1. Especially When It’s Hard
2. Despite Omicron, In-person Racing to Return this Spring
3. TRAIL TALK - Running Interviews
4. Photos This Week
5. Upcoming Events: The Brick 37th Annual Resolution Run 2021/2022. Feb 1 - Mar 1 Running Room Hypo Half Virtual
6. Running Room Run Club Update: 
7. Track North and Laurentian XC News  
   

    

Last Friday night, I was chatting with a friend online, and they mentioned that they had received a snowfall warning on their phone. This friend knows I’m a runner, and they know that that’s the sort of thing I’d like to know. I opened my own weather app and saw that the snow was due to arrive Saturday night, dumping 5-10cm before my Sunday morning long run.

Before the pandemic, I trained for the Around the Bay 30k road race for five consecutive winters. There were winters when it felt like it never snowed, except every Saturday night into Sunday, so my long runs were always done in the worst conditions. In December 2021 alone, there was one Sunday morning with a fresh snowfall, and another where the whole city was ice. In all of these cases, as with last weekend, I could have moved my long run to Saturday. I could have run indoors on a treadmill. But in all of those cases, I didn’t change my plans, and I probably won’t the next time I see snow on the forecast for a Saturday night.

I’m not a masochist. I don’t get off on being a hero by running when the going gets tough. Sure, I love winter running. I like the feeling of being outdoors when the temperatures are cold and the contrast when my body gets warm and sweat pools under my layers. But I don’t enjoy running in fresh snow, particularly as a runner with historically weak ankles. I definitely don’t enjoy running on ice, activating stabilizer muscles I never knew I possessed, tensing my body with every precarious step. But I will do it, and have done it, every winter for the better part of the last two decades, every Sunday morning, regardless of the forecast. Not because I’m a hero, but because I don’t know what else to do. And because maybe I’ll look up on that tough run and notice how beautiful the city looks in snow. Or maybe I’ll see a sunrise full of colours I didn’t know existed. It’s not a guarantee that there will be beauty in every run, but it’s the possibility that’s enough. And it’s the knowledge that when the run is done, I’ll be a slightly better runner, because I did it, even though it was hard.

Parents in Ontario, where I live, are facing another round of uncertainty and stress in the face of another school closure and rising case numbers of COVID-19. We feel helpless, powerless, confused, angry, frustrated, and disheartened. And we don’t know what to do. Some of us will choose to send our kids if schools are open. Some will choose to keep them home. It’s impossible to know what’s safest or what’s best.

We don’t know what to do. It’s hard.

I recently listened to a podcast interview with Dr Anna Lembke, author of the book DOPAMINE NATION, where she explained that pleasure and pain are co-located in the brain. There’s a whole bunch of science behind it, but one point that stuck with me was this: in order to get our bodies to produce dopamine naturally (rather than chasing it through addictive substances or behaviours) we can and should engage in what she calls “effortful tasks,” things that are not easy, on a daily basis. Some examples she mentioned included meditation and exercise, but I couldn’t help but think of this advice in the context of running. No one I know puts more daily effort into their lives than runners, especially runners who are also trying to fit running around their jobs or lives as parents. By doing so, we may be temporarily pushing the pain button in our brains, but we’re also making it easier to access pleasure.

As a parent in Ontario, a parent who is also a teacher, the last two years of my life have been challenging in ways I could have never anticipated. If I hadn’t also been waking up every morning and lacing up my running shoes (or getting on my bike, in the interest of injury mitigation, or going for a walk or a swim), these last two years would have been immeasurably harder. As we face another hard season, all I can do is to keep opening up those moments for pleasure, by pressing a little bit on the side of pain.

I don’t actually like the expression, “We can do hard things.” I don’t know why, it just never resonated with me. Maybe I’ve found a new version: “We can do the things we need to do, especially when it’s hard.”

Nothing is for certain, obviously. But the Running Room plans to host in-person racing this February with their popular Hypothermic Half events across the country (not in Ontario) and it came as a jolt of joyful relief when I spoke with Kelly and Marc Arnott, long-time race directors of the Chilly Half in Burlington, Ontario, and they said their race is a go. “I reached out to my MP and MPP and we’re sitting tight to see what happens after this big wave hopefully subsides, but we are definitely hoping that our Chilly will happen—we have two full months to go! ”

Vancouver’s First Half marathon in-person is sold-out on February 13 with 2,000 runners and the Chilly Half Marathon is scheduled for March 6. Brian McLean has been the long-time race director of the Achilles St. Patrick’s Day Race, celebrating its twenty-third anniversary on March 13. McLean also says his 1K and 5K race with a capacity of 1,500 is a go. “As of the beginning of December, city officials gave us the green light and we haven’t heard anything since,” says McLean, who feels good about the likelihood of his race happening. He’s moving forward under the thesis that the event, with COVID precautions, will proceed. “It’s our biggest and only fundraiser for our Achilles athletes, those with disabilities,” says McLean, adding that minus the in-person racing component, his charity suffers. “I see people want to get back to in-person racing and the minute we opened registration, we saw a huge spike in people signing up. Runners want racing back.”

