FEATURED SHOE
Each week, we pair a member of Eachcoach with a new pair of sneakers.
At Melissa’s Road Race this Saturday, 31-year-old Lauren Atkinson will be running her eighth half marathon of the year. “I’m trying to beat my first-ever half marathon time!” she says, adding with a laugh that this PB race time was achieved in 2004. “My age doesn’t help, but I’m focusing on my training and, at any rate, it doesn’t matter — every time I do a race it’s really to raise money for charity.” Atkinson works for the Calgary branch of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada, a cause that’s close to her heart. After losing two grandparents to cancer, she says that her involvement with running dovetails nicely with her profession. Every time she feels like skipping a run, she thinks about how fortunate she is for her health. “I know too well that there are people who can’t go out for a run,” she says. “I remember that whenever I start thinking that running is anything other than a privilege, like if it starts becoming a chore.” Brooks is outfitting Atkinson in a pair of their Glycerin 12 sneakers, a light and cushiony neutral trainer that was introduced this fall. For Atkinson, who has run several marathons but prefers the after-effects of the half, Saturday’s event is a race she’s taking in stride. The conditions in Banff are quite hilly; so she already signed up for a November race — the lifelong runner wants to raise money, but she also wants to beat that PB. “I’ve cut off 11 minutes already this year to my time,” she says. “I know I can do it in 2014 — 1:51 is a very, very big goal.”