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Resolve to laugh, smile -- and run at
your own pace with like-minded enthusiasts to cheer you on. That's the
new breed of marathoner
By ANDRÉ PICARD
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Montreal — Jean Grenier
kicked off 2005 by lacing up his shoes and taking to the streets of
Montreal. Not his dancing shoes, but his running shoes, as he headed
out on the annual five-kilometre Resolution Run.
"It's a good way to start off the year, particularly this year," he said.
That's because Mr. Grenier, 51, plans to run his first marathon.
"That's my resolution for 2005, the personal goal I would like to
achieve."
Judging from the swelling number of participants in marathons across
Canada, and around the world, it is also a very common resolution.
John Stanton, founder of the Running Room and a guru to the new
breed of marathon runners -- those who laugh, smile and run at their
own pace -- said marathon running has captured the public imagination
because it is a significant, yet achievable, goal.
"I call it the horizontal Everest. It's not so much a race as a celebration, a celebration of fitness," he said.
Mr. Stanton's philosophy, one espoused in his best-selling book, Running Start To Finish,
and at the clinics staged at Running Room stores, is that anyone who is
moderately fit (meaning they can do a 10-kilometre run) can complete a
full 42.2 kilometre marathon within 18 weeks.
The program, similar to many others for aspiring marathoners, has
three components: long, slow runs (these are the key), along with
regular practice on hills, and some speed work.
But what has made the clinics -- at the Running Room, YMCAs and elsewhere -- so popular is the social aspect.
Mr. Stanton said that while running is a solitary pursuit, training
is most successful when it is done in groups. "Getting into a group
environment keeps it fun and social. Training should be a challenge but
not a chore," he said.
Mr. Grenier agreed wholeheartedly. "The group is what makes it
interesting. It's almost like a self-help group," he said with a laugh.
Mr. Grenier, a vice-president of a computer software company,
started running in September of 2003 by joining a "learn to run"
program. His goal was to run 5K, a goal he achieved by completing the
5K Santa Shuffle just over a year ago.
He graduated to a 10K course, then a 21.1-kilometre half-marathon, and now is determined to do a full marathon.
Along the way, Mr. Grenier has dropped 60 pounds, down to a lean 170
pounds from the 230 he weighed at his least fit. "I'm like a lot of
guys. When my kids came along, I stopped doing a lot of stuff, and my
weight just crept up."
Just as impressive as the weight dropped has been the expansion of
his social circle. The group he trains with now runs together five
times a week, and many have become good friends.
They even ran together as a group in the Montreal half-marathon.
"When we crossed the finish line, I felt we had accomplished a lot, not
just as individuals, but as a group," Mr. Grenier said.
Mr. Stanton said that approach embodies how radically marathons have
changed in the 20 years he has been running them. "Twenty years ago,
people ran to compete. Now we run to complete."
Mr. Stanton said marathons today are far less competitive, and a lot
more fun. That's why the number of participants continues to grow.
"Twenty years ago, people made a resolution to run a marathon and
ran one. Today, they make a lifestyle change. It becomes an addiction,
a positive addiction."
Mr. Stanton said it is possible to do multiple marathons without
getting hurt because training is a lot smarter today. Personally, he is
a staunch advocate of the walk-run approach, whereby a person runs for
10 minutes (at whatever pace is comfortable) and then walks for one
minute.
"Some people think it's a wimpy way to run," he said. "But the
combination of stress and rest is the way to maximize performance."
Mr. Stanton estimates that up to 80 per cent of marathon runners now subscribe to the walk-run approach.
Mr. Grenier is one of them. He said that while he has a goal in mind
for his finishing time during his first marathon (in Ottawa on May 29),
the time doesn't really matter.
"Most of us want to finish upright and smiling. We want to have a good time and start planning to run a second time."
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