Speaking with the race directors from Calgary to Winnipeg, Regina, Quebec City, Ottawa and Toronto, the consensus amongst the industry leaders is their in-person races should all proceed. “I am confident that with full vaccination requirements and (likely) COVID protocols in place, that we will be able to hold our event as planned,” says Rachel Munday, race director of the Manitoba Marathon. “Our runners, volunteers, sponsors and city officials are still expecting and planning for an in-person event. Whereas last year they definitely expected them NOT to happen. If this wave continues on the current trajectory, it should be well passed it’s peak in the coming weeks and we can look forward to events in the late spring/summer/fall.”

Marc Roy is the CEO of Sportstats who has 45 in-person events in Canada booked between now and the end of spring—and another 60 in the United States. “Our first event in the US is on January 14-15 (Rock’n’Roll Arizona) with 17,000 races already registered,” says Roy, who’s bullish on events, even in Canada, proceeding in-person as normal, especially as move into February. Roy also started Virtual Run Canada and thinks hybrid models like the one employed by Canada Running Series at their fall 10K between virtual and in-person racing will remain popular in 2022. “We strongly believe virtual events are there to stay. They keep some participants motivated, but also introduce many to the sport that might not want to do a 5K with 500 participants.”

One thought for racers returning to the sport we love, whether virtual or in-person, is knowing that the event organizers are facing supply chain issues. Appreciate that these events are happening and so, if they don’t have your sized T-shirt—be kind. In Calgary, Kirsten Fleming, says she’s bullish on her events happening. It’s the other stuff that she wonders about. “Our concerns—like all race directors and frankly most industries throughout the world—are mostly about navigating supply chain issues and rising costs, not operating safely. That we can do,” says Fleming, of the Calgary Marathon, whose team successfully put on five COVID in-person races and never saw an outbreak. “We are taking what we have learned, building on the experience to bring back some of the aspects we did without in 2021 while keeping people safe as we always do.”

January can be a tough month in the best of times. During these unprecedented times, it’s nice to know that our race directors—the people who provide us with starting and finish lines for our goals—are all working together on making sure their events proceed. “Racing builds more than fitness,” says Running Room founder John Stanton. “It develops friendships, and empowers us by testing the limits of the human spirit.”

With winter training, it can be helpful knowing that there’s a race happening in the spring. People, by nature, are goal-oriented. Anna Lewis, the Around the Bay race director hosting the 128th anniversary of her event on March 27, summed up the current scenario. “We are working towards hosting Around The Bay and will continue planning until advised otherwise,” she said. “We are preparing for several scenarios with various start line schedules and protocols. We will be ready to implement the most appropriate plan when we have more definitive guidelines. We are in touch with our city officials regularly and want to ensure we work within provincial and public health guidelines to ensure a safe event for everyone. It is our hope that the collective “we” will be in a much better place in early March so that we could move forward.“

That hope, for a runner in January, might just be enough to pull us through these tough next few weeks.

Jan 5 Wednesday evening run fom Cedar Pointe Plaza

Jan 6 Ramsey Lake South Bay -18deg

Jan 6 Perch Lake trail

Jan 7 Moonlight trail

Jan 7 Moonlight trail

Jan 7 Moonlight trail

Jan 7 Moonlight trail

Jan 8 Ramsey Lake sunrise at -25 deg C

Jan 8 Saturday am group run

Jan 8 Laurentian U. sunrise

Jan 8

Jan 8 Nepahwin Lake

Jan 9 Storm at Moonlight Beach

Jan 11 Crossing Perch Lake at -31deg C

Jan 11 Moonlight trail

Jan 11 Moonlight trail

Jan 11 Moonlight trail

  Dec 31 2021 -  January 28, 2022

https://www.resolutionrun.ca/

   February 1 to March 18, 2022

Virtual

Event Information and Registration

Hypothermic Half Marathon 2022 - Virtual Run Canada

Tuesday February 1st to Tuesday March 1st, 2022 / Wherever you are in Canada

Course Map (if you wish to use them)

Alternate Map