The Real World

Life as a varsity athlete is truly privileged. Then you graduate.

A blessed few are good enough to continue chasing their athletic dreams. The rest of us get jobs.

When I was 17 years old I would lay in bed 'visualizing' the moments before Olympic Marathon glory would finally be mine. How sweet it would be. I would herald in a new age of running and become a hero to future generations
of runners.

Somehow that future glory slipped past and I was left staring into the mouth of oblivion – what was I going to do with my life? I had earned an English Degree, but that was more a result of the fact that I had to maintain a full course load to stay active on the track team, not because I wanted to teach English or become the Kerouac of
my generation.

So, while I waited for the rest of my life to happen, I went back to my own 'old faithful' – selling running shoes and leading training clinics. "Just for a few months," I told myself. "Just until I save up enough money to take some time off to train."

Hanging onto that Olympic dream by the thinnest
of threads…

I blinked and found myself four years into the future and completely fried from a 10-month stretch of working nearly 70 hours a week.

After 15 years of a running focused / goal oriented lifestyle (always deluding myself that if I could train just a little bit harder and a little bit smarter all the pieces would fall into place and I would magically transform from a Provincial class athlete to an Olympian contending for a medal) the shift had happened – the 15 year goal of becoming an Olympian, hell, even making a World Cross Country Championship team, had shifted to the land of fantasy and dreams.

Side Note - If anything, I've been consistent: In Grade 12 I ran 15:29 for 5km. That was back in 1992. After 12 years of train, rehab, train, rehab, etc., I finally ran 15:23. That's an annual improvement of roughly 0.5 seconds. If I can simply hold onto that 15:23 speed for another 40 years I might have a shot at an age group world record!

I always knew that moment / shift would happen, but I was surprised at how great it felt to be free of my self-imposed pressure to hit a certain time or make a certain team before I hung up the spikes for good.

But after 15 years of running – from 100 meter races to 50km trail runs – I realized that I can never walk away from one of the greatest gifts I've ever been given – the ability to run. How fast and how far are irrelevant; just that I can.

One of the greater ironies of my life is that I spent 15 years running / training to compete when the fact of the matter is that I'm not a competitive person. I am a terrible competitor (in this arena) and I hate racing. I love the camaraderie of training; of being outside and having a great time with friends, but I could never get it together enough to perform well in competitions.

The funny thing is that I can push myself to the edge of oblivion when I am alone, but have never come close to that in a race.

One of the greater ironies of my life is that I spent 15 years running / training to compete when the fact of the matter is that I'm not a competitive person. I am a terrible competitor (in this arena) and I hate racing. I love the camaraderie of training; of being outside and having a great time with friends, but I could never get it together enough to perform well in competitions.

Six months ago I decided that I wasn't going to have any goals other than to always love running and to stay active. I realize this sounds cheesy, but there are times when the only real joy I get out of my life is when I can run home from work, or lose myself on the trails for hours.

The other irony of my life is that in the six months since I gave up keeping, and striving towards, competitive goals, my fitness level has gone through the roof. I'm faster and stronger than I've ever been. Two months ago I ran a 3 mile time trial (4.8km) on the track in 14:09 – just to see what I could do.

So, I spend 12 years banging my head against the wall only to improve 6 seconds over 5km. Then I simply drop formalized training and run how I want, when I want, and I take the equivalent of 30 seconds of my time.

Within minutes of finishing that time trial I thought to myself: Man, if I start to train properly again I can really do some damage…

Better get rid of that thought in a hurry.

Instead, I think I'm just going to continue to enjoy the life running has given me. I've made great friends, stayed healthy, run in so many of the most beautiful places on the planet – Death Valley to Cinque Terre to Seville – and now make a living as a runner. I might even be the World's highest paid 15 min 5km guy.

I've had the pleasure of watching a friend quit smoking, lose 80 pounds, and just break 2:50 for the marathon. Sure it's not the world record, but for just a moment, it was to him.

I've suffered the heartbreak of watching an old friend miss an Olympic Medal by the blink of an eye, and the joy of another friend sprint past 3 guys in the last 50 meters to win a bronze medal in the Steeplechase at the World Youth Games.

I've cried for nearly an hour as I paced another friend to her first finish at Badwater, the 135-mile torture fest in Death Valley. I've never been prouder of someone else in my life.

At times, there is nothing more beautiful than watching someone achieve the near impossible and watch how it changes them.

It really is such a privilege to be able to do what we do. I am grateful for every single run I've ever had and will have. It's the purest thing I know.

I think I would be lost without it.

Enjoy your activity and your ability to take part in it. Appreciate and respect other people's goals, abilities, ambitions, and dreams.

"Remember, you're only a hamstring pull away from oblivion."
-Steve Jones, Former Marathon Record Holder

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