I struggled with pushing myself physically when I started running in 2008. I plodded along, happy to be out, but never really happy about my pace. But that’s me, I’d think, I’m just not fast. I just don’t have the fire. I’m all about the journey. Except I wanted the fire. I admired the fire. I envied the fire.

Through training for a bunch of long distance races and getting stronger and more confident, I would sometimes see sparks, but still no fire. I struggled to push myself past a certain threshold when I was alone. Swimming, biking, running, it was all the same. Pain = Kaitlyn stops.

When I ran the Army Half in Ottawa last September, something magical happened. I lit on fire. It was one of the most awesome days and races of my life. I just ran and ran as fast as I could and when I started feeling pain, I just didn’t stop and eventually the pain stopped registering in my head and something went clickboom and I lit on fire.

When it was over, there was nothing left. I had nothing left. And it was so amazing. My lungs hurt and my head felt really funny for the last 3k and I wasn’t completely sure that my legs were going to hold out but that fire, it was there.

The same thing happened today on a very cold and hilly route for the Hypothermic Half in Halifax. My husband and I ran together and for the first 8k, I had a loose goal of wanting to crack two hours. And then at the turn around point, when we were cruising ahead of the two hour pace bunny, things went clickboom again and I started salivating for 1:54. For a personal best.

We came in at 1:57, which due to conditions (soooo many hills and frigid temps), was actually harder fought than my 1:55 at Army Half.

While we were running I realized that the fire was there.

All along, I’ve been thinking that there was no fire inside of me, no real drive to leave my heart out on the road. But that wasn’t the case at all. It may not have come naturally, I worked hard to find it, but I did. I lit that fire.

I think that there is something that lights everyone’s fire, something that makes you feel so passionate and powerful that you could explode. It may be your job (if it is, lucky you), it may be writing or running or Cross Fit or learning a new language. It’s something that fills you up and makes you feel happy and good about yourself. Something that makes the rest of the world fall away for a while as you laugh and enjoy.

Once you find that thing that sets you on fire, I think that’s what you need to do with your life. That’s why I love coaching so much, because I really feel that I’m “supposed” to help people discover the strength that lives within them through physical fitness. I know that not everyone finds the fire through their sneakers on the road, but some people will. And if I can help them realize that there is so much more potential inside of them than they knew, who knows where their road will take them.

My own fire burns me up sometimes, especially on nights like tonight, when I’m still glowing from a great race. But I want everyone to light their own fire, to feed the flames and let their gut lead the way.

Happy first day of school, to all students! This year will be my 7th year of graduate school, or my 11th year of university, or grade 23 overall…let’s just stop this train of thought right here.

Anyway, I wanted to share with you the medal rack that I commissioned from my very talented father. He finished it last week and we put it up this past weekend. I put it up in my office as a visual reminder but I didn’t realized that it would also be an auditory reminder: when the window is open, I can hear the medals clink together like a wind chime. I love it. I especially love the empty peg for full-marathon medals. I’ve got room to grow! (I’ve said it already but I’ll say it again publicly. Thank you so much, Dad.)

Today’s question: How do you organize your medals? Do you display them in some way, are they jumbled in a bag at the bottom of your closet or do you keep them at all?

Like Mizuno, Step into Action is living “Never Settle” in its own unique way. In just over a month, Dr. Senft has engaged hundreds of supporters and received over $44,000 in donations towards his $1million goal for the Vancouver Prostate Centre. Obviously, the mission is far from complete; He will continue to run upwards of 50km/day communicating with Canadian men and their families, one step at a time. Each step is being taken in 1 of 3 pairs of Mizuno Wave Elixir 6 running shoes.

Mizuno is proud to support Doctor Riley in his journey across Canada. To find out more about his run please visit the Step Into Action blog or follow him on Facebook and on Twitter. We will be posting some of his blogs from the road for the remainder of his run.

Join us in wishing Dr. Riley success in his journey across Canada with his important message!

For Jim Macfarlane, it all started in 1982 with a tiny sports store, four employees and a vision. Fast forward almost 30 years: Macfarlane now owns three thriving sports stores and is living his dream.

In the beginning it was all hands on for Macfarlane and his then-business partner. Nowadays, he oversees the operations in all locations, and running the stores has become a bit of a family affair with his 80-year old mother still doing the accounting and his wife taking care of community and corporate relations.

Macfarlane grew up in Montreal. His mother took care of the books for a chain of sports stores, and when he was 14, against his parents’ wishes, he decided that he would like to work at one of the sports stores as well. So he got a job and in time developed a great relationship with the owner of the stores who became a mentor of sorts to him. He came to idolize the owner because he enjoyed his job immensely and it showed. “I wanted a job like that so I too could have a fun, enjoyable life and make a living doing it,” he said.

