“iRun To Go Beyond Myself”

By: Karen Karnis

« Je cours pour me dépasser »

“iRun to go beyond myself”

~ Christian Mercier

Growing up, Christian Mercier was a well rounded athlete. He played hockey in the winter and soccer during the summer – but he never did track or cross country.  But for whatever reason, about 20 years ago he decided to run a marathon.  He was undertrained and unprepared for the beast that is the marathon, yet somehow he managed to pull off a 3:20 finish – he attributes this to the fitness he gained from soccer over the years.

When he was in his twenties, Mercier continued to run marathons – he would train over the summer, race in the fall, and that was that.  But then, when he was in his thirties, Mercier met a group of accomplished runners with whom he began to train.  With other runners to learn from, planned workouts that were hard and exciting, he immediately began to notice improvements.

“J’ai réalisé que j’avais un certain potentiel, mais j’ai surtout appris à aimé réellement la course à pied,” says Mercier, roughly meaning that he discovered he had some potential, but mostly learned to really love running.  Even though he loved it and stuck with it, he did not foresee that his journey would take him to running every day, running about 10 races a year, having a coach or representing Mizuno.

Under the training of his coach, Steve Boyd, Mercier has turned out some impressive performances for a guy with a full time job, a wife and two young daughters.  He was the bronze medallist in the 2009 Canadian Marathon Championship, ran the fastest marathons for the province of Quebec in 2012 and 2011, and has been in the top-10 at the Canadian half-marathon championships for the last four years.  His proudest race accomplishment, however, was placing 30^th in the Berlin Marathon in 2010.  “Being able to register a 6-minute personal best at one of the biggest world marathons, which happened to be so far from home, was particularly special,” says Mercier of his 2:24:52 finish.  His other personal bests include a 14:57 5K, 30:44 10K, 47:56 15K and 68:33 half marathon.

Having already run the Ottawa Marathon this May 27, Mercier’s goals for 2012 include the Chicago Marathon in September. “I want to take my training one notch higher to be ready to run as fast as possible,” he says. “I have an eye on Quebec’s 10^th fastest marathon performance,” he adds, advising the time to beat is 2:20:36, set by Dorys Langlois.  Looking ahead, Mercier the 37-year-old plans to be international- calibre by the time he’s competing in the Masters Division, with a continued focus on the marathon.  “It’s a mythical event,” he says, adding, “it’s long enough that you have to dig deep. But it’s the process that I’m loving more. The grind where you keep putting miles in day after day.”

He loves cranking out those miles in his Mizuno Wave Precision shoes. “I’ve been running in Mizuno shoes for a good number of years now and I absolutely love them,” he says. “I have probably logged something like 20,000 kilometres over the years in different versions of the Precision.”  He adds that for his speed workouts and races, he switches to his Ronins because they are lighter but still have all the support he needs.

Mercier’s proudest accomplishment off the clock is that he is able to maintain balance in his life.  “I continue to pursue my running goals without neglecting the other aspects of my life, such as family, friends and work,” he says, but he couldn’t do it without the support of his wife, Julie, who has been a tremendous ally.  “Having two little daughters, three and six years old, and a full time job, you can surely imagine that it takes some strong support from the douce-moitié.” He says he is sometimes asked f he has regrets about not taking up running earlier and trying for the Olympics before having a family, and to this he always answers with a resounding no. “I’m always picturing my two little daughters. I don’t think my life would have unfolded the way it has without them on my side.”

“My daughters inspire me and amaze me in so many ways,” says the proud père.  “Running is a way for me to show them that hard work can be rewarding. You should see their faces when on some occasions following races, I’m in the morning papers. My older one who is in first grade is so proud that she immediately says that she’ll bring the newspaper to present it in her class. I want to be the best role model that I can be and I think by keeping a good healthy lifestyle with running is a good way.”

When asked about his own role models, Mercier doesn’t hesitate: Haile Gebreselassie.  “I admire his talent, his style, his ability to lose himself in his races. Furthermore, I like the way he conducts himself outside of running, with a smile on his face, acting gently around everybody. Those are the things that I relate to and that I try to mimic in my own running,” he says.

When asked what advice he would give to other runners, Mercier says: “Be honest with your running, have fun, train hard, and keep pushing, always. And good things will happen. Even in life.”