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Why I Run - Why I Run - Raeann Rose

picture of raeann
Club: Phoenix, Montreal

For me, Why I Run? is an easy  question, especially in light of my seemingly never-ending history of injuries this year.  Running completes me.  Sounds corny, but it is true, running makes me feel whole.   Running makes me feel like an an athlete,  maybe not a great athlete, but an athlete nonetheless.
 
My interest in running goes back to the late 70's  while  watching ABC's Wild World of Sports.  I can still hear the opening theme music and Jim McKay's voice.... .the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.......you know the rest).   I would watch running on T.V.,  and think, WOW, this is so cool, I want to do that one day.  But, I didn't just then, instead, I continued my sport of  figure skating until my late teens.  Many years later,  I joined a YMCA Exercise Class in The Pointe where part of the hour-long class was spent running laps around the gymnasium.  I did this for several weeks and then learned of the  Brooks-sponsored Women Only 10K Run.  I had five weeks to train.   No problem I thought, I can run 10 K,  I even predicted my finishing time to be 45 minutes!  Ha! What was I smoking?   My sister, Kim, was my support team and picked me up at my apartment in Verdun that Sunday morning in 1982.   After some nervous stretching, the gun finally went off and I found myself running towards the exit of the Park into de la Verendrye Boulevard to  run along the canal.  At the 4 K mark, I wanted to quit, how could I feel so bad I thought.  Well, for one thing, 4 K was probably all I had done up to that point.  To make matters worse, my sister was driving alongside me and kept yelling at me to speed up!  (She has never been a runner, but she has always been there).   I finished in 58 minutes and it was certainly "no walk in the park".  I learned of another 10K in a few weeks in Lachine  and I did that too, and two minutes faster, woohoo!   I was hooked.  I  bought myself a copy of the book,  The Complete Book of Running, by James Fix and poured over it every  chance I could.  Bill and I ran together a couple of times and he once told me I ran like a girl!  What do you mean, I run like a girl, I am a girl!  Well, of course, now I understand what he meant, and he was right.  I continued to run and Bill continued to lift weights and golf, and I was left to run when ever I could.  I  joined the running club, Les Kilomaitres, where I trained under a Coach for about three years.   I ran 100 kilometer weeks, was young (in my mid 20's), and thought running was a panacea for everything.   Many years later, Bill and I joined the Boreal Running Club.  The rest is history. 
 
Over a twenty-year running career, I have endured many peaks and valleys.   Years where I ran marathons around 3:35  and 10Ks under 45 minutes, and then other years where I would have killed to run a 10K in 49 minutes!   I've run more than 25 marathons, scores of  half-marathons, two Half-Ironmans and too-many-to-count 5 and 10km road races.  My favorite races include the Philadelphia Marathon where I ran a personal best of 3:32, a half-marathon in Aruba where I came second female overall, and my  first-place female 10K finish at the Glengarry Race.    Okay, okay, there was only a handful of women, but hey, I was still first (hehehhe).   My ten minutes of fame.  
 
 I've had many peaks and valleys throughout the years and the past six months or so have been unusually hard with getting over one injury just to get another.  I guess you can say I am in a funk.  Today, the first year of 2007,  I managed to run 5 K, without too much pain (Sonja:  I am doing my exercises!).  Five kilometers, big deal, huh?  But everything is relative and for me, I was absolutely thrilled with a five kilometer run.   Today, I am complete.

Raeann Rose