Through a strange twist of events, Macfarlane moved to Ottawa and ended up working at the Ottawa Athletic Club stringing rackets alongside the store owner who would end up being his future business partner. For the next few years, he dabbled in the racket business, but wanted something more. In1986, Macfarlane bought out his partner’s Sports 4 shares to become sole owner of the store. He then decided to bring a new focus to Sports 4.

“I wanted to focus on shoes, so I decided to carve out a niche for the store and chose to focus on the medical community,” says Macfarlane. Sports 4 quickly became the best kept secret in Ottawa.

With no budget for advertising, Macfarlane decided to focus on stellar customer service and knowledgeable, highly trained staff. “We relied on word of mouth advertising and it worked for us,” he said. “It was only when we opened up our Kanata store in 1999 that we started to invest in advertising because we had more of a cash flow at that point.”

Sports 4 is not your typical sports store, each customer is treated like an individual. “We still always measure feet and we never rush customers. When people come into our store, they know that they may have to wait, but they wait. They know that if you want the right shoes, Sports 4 is where you go,” says Macfarlane.

And how does his staff know so much about the products in the store? “Each staff member is thoroughly trained before ever heading out on the floor,” says Macfarlane. “They shadow other staff members, and while many of our staff members are runners, not all of them are – but each and every one of them live and breathes athletics.”

Mizuno is a top brand at Sports 4, and like most Mizuno fans, Macfarlane loves the consistency that this line always delivers. “Mizuno never alienates the people who are using their shoes; the next version of a shoe is always slightly better than the other with the fit and feel always being the same,” says Macfarlane. “Once someone becomes a Mizuno customer, they tend to become loyal for life because they develop a trust for the brand.”

Almost 30 years later, Macfarlane still loves what he is doing. He says, “I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. It is always a new challenge every day and it is not a typical 9-5 job, and that’s what I love about it.”

Visit Sports 4 online or in store:

149 Bank Street
(between Slater and Laurier)
K1P 5N7
Phone: 613.234.6562

Kanata Centrum (near Chapters)
400 Earl Grey Dr.
K2T 1B6
Phone: 613.271.7597

Follow Sports 4 on Twitter

I tried twice to get to a 10K less in than an hour.  My first attempt left me at 62.21 but it was after a difficult few days.  So I thought I would try again and went to the Chester Cut and Run 5k/10K thinking it was flatter than the Bluenose Course.  It  fact, it was not.  My results for this was not significantly better, and I finished in 61.43.  It’s a new personal best, but I still did not make my hour.

I am not exactly sure how to feel about all of this.  I won this make over contest a few days after my best friend died of breast cancer.  A week or so later Mum was diagnosed with cancer, and the make over ended with her death.  Working with the iRun team turned out to be a very positive thread through a fairly dark time.  It was hard for me to stay positive and engaged sometimes, as Mum’s health declined and I needed and wanted to be more attentive to her. During this same time I started a new job with a long commute, making it difficult to get my runs in. 

What I learned is that if you want to fit healthy activities in, you can.  I ran at 5.00 am before I started my commute because I could not  do runs in the evenings.  My mind relaxed into the runs helping me cope with whatever needed coping with.  I also learned that it is vital to take care of my health, because it can turn into bad health in a second.  This process is not about being fast, its about protecting the thing on which the rest life rests, health.  I believe our socieity does not value important things, and turns to foolishness to feel better about difficulties.  Canadians complains about our quality of life, when we have so much that most of the world does not.  When my friend was dying of cancer, leaving her two little boys (5 and 2) behind, she was so annoyed when she saw others not taking care of themselves and squandering the gifts of health.

So even though I failed to achieve my goal, I suceeded in increasing my fitness and confidence, in managing life’s obstacles with healthy, reasonable choices instead of hiding in ice cream or other glutunous behaviors ( and I love glutony).  An hour is doable for me with more training, which is something I would not have said 3 months ago.

When I was running today, one of motivating factors was thinking of my mum in her last days.  Dying is hard work, especially if you want to leave in a way which exemplifies the way you lived.  Both Mum and my friend went out not in a panic, or angry but leaving memories of hard work and perseverance, of achievement in the face of obstacles, of fighting a losing battle with grace,  and most importantly to me, with humour.  Life can be hard, running is often hard but sticking with it to the end, regardless if the end is a personal best or if you are the last person across the line takes real character. I will never run a 10K inf 45 minutes (probably) but does that mean I shouldn’t try.  My character was built a bit by this experience and that is in part why I run now.  That and the fact that I need to work off the rhubarb crisp that is for supper tonight.

 I have thanked iRun so many times, and Tania, Lauren and my other teammates, Brock and Aleks so much that it is now starting to sounds a bit over the top.  This blog has also been really helpful so I would also like to thank those of you who have read it, sent words of encouragement or said something nice to me over the last few months.  I believe in the power of community and there is a running community out there which I am just beginning to see.

