Half and Half

Andrew SmithTara Quinn-Smith are just like any running couple

A marriage of two runners isn't unusual. Many Canadian couples fit his-and-hers training schedules around everyday life. But Andrew Smith and Tara Quinn-Smith aren't just any husband and wife squeezing in a few runs each per week.

In April, Andrew and Tara, both members of the Brooks Canada Marathon Project, won the men's and women's titles at the Canadian Half-Marathon Championships in Montreal, pulling off a rare family sweep. Combine that with a pair of strong performances in their first marathons in Ottawa in May (see box p. 37), and this running couple is rising up the ranks of Canadian running. Both of them are now training for the World Half-Marathon Championships in Rio de Janeiro in October.

Fitting two running careers into one family may sound daunting, but apart from the challenges of pulling dinner together at the end of a tiring day of training, Andrew and Tara see almost nothing but benefits to sharing their life and their sport. They talked to iRun about how they support each other, that fateful day in April, and the day Andrew proposed - naturally, at the end of a run.

BOY MEETS GIRL

TARA: We met in college in 1998 and ended up running at the same school. We were recruited to run at Campbell University in North Carolina. The first year we were there, probably in October, we started dating. Two years later, we were able to transfer to the University of South Florida in Tampa.

ANDREW: I proposed to Tara in 2003 when we were just finishing up university. The following week we were graduating. We were in Philadelphia for a race and we were staying a couple of days after. I brought the ring with me. We went out for an easy run the day after our races and as we were heading back to our hotel, I said, "We have to go up the Rocky stairs - the steps in the Rocky movie." Her feet were pretty sore and there are a lot of stairs, so she didn't seem too enthused to do it. I said, "We can just go up really easy." And when we got to the top, I proposed to her up there. I think she was pretty surprised.

TARA: I was having some plantar fasciitis problems, and I was kind of hobbling around. So when he said, "We have to run up the Rocky steps," I said, "No, no, no, I don't think I want to today." But he held on to my hand and I gave it a go. And I just remember it being really picturesque and the fact that he was rambling a lot. He must have been nervous. He took out the ring to propose, and got down on one knee. And I was shocked and emotional and I started crying a little bit. I definitely wasn't expecting it then. And I said yes. And then our plane ride back to Tampa was the worst flight ever with turbulence and lightning. We were so excited about being engaged and then we thought that was the end of it.

PARALLEL PATHS

ANDREW: I think the situation we have now is great. I like that we are both in running to the same extent. We're on the same schedule on a daily basis, compared to a couple where only one of them is doing this. That would be a lot more difficult: they're not able to see each other a lot, being on different schedules.

TARA: Both of us are in the exact same boat, especially with the circumstances we have right now. We're both in the Brooks Canada Marathon Project. That's really helped us. We have their support with sponsorship and housing. I think the project is an incredible experience, especially for Andrew. For a while there, he was training a lot on his own. For me it was a little easier: as a woman, you can always find some high school boys to train with. For men, at the level he's at right now, it's harder to find people to train with.

ANDREW: There aren't many drawbacks to us both doing this. But in between the training, you can be pretty tired. The downtime in between, you don't feel like doing much. There are things you need to get done during the day, other than training. But we're both training so hard on a daily basis that we can both be exhausted. And meals are important for us as athletes. You can't just throw something together. Trying to do that kind of stuff, the household things, when you're tired and maybe you don't feel like doing it, that can be tough.

TARA: I guess at the end of the day, if we're both a little bit tired and it comes down to cooking, it might be a challenge. But it seems to work out that we kind of balance each other out.

ANDREW: It has definitely happened that one of us has a good race and one of us doesn't. But no matter what, you're going to be happy for how the other person did. It's not like I would feel bitter. I would rather focus on her race and put my race behind me. It would be the same vice versa. It's going to happen, and I'm sure it will in the future. But if she comes first and I come third, it's not like I had a substandard performance. It wouldn't be healthy if we were comparing against each other. More often than not, she's placing higher than I am so I'd be coming out on the bottom end of that.

