"Why I Run"

This installment has guest bloggers! I asked some members of our running group a simple question  "Why do you run?"  Here's some of their answers.  

(Edits were only made for grammar and layout.)

Kelsey Bragg

I met Kelsey in 2012 during an orientation run for Squamish 50. At the time she was building distance and has since run and completed several Ultras. She has two awesome dogs, who can whip past you like thunder and lightning, which isn't their real names. - ek

Kelsey - From Facebook

"I grew up in the Yukon, we didn’t have malls and fancy movie theatres.
If we wanted to be entertained, we had to go out and find it. I was nine years old when I first went out for a run.

"As if what I was doing was some sort of secret mission." - Kelsey

"I had been watching my friend’s mom go running all the time and she made it look easy and fun – plus she was really fast! It was the dead of winter, and I didn’t know any better, so I put on my whole snowsuit and winter boots. I stepped out the door without telling my mom and dad what I was doing as if what I was doing was some sort of secret mission.

A Not Nine Year Old Kelsey - From Facebook

"I sprinted as fast as my nine year-old body would allow. Three blocks later I was out of breath at the top of a hill feeling both dizzy and thrilled with this weird feeling that was new to me.
Though I was tired and extremely hot from all those layers, I couldn’t wait to try again. Eventually my mom and dad bought me all the running gear a nine year old girl needed, and sent me off to run with the ski team. I can’t imagine life any other way. Run on!" - Kelsey

Jerome Wasilieff

I've known Jerome since grade eight. He was one of the "rocker" kids, and kinda sort of hung out until graduation when we lost touch until a couple of years ago. He's done some shorter distance trail runs, Tough Mudder and a half marathon. We haven't lured  him into the Ultra distances  . . . yet. - ek

Jerome at Diez Vista/Buntzen 5 peaks "Dude, that wasn't a 'hill!'"

"I hated running. Ya, I HATED it. I played and coached football for a combined twenty years. Which meant everything we did was designed to make us quicker inside of twenty yards.
Sprints till you puked.

Hills till you collapsed. 

Not Fun. 

Oh, and I had asthma that came on because of my allergy to grass. Yea.

"I could run again and it felt GOOD!" - Jerome

"As time went on I had injuries. I broke my left leg, broke my left foot, tore my left Achilles and up wrecked my left knee. All to the point of walking with a permanent limp by the time I was thirty-five.

In Winning Style - From Facebook

"My wife got me off my ass and moving again. Six months of physio on that left leg combined with a personal trainer and the limp was gone. Not only that but I could run again and it felt GOOD! Actually it was awesome. Then I reconnected with Ed after a short break of twenty years and he showed me trails. You had me at "knees bent and arms out." - Jerome
 

Dianna Christopoulos

I met Dianna through Squamish 50 and the Coast Mountain Trail Series. She's the volunteer coordinator for CMTS and liaison for Squamish 50. She's always smiling unless she's going uphill, and is a monster on the downhills. She has a trademark on the phrase, "Makes my heart happy!" - ek

 

Dianna "two thumbs up for trail running!" - photo from Coast Mountain Trail Series

 "Two years ago when I ran my first full road marathon, I crossed the line in exhaustion and pure joy that I was finally finished and then it happened, I hated running. I never wanted to do it again. 

I told Steve, a friend, that " I quit running." 

For six months I didn't touch my runners; didn't even entertain the idea of running. The thought of it made me angry. I had lost my best friend to cancer that year and training was consumed by my emotions and nothing made sense. Why the heck would anyone want to do that again. Trying to train for your first full marathon and watching your friend die of cancer doesn't seem fair or right. 

"It wasn't until a friend told me to try Gary Robbin's Bucking Hell race which was either running 10km down, 10km up - or both - so I immediately signed up for the 10km down, what the heck did I just get myself in to?! Made my way to [Mount] Seymour, got my hug from Gary (we may have danced in the pouring rain), and then off we went. I was home... the trails were something else. 

 

"I run because our trail community is something unique." - Dianna

  "I loved every second of it and couldn't wait to do it again. Who wouldn't love running downhill in the pouring rain bouncing off the trails, laughing every second of the way. Fast forward six months and I was toeing the line of my first 50km. It wasn't easy, there was a lot of doubt and  it wasn't pretty due to injury and exhaustion but there was no way I was going to back out. Crossing that line of my first 50km was unreal and humbling. I don't really know how to sum it all up but it was something that only I felt; every runner has a different experience. 

 

Diann Jumping for Joy! - photo from Facebook

 

"I run because I can. I run because as a kid I was never told or taught to go beyond my limits. I run because I embrace the doubt that I create in my head. I run because I want to prove to myself that I can. I run because our trail community is something unique. I run because it makes me happy. I run because I feel at home with the people I run with and the places it takes me. I run because it fuels the fire within me to push beyond my limits. 

"Well that was hard to write in 3 paragraphs!" - Dianna