Thanks everyone.

Chrystal

The wait is over! The brand new Wave Prophecy® has launched and you can find it exclusively at these specialty retailers right across Canada:

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Frontrunners, Nanaimo
Forerunners, North Vancouver
Forerunners, Vancouver
Ladysport, Vancouver
Run Inn, Vancouver
the Right Shoe, Vancouver
Kintec Footlabs, Surrey
Peninsula Runners, White Rock
Peninsula Runners, Langley
Runner’s Den, Port Moody
Runner’s Sole, Kamloops

ALBERTA

Runner’s Den, Red Deer
Ernies Sport Experts, Grande Prairie
Strides, Calgary
United Cycle, Edmonton

ONTARIO

Running Free, Markham
Running Free, Barrie
Du Tri & Run, Streetsville
Foot Tools, Burlington
Runner’s Edge, St. Catharines
Bushtukah, Ottawa
Sports 4, Ottawa

QUÉBEC
Le Coureur, Sherbrooke

See what runners are saying about Wave Prophecy®! and for more information please visit the Mizuno Canada website.

Tania said try two training races before my big goal race.  I blogged about my first, so it seems like I should share a bit about this one.  It felt much better.

At my first training 5 K, I ran it in 28.42 and it was not a positive experience.  I did not believe that my body would be responsive to all the training, everyone was so fast and I seemed to be slower than most. I found it a bit demoralizing really.

Tania has been providing me with speed training designed to simulate a race environment, and also gave me the dialogue that goes with it that should be going on in my head during the race. The speed training is tough for me and it pushes me to go at a pace I am not sure is healthy in aged and overweight women, but I am out there doing it.  It involves running for 6 minutes at a race pace (for me that is around 6.00 per k) and then walking or jogging between each interval.  I do this 6 times.  For the most recent speed work out she reduced the number of 6 minute intervals to 4 and then I was to push it even faster and do 4x 2 minutes with a 4 minute rest between.  Even with the walking between, I did almost 10K in 60 minutes.

So with a few more speed workouts under my belt since the last training 5 k race three weeks ago, I went into this race feeling much more confident in my ability and curious to see if the speed training would improve my time.

The course was tougher with more uphills and it was a rainy cold day, so it was not the ideal conditions of the first race.  My mental conversation was more positive and I did not get discouraged by people passing me.  In the end, I improve my time by 30 seconds in just 3 weeks of speed training.  Amazing.

I now believe that I can get faster – its just a matter of putting in the time and getting fitter.  My faith in my own ability to achieve has kicked in.  Ain’t that a powerful thing.  Now its just a matter of putting the time in to achieve my goal.

I can hear Tania, all the way from Toronto saying, “Its about time.  I thought she never would get it.”  I guess I am slow in more than one way.

When Alan heard about me and this contest, he agreed to speak with Tania about my fitness program to date and his observations.  He then offered to assist me in whatever way he could.  Well today he organized my first speed workout ever after speaking with Tania. Now, its important to know that Alan is very fit and does crazy things like cycle 80k in a few hours and then teach 3 boot camps afterward, and smiles like a crazy guy the whole time.  So, although it was very nice of Alan to offer to help, it actually was a bit of a scary proposition.  Not just because he is very fit, but because he has turned into my “fitness husband.”

Alan Mumford, my boot camp instructor and "fitness busband"

This means that, just like my real husband, he tells you the truth, its hard to fool him on things and he sometimes pushes my buttons to get me to work harder. Plus, he does not take any crap and understands my moods.   Well, today, he pushed me to run three “race pace” intervals, which felt really fast to me.  I could have picked him up and threw him into the lake we were running around, but I did not want to be accused of fitness husband abuse.

In the end, it was a good work out and he was very supportive and I ran faster than I expected for longer than I thought.  Even though it was a shorter workout then my regular runs, it felt harder.  I can also say that I did not enjoy it at all and am not looking forward to the next one.  I have been assured that I will get faster, but I am not so sure of it.  I can also honestly say that I would not have worked that hard if I had run it by myself.

Thanks Alan for the help.  Thanks for the last 2 years of boot camp.  If you have chance go see him and do a workout.    Oh and Alan, I will see you next Tuesday at 6.00 am to do another one.

It’s no secret that I struggle with balance (I think we all do). Between all the different aspects and demands in our life, balancing pleasure and duty, activity and rest. This week I just wasn’t feeling my runs. I happily ran Sunday, went snowshoeing Monday, and forced myself out on Thursday morning with the stroller (even more difficult on snowy roads!). But when Friday came along with its promise of snow and the kids in daycare, I closed my school books and hopped in the car beside Steve, smiling all the way to the hill.

I don’t advocate skimping on important training runs, but some weeks days, you just have to be able to cut yourself some slack and play.