How come I willingly got up at 4:20 a.m., drove to Ottawa and participated in the Ottawa Marathon, starting at 7 a.m. and finished the race four hours and 16 minutes later? I love to run to keep my mental well-being and I love to be in Ottawa for the big race weekend in May.

Running became an important part of my life when I was about 14 years old. I didn't know anything about the “runner’s high”. I only knew that I felt stronger, both physically and emotionally after each run. As I got older, I realizsed that I could repeat the same mantra over and over again during my runs.

It became therapeutic for me and I would repeat to myself short sentences such as: “I can do it. I’m good.” I would do this before exams or any other big personal events. I still repeat positive sentences over and over during my runs. Phrases such as “I can, I will, I shall,” become important messages on how to tackle the hill right in front of me, but also how to tackle life's challenges and keep a positive outlook. To quote Japanese novelist, Haruki Murakami, from his book, What I talk about When I Talk About Running, if you don’t keep repeating a mantra of some sort to yourself, you’ll never survive”. I'm not your typical marathon runner: Once a week, I do a fast 12 km run on the beautiful and hilly trails in the forest in Rigaud. The rest of the week, I will do cardio kick-boxing, Pilates and muscle conditioning classes. I believe in cross training in order to avoid some of the injuries that runners can get. I read once that runners only have 10 years of good training before the injuries begin. That's too short for me. In 2004, I ran my first marathon in Ottawa during the race weekend, the last weekend in May. I was hooked – I loved the feeling of starting a big race alongside thousands of runners of all ages and shapes. I loved finding my rhythm as I immersed myself in the hypnotizing sound of all those feet hitting the pavement. The streets were packed with spectators yelling and singing encouraging words and I flew through the first 32 km.… Then fatigue set in and I “hit the wall” - as many runners do. I managed to continue running, but I had to join a slower group of runners with a slower pace-bunny. For the last few kilometres, I found a second wind and flew to the finish line with a great personal-best time of three hours and 53 minutes. I have been back to the Ottawa race ever since, participating in the half or full marathon. I have also completed other races in Montreal and Central Park in New York City, but nothing really compares to the positive spirit that I always feel in Ottawa.

This spring, I didn’t train as often as I had planned, so I participated in the marathon with only a couple of runs under my belt. I felt strong for the first 32 kilometers and then I “hit the wall” again. I was sad to abandon my pace-bunny-group, but I didn’t want to push my body too hard. I walked a bit and then picked up speed at around 38 kilometers when I started to run with a new pace-bunny group. At this point, we met up with the half marathon runners and the energy from seeing and hearing more runners kept me running strongly to the finish line. I was proud when I received my medal and a finish time of four hours and 16 minutes, but I also promised myself to train more in preparation for the next race. I hope to train twice a week in Rigaud and meet up with the Runners Club in Hudson. My goal is to qualify for the prestigious Boston Marathon, as I did in 2010. I never got to run the Boston race in 2011 because it was sold out within eight hours and I was too late with my application.

I met up with the Lepage family after Dr. Patrick Lepage finished the Ottawa Marathon and his wife Geneviève ran a 5k on the Saturday. Their three children also participated in a 1.2k race on Saturday to complete the equivalent of a marathon over six months.Patrick was all smiles when he said that the run was better than he had hoped for. He finished the marathon in four hours and eight minutes and raised more than $1,000 for Leucan Montérégie. Patrick Lepage is seated to the left, Geneviève is sitting with four-year-old Charles-Antoine. Six-year-old Juliette is standing to the left and nine-year-old Émile is standing in the middle.
(Gazette Katinka Rubin Michaud)