Thanks Naomi...we're headed WEST!!!!

When we sent out the last email blast requesting everyone's formal registration we received quite a few emails inquiring why there wasn't a run out west.  In short, the reason is that we had no idea that this idea would be popular enough to encourage participation country-wide.  I am in the final stages of confirming that we will be adding the Good Life Half-Marathon in Victoria to our list of events, and will have registration information out shortly.

One of my favourite emails from the West Coast Contingent came in from Naomi Smith who, as it turns out, is a very accomplished runner, triathlete, and all around go-getter!  When I learned that Naomi ran the Boston Marathon I assumed that like many endurance immortals she was just born fast, it turns out this wasn't the case.  For any of you out there that have found that all of this "fitness stuff" just isn't coming easily to you, I'd like you to take a minute to read the following account of her journey from "last picked" in gym class, to the start of the Boston Marathon.

Thanks Naomi....we'll see you in Victoria!

Naomi Smith (chilling with her boys)

It was a cold but sunny day, April 18, 2011. I am in the runner’s chute, along with roughly 27,000 other runners from all over the world, about to embark on a 42.2 km journey from Hopkinton to Boston. I can feel the nervous energy in the air. The crowd moves forward, and as I start running, I see that the street is lined with spectators, many of them children, all ready to give us a ‘high five’ as we run by. Then, something happens to me that has never happened to me before while running a race. I start to cry. I am completely overwhelmed with emotion, as I have trouble believing that I am running the oldest and most prestigious running race in the world: the Boston Marathon.

Friends and colleagues are often congratulating me on my races. Pride is not an emotion that I’m used to, however, when it comes to my athletic endeavors. Yes, I love to run, and I have dabbled in triathlons over the past few years, but I am humbled on an almost daily basis by the athletic accomplishments of others. Some runners I met in Boston were running the race for the 10^th year in a row. Some people run ultra-marathons (like Andrea Lynn Sloan, introduced in this blog, who ran the grueling Marathon des Sables in Morocco!). Some people compete in Ironman Canada every year, or even once, which is amazing. So for me, I feel somewhat uncomfortable when people are impressed that I have run the Boston marathon. Perhaps it is also because I have trouble reconciling the girl that I was to the “athlete” that I am now.

Let me introduce you to ‘me’, 25 (or so) years ago. I was the girl who was nick-named “toothpicks” as a child because of my skinny legs, and the girl who was always last-picked for teams at school in P.E. class, and the girl who wore a back brace 23 hours/day for scoliosis during my teenage years, and finally, the girl who failed every swimming lesson she took as a child. I am also the teenager, who, when I got my driver’s license, drove everywhere – whether it was to the corner store one block away, or to the bank three blocks away. I started going to the gym in my late teenage years, because it was the cool thing to do, but it wasn’t until I was in my early 20s, moved to Vancouver and met my (now) husband, that I had a shift in my thinking around physical activity. We would walk to the grocery store and load our groceries into our back-packs (mostly because parking in Vancouver was a bigger pain than walking!).  I rode my bike to university because it was cheaper to bike than drive. We walked to restaurants for dinner.  It was around that time that I developed my love for running and I learned all about the addiction of the “runner’s high” and more importantly, the positive effects that exercise has on your body and mind. You see, now I believe that exercise is a basic need of life; like eating, like drinking, like sleeping.

Friends and colleagues have a hard time believing me, but I consider myself to be an inherently lazy person! I would much rather lie on the couch and watch T.V., or snuggle with my boys in bed, than go outside for a run on a cold, rainy day.  Some days, it’s much easier to come up with excuses rather than reasons for why I shouldn’t go for a run. My good friend and running partner said to me the other day “excuses are like a- - holes….everyone has one”.  We all do it. I often hear “Oh, I can’t run because I’ve got bad knees” (go for a bike-ride!), or, “I would do triathlons but I can’t swim” (It was precisely because I couldn’t swim that I signed up for my first triathlon), or, “maybe when the kids are older I’ll have more time” (make time!), or “I can’t ride my bike to work because it’s really hilly” (excellent! A better workout!). I challenge myself to eliminate the excuses. Next time you are feeling unmotivated, ask yourself for a good reason why you can’t go for a run, instead of an excuse. Remind yourself that you won’t regret it once you’ve done it.  If all else fails, think about me..the lazy girl with the chicken legs (yep – still have them), who ran the Boston marathon, and say to yourself “if she can do it, so can I!”.