By Jessica Iaboni
As marathon season approaches, runner Brad Schnarr has decided to retire his treadmill and head back outdoors with the puddles and slush.
“You have no idea how excited I am that it’s March,” says Schnarr, who isn’t the only runner eager about the spring season.
As the snow begins to melt, more runners are hitting Ottawa’s pathways to prepare
for a number of upcoming marathons.
Last May, Ottawa Race Weekend brought in over 25,000 runners from around the world and this year, organizers are anticipating that about 30,000 will register.
“More people have registered at this time than last year, so we are really optimistic,” says Jim Robinson, the event organizer.
With harsh winter weather in decline, Robinson says he has recently noticed more people running along the canal. Some of these runners, like those who meet Sunday mornings at a local Running Room, are preparing for marathons.
On a sunny and windy Sunday morning last week, around 50 people gathered at the Bank Street location. They meet here almost every weekend to run in small groups, which many say is a good learning tool.
“It is especially important when running long distances to have people with you,” says Jean Right.
Right started running in 2000 and hasn’t stopped since. She has completed the Ottawa marathon three times.
Right’s friend and fellow runner Jayne Van Dusen, is currently training for a marathon at the end of March in Rome, Italy.
Although Right doesn’t plan to run in the Ottawa marathon this May both she and Van Dusen agree that it is important to have support from other runners while training.
“Running a marathon is a tremendous sense of accomplishment and a big challenge both mentally and physically,” says Right, who adds that because of this it is important to have people around experiencing the same thing.
For most people, running is a way to become more active. This is initially why Right signed up for a clinic offered by the Running Room, but for her it quickly became about more than fitness.
The store offers introductory running and marathon training clinics or sessions and it is through these sessions that people get the chance to meet other runners and learn the basics.
Running in groups is motivating, especially during the winter months, says Phil Marsh, Running Room regional manager.
“If I didn’t have a group to run with sometimes I wouldn’t get out of bed,” he says.
Right has also benefited from social support.
“I have met a lot of people here who supported me as a runner and surprisingly you become friends with them, which wasn’t my original goal,” she says.
Marsh can recite a list of people he knows who met through the groups, went into relationships and eventually married. He says people enjoy being social and running is a good way to meet others with the same interests.
“You find you are attracted to people with the same lifestyle,” he says.
But for some runners, like 24-year-old Brad Schnarr, marathon training is a good, solo way to relieve stress.
“I like running alone because of the way it makes you feel afterwards and while doing it you can really think things through,” he says.
When the weather is nice, Schnarr, who works in Centretown, takes the bus to his office building and runs home after work, which takes him around 30 minutes.
“Sometimes I will drop my stuff off at home and keep running. Ottawa is great because there are so many amazing areas to run, like the canal,” he says.
Schnarr, who began running in 2003 and has since lost 40 pounds, is currently training for Ottawa’s half marathon. This will give him practice for a fall marathon he hopes will help him qualify for the 2007 Boston Marathon — his biggest goal, he says.
Schnarr admits that once you start running marathons you can’t stop because they are addictive.
“Most people, once they start running, want to continue to see if they can beat their time because it is a personal goal and struggle,” he says “I thought when I finished my first half marathon that it was hard as hell and that I would never do it again, but I did.”
Right and Van Dusen have also noticed an increase in the popularity of running, especially with middle-aged women.
“It has a lot to do with fitness because when you get older you have more time for yourself and you want to be active,” says Van Dusen.
Back at the Running Room, Van Dusen, Right and the other runners in the store chat about their weekends as they tied their shoelaces.
The larger group then separates into smaller ones based on how long they will run. The group instructor stands on top of the cashier counter and shouted, “Those of you doing Ottawa in May are running 26km today.”
The runners nod their heads, find their groups and headed out the door. And they’re off.