SUN RUN TRAINING
‘Strangers’ offer support
Janice Moult, a soothing voice of reason in a room filled by a motley crew, had this to offer in the final week of Sun Run InTraining two years ago:
“None of you in here are going to win the Sun Run, so just have fun and embrace the wonderful race day vibe.”
Known to be the class clown at times, I bellowed toward the lovely Langley coordinator: “Thirteen weeks and now you tell us we have no chance? Thanks for nothing Coach Downer!”
A voice in the back of the room, who we all recall being a shy, quieter thing 12 weeks earlier, piped up: “Finally, that was funny Gord!”
Tried to believe for the longest time that wasn’t a shot. Sandra Jongs Sayer, who replaced Moult as the Langley training boss last year, confirmed it was.
People run for many healthy, social and some curious reasons. Many more don’t, pointing to bad knees, lack of discipline, no time, smoking, drinking, children and the inability to do it well. Many detest seeing their social media feeds littered with never-ending running selfies and “boring” training records.
In their spare time my work colleagues read, sleep, golf, cycle, ski, play rec hockey, slo-pitch, pubcrawl and worship Brock Boeser. If I mention anything about running they flee the room — some with amazing speed. Go figure!
When asked last week what motivated me to train every year for the Sun Run with a “bunch of strangers,” you didn’t have to be a stable genius to understand.
You may have heard that my transitioning newspaper company was going to terminate some employees last year. I was on the Club 54 list, notified of that decision on my birthday.
Unbeknownst to me, our Saturday morning InTraining group had secretly planned a Super Heroes-themed workout that weekend to mark my milestone.
Every week up to that point I was “testing” costumes and the logistics of running in them. Some were winners. Most weren’t. But they made everyone at our training sessions smile. The bubbly receptionist at W.C. Blair Rec Centre — our Langley meeting place — called me the Patch Adams of running. I’m still hoping that wasn’t a shot.
Delayed a week to let the shock of the layoffs fade, last year’s uplifting birthday run with those Sun Run InTraining “strangers” remains a highlight of my adult life. Getting my job back three weeks later was a close second. (Told the wife our wedding was an easy No. 1, so ssshhh!)
We enjoyed a memorable morning at the 33rd Sun Run. Followed that up a week later with a windup run/breakfast. That should have been the end of the story, but life can bite you when least expected.
Trying to line up some “very slow pace bunnies” for the challenging Shaughnessy 8K race in mid-May, my phone rang at work on May 2. I expected it to be Jongs Sayer with a bunny update and maybe a decent joke. Instead, it was my sister-in-law calling to inform that my youngest brother, the father of two smart youngsters, had just died unexpectedly.
I was instantly crushed. And even now, after some time has passed, remain a bit numb. Over the next four months those “strangers” from my Sun Run training clinic sent notes, dragged me to fun runs, kept me going. They even wore costumes. This says a great deal about the quality of leaders and people the program attracts. They invest in you, and vice versa.
On a summer day last year when my brother’s children needed a real pick-me-up, I suggested the 5K Colour Me Rad run in North Van, thinking they would sprint the first 400 metres, blow off some steam and walk the rest of the way as kids sometimes do. Nope. Blazing fast, start to finish.
None of us training this winter in Langley will win the 34th annual Sun Run, but we’ll meet some new “strangers” during the exercise. To say the clinic could change your life for the better sounds like something the promotion people would write, until you’ve been in my shoes and understand it did.
Good luck to everyone training around the province — we’ll see you all down the road. And for sure on April 22 in Vancouver.
Gotta run ...