‘In my head, I was sure that I would never be able to run’
Four years ago, Mireille Durand couldn’t even run for a minute. She had been trying to lose weight, and it hadn’t been working. So she decided to sign up for a 5K. It was the turning point.
Today, Durand has numerous 5K races, some 10K’s and two half marathons behind her. And on May 27, she will add another 10K to her list at Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend. “The race weekend atmosphere is amazing!” said Durand, 37. “It really is one of the reasons people keep coming back.”
Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend is Canada’s biggest running event, with six distances for runners of all ages and abilities. And non-runners are part of the weekend too, as the community rallies around the event with more than 100,000 spectators lining the race routes from Westboro to Gatineau to Rockcliffe Park. “It never disappoints,” said Durand. “It’s a special experience.”
Another runner who will be doing the 10K at Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend is Linda Lambert, 56, a grandmother, whose son Yanick inspired her to do her first 5K run last year. Lambert had always admired runners but never thought she could do it. But she has now completed many 5K and 10K races, and even a half marathon.
She has also lost 85 pounds in the past year.
“In my head, I was sure that I would never be able to run,” said Lambert. But one night her son came home for supper and told her, “Mom, put on your shoes, I’m going to go out running with you!”
“He knew I had a hard time running even one kilometre,” she said, “but we went out and did it. After that, my son told me ‘Mom, it’s only in your head, and you’re the only one who can control your head. If you want it, you can do more.’ ”
How to start and keep running
When Durand began running, she would go out early in the morning so no one would see her. At first, she had a hard time running continuously for one minute, but after a while, “it started to feel better,” she said. “I always feel great after a run. And I found I enjoy setting a goal and being able to reach it.” After some time, she built up to five kilometres.
Part of the challenge is developing a routine and sticking with it. Lambert usually runs in the evening after work, and often on Sundays on the recreational pathways and across the bridges between Ottawa and Gatineau.
“Winter or summer, rain or sunshine; when it’s a running day, it’s shoes on and get out,” she said.
Looking aHead to May
It’s a sure sign of spring, and a telltale sign that Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend is coming, when you start to see runners and running groups filling the pathways along the Rideau Canal, on both sides of the Ottawa River and all over town.
After a training run in her Riverside South neighbourhood, Durand reflects on her goals: “I’m getting into the shape I want to be, and I’m losing weight,” she said. “Running actually got me into the gym to work out. It completely changed my life. Now, running is part of my everyday life.”
Join Linda and Mireille, and thousands of other inspiring runners, at Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend this May. Register to take part in one of the city’s most exciting weekends of the year at www.runottawa.ca.