Another guest post:
“I was never a particularly athletic kid, and through my early twenties I would do the occasional jog but that was really it. The spark for running really came from watching my dad, Wayne, doing the RVM Marathon some time in the mid 2000’s. The energy and excitement at the finish line was incredible, and it sparked my curiosity to give it a try and see for myself what it was all about.
He suggested I come check out Thursday Night Trails, and it was really the community there that completely hooked me on running. I quickly joined CVRR and signed up for my first real road race: the 2008 RVM Half Marathon. It lived up to the hype, and I quickly got swept up in the excitement of the Island Series and a variety of half marathons and marathons.
Naturally with my connection to TNT, I was also interested in trail races as well. I dabbled in a few local trail races, and then jumped into the deep end with the Kusam Klimb in 2010, which was both brutal and amazing!
Over time my interests have veered more and more to the trails, and longer and longer in distance. Race highlights for me include completing the Whistler Alpine Meadows 100M and the Fat Dog 120M, as well as getting to run the Boston Marathon with my dad.
One of my favourite events is Fletcher’s Challenge in Nanaimo, which is a trail race with a mystery course where you get bused out to a secret start location. Some of my favourite runs are just getting out and exploring in a new place. One specific example that stands out is running in the side roads of Paris and stumbling upon a collector’s market in a little hidden courtyard. But mostly I just love long adventures out on the trails, and hope to be able to keep enjoying them for many many years ahead.”