TARA: Without Andrew, I'm not really sure I'd be in the same situation I am right now. I didn't have the extensive running background that he did. When we got together, my focus really got a bit of an overhaul. I definitely started focusing on my running a lot more. He's helped me with his knowledge and running background. He's really carried me under his wing that way. I owe a lot of my running success to him.

ANDREW: Just seeing how well Tara has done and the success she's had and how she's improved has been really motivating for me. It tells me I can do the same thing. It's just so inspiring to see her doing that well.

TARA: We're good motivation for one another. We both understand what it takes. You're going to have your good days and your bad days. And it works out that one person's up when the other is down. If one of us is a little bit more tired, it's nice to have the other one there to be supportive. And we often do runs together. A lot of times when we have days when we do two runs, we'll do those together because they're easier runs. The recovery runs are at a slower pace.

RUNNING DOWN A DREAM

ANDREW: The Canadian half-marathon championships were very exciting. It was just exciting knowing that we were both going to Rio de Janeiro for the world championships.

TARA: I had about 200 metres to go (in the half-marathon championship) when I found out that Andrew had won. I was coming down the final stretch and one of our coaches said, "Tara, you're going to the worlds. Andrew won the men's." I was just head over heels, over the moon.

ANDREW: What I usually do is finish and then backtrack a bit on the course and see her when she's coming in. Because it was the Canadian championship, the drug-testing people greeted me at the finish line. The guy came up to me right away. They have to keep you in their sight. He said, "Do you want to come this way?" And I said, "I usually go back and see how my wife is doing." He said, "That's fine." I jogged back a couple of hundred metres and she came in a few minutes later. I cheered her in to the finish line.

TARA: It was really exciting. It gave me goose bumps. It's the first time Andrew and I both won the national championship. It was quite a breakthrough for him and definitely his best race by far.

ANDREW: I can't see something like this happening too often: a husband and wife both winning the same championship on the same day. What are the chances that something like this could happen? Probably not very high. It's happened to us a handful of times before, but never at this level in terms of how competitive the race was.

TARA: I would say that as athletes we're similar in terms of our attitude. We're both pretty laid back. We're focused, but fairly relaxed at the same time. But Andrew's the more organized of the two of us. He's very methodical and very organized. He's just very good at kind of knowing what we should be bringing and packing. Race day, he knows down to a science: race time, what time we need to be there. I know those things but I kind of leave a lot of that up to him. It definitely helps that we're doing this together.

ANDREW: Ultimately, the goal is to both be representing Canada on the major international stage: at the Olympics or the world championships. In the public eye, the Olympics are the biggest stage. But in our sport, the calibre of competition at the world championships is exactly the same. That's definitely a goal. And just running as fast as we're capable of running.

FROM HALF TO FULL

On May 25, Tara Quinn-Smith and Andrew Smith each ran their first marathon in Ottawa. Tara won the Canadian women's championship in a time of 2:33:57 and Andrew finished fourth among Canadian men in 2:19:58.

TARA: I feel really good about it. It was definitely within the goal that we had set out for the race. The Olympic Games standard (of 2:31) was something I hoped I could come close to, but knowing that it was the first race that I had done, it was still good. Being able to be the Canadian champion was the other goal. For the first time moving up to the marathon distance, I'm definitely excited about that. Especially coming off the year I had, being injured for the whole year.

ANDREW: I'm really happy with how I did. I think I was a little disappointed at first, because I fell short of my time goal, the time I set going in (2:15). But I realize now the pace we'd set out to do was probably a little ambitious, especially with it being my first one. Having this one under my belt now, it's going to make me that much better when I continue on for the next one. Having run under 2:20 is definitely a good starting point for my first marathon. And finishing fourth was good, considering it was one of the deepest Canadian fields they've had in a long time.