Another guest post:
Terry Nielsen
June 25, 1965 – July 27, 2013
Terry was a much loved member of our running family. He and I spent many hours and thousands of miles together. People often ask what we runners would talk about on these long treks. Welllll…, Terry and I would generally just try and sort out the meaning of life, and of death, and other simple concepts like that. We’d talk about politics and war, We talked about love and of fear, about poverty and money, and on and on. We talked
about friendship. We talked about sports and of course about training. He especially liked to talk about training and definitely about competition. A good race report was his favourite subject. No short cuts though, he needed details. He wanted to feel part of the action. He felt cheated when there were no splits, no duels, or there was a “to be continued.” (Keith, you know who I’m talking about) I learned a lot about Terry on these runs. These were happy days that we both looked forward to. Unfortunately Terry moved his focus away from running and our talks became less frequent, but always just as enjoyable.
As we all know, Terry had his own way of thinking about things. He was opinionated (and always happy to share it). He was thoughtful. He could be intense. He was inpatient. He was never shy about giving advice, even on topics that perhaps he may not have been expert, such as parenting perhaps. He was funny and he was playful and fun loving. At our home we thought of him as our fourth son. He was a complicated guy. He was Terry. When he ran he was famous for his unique style. Some described it as a windmill, others said he had a lot of moving parts. That describes him as a person as well. He was inconsistent and that made him even more dear to us.
He was many things. He was complicated. He was Terry. To some of us, he was a mentor. Sharon Fisher remembers him encouraging her at a 5 K clinic many years ago to take one hill at a time, “don’t worry about the next one until it comes.” A great lesson for life. She runs marathons now. To others he was a hero. He was fast, with a 2:46 marathon PR, once being the first masters runner in our local half marathon and another time the first master in the Victoria Marathon. He ran times that most of us could only dream about. He did it all through hard work.
To some he was a competitor. He and I had a number of duels. He usually came out on top, but I was always proud to have made him work for it. He was a cheerleader. Man could he get excited. He was always
encouraging others to reach for their goals. I think he was more excited than I was when I first ran a sub 3 hour marathon.
He was part of the team. One year he and Keith Wakelin put on a major drive to get enough racers together to overtake another team for second place in the team competition for the Island Race Series. We did it!
Terry could dedicate himself to a cause. Perhaps that was his greatest strength (and perhaps his greatest weakness.) He immersed himself completely into all he took on, whether it be running, his raw food experience, his Rotary experience or whatever it was. He gave his all till there was no more to give. And then he was gone. He had his demons and he tried with all of his might to outrun them. Eventually they overtook him He was complicated, but most of all he was a great friend to us all. He was Terry. We will miss him.
We must all take a lesson from Terry’s death. Many of us think of all of the would have, could have, should haves. If only I had known, perhaps I could have made a difference. Don’t miss out on that opportunity to tell someone that you care about them. Ask them how they are doing. Lend them a hand and give them your ear.
Life is fragile. It is sometimes hard to see what is most important. That is the friends and loved ones we have around us. Let’s never forget that important lesson. Thank you for that last gift Terry. We will miss you.
TERRY’S RUN
On the trail,
Life is,
Less complicated.
Round the bends,
Up the hills,
One by one,
We conquer them.
Troubles,
Soon behind us.
Our refuge.
At one,
With ourselves,
With the world.
No problem unsolved,
No question unanswered.
We are happy,
We are free.
Too soon,
We tire.
The path,
Becomes steep.
Legs heavy.
Lungs burning.
The storm,
Gathers round us.
Still,
We push on,
Till we can push,
No more.
The journey over,
At last,
We are at Peace.
