette semaine j'ai eu des bonnes nouvelles (non ma femme n'a pas accouché notre 4e enfants, j'espère écrire au sujet de ça plus tard dans le mois), j'ai été choisi comme ambassadeur de courses de trail pour l'équipe The North Face pour l'année 2012.

L'histoire de devenir parrainé (sponsored, est-ce le bon mot?) par The North Face début avec une visite à Facebook pendant l'été 2011. Je suis membre de la page trailrunner et un annonce sur cette page était que The North Face cherchait des coureurs canadiens pour etre des ambassadeurs de course de trail pour l'année 2012. J'ai lu les attentes du concours;

1. Ne pas etre commandité par une autre compagnie de course
2. Etre un coureur de trail
3. Capable de blogger par écrit et ou par vidéo dans les deux langues officielles
4. Vouloir blogger au sujet des courses que tu cours pendant l'année 2012
5. Participer à des courses de trail pendant l'année 2012

Voyant que je planifiais de courir plusieurs courses de trail en 2012, que je n'avais pas de contrat avec une compagnie de course et que j'aime partager mes experiences de courses, j'ai décidé de soumettre ma candidature. J'ai rempli l'information personelle et j'ai écris une courte dissertation qui expliquais les avantages de m'avoir comme ambassadeur. Tout ce qui restait à faire était d'attendre... et attendre... et attendre.

Pendant ce temps la page de trailrunner annonçais que la région de la SK/MB (ma région) avait seulement un candidat (moi!) et qu'il cherchait d'autres applications pour le poste. Jusqu'à date mes chances étaient bonnes! Il y avait seulement moi comme candidat, décision assez facile à prendre pour The North Face.

Le 10 octobre, la date limite pour les soumissions est venu et je croyais dans mon ignorance que j'allais apprendre au sujet de ma candidature le lendemain! Mais non, l'attente allais continuer pour encore un mois.  Finalement j'ai reçu un courriel de Johnathan Richard Schmidt (Trailrunner Canada) qui m'annonçais les bonnes nouvelles; que j'étais un des candidats choisit pour etre ambassadeur de course de trail pour The North Face pour l'année 2012. Quelle bonne chance, j'utilises déjà l'équipement North Face pour courir et maintenant j'allais le recevoir pour gratuit!

Temps pour planifier mes courses pour 2012 et d'élaborer un plan pour mon entrainement. Mais il y a encore une question qui me tracasse, est-ce que j'ai gagné la commandite par défaut ou parce que je l'ai mérité parmis plusieurs candidats?

Sask Clydesdale

Just Getting Started

This is my first foray into the blogging world. I thought this would be a good way to keep track of my training as well as provide information on the races I've run. I will do my best to compose my blog in both French and English, hopefully alternating with each post.

I am a Clydesdale runner. I am 5 ft 8 and weigh anywhere between 200 and 215 pounds depending on what race I am training for and where I am in my training program. I am not sure if there exists a standard or a true definition of what a Clydesdale runner is, but I believe that being over 200 pounds allows me the luxury of calling myself a Clydesdale (plus it makes me sound like a strong runner!).

I live and train in Saskatchewan. I run outside year round, through the hot summers and the cold winters, with some supplementary running on the treadmill. I try and do some yoga and pilates to keep flexible, along with some plyometrics and light weight workouts to maintain some core strength.

I have run many races in my short (10 years) running career. I prefer to run trail races, but have participated in more road races than trail. My road race distance PBs are:

5K - 21min 35sec
10K - 48min 49sec
21.1K - 1hour 48min
50K Ultra - 5 hours 27min

My 2011 race schedule is closed and I have started to plan my racing schedule for 2012. I am hoping to do more trail runs, than road this coming year. Here is my wish list of races for 2012:

1. Salomon 5 Peaks Trail Running Series; Central Alberta (hopefully all 5 races). I am hoping to do the enduro courses.
2. Saskatoon Road Runners Association Trail Races (hopefully all 3). Distances have not been decided as of yet, but I will be doing any distance between 10 and 15K
3. Lost Souls Ultra 50K; Lethbridge. I have heard from a good source that this is a great race to do if you want to feel like you've accomplished something!
4. Elk Ridge/Outter Limits Fun Run. Excellent family trail run in Northern Saskatchewan.

Well, time to get some base miles in if I am planning on completing my ambitious 2012 racing season!
À la prochaine,
Sask Clydesdale