The following is a guest post by Alexandre Desemery.

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Some time ago, a very close member of my family passed away due to Leukemia. It was sudden, it was brutal…
I wasn’t able to do anything at that time. I was clueless, I didn’t know what to say, what to do… It was even difficult to find the words to describe what I was feeling.

This person was strong, honest and proud. He always tried to live his life on the bright side, with a good sense of humor and some sense of “joie de vivre”. 

I keep a very good memory of him and I always think of him when I cross a finish line.

Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the blood and the bone marrow. The disease develops when blood cells produced in the bone marrow grow out of control.

After diagnosis and treatment, many people with Leukemia live many good, quality years. Unfortunately, some of them don’t.

Today, I am fortunate enough to tackle a big challenge: Ironman Lake Placid. For those unfamiliar with an Ironman, it’s a triathlon consisting of 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and finishes with a marathon. All in less than 17 hours for a total of 140.6 miles. It is typically regarded as one of the most challenging endurance events in the world.

I want to make this day special, I want to help people who can’t do things like that. I want to raise money to help fighting against this disease. I want to give them hope they will heal.

Help me to raise money, help me to try to find a solution for this problem.

I want to donate $10 for every mile I will endure during this day.

Funds collected will be donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada.

You can help me with this!

You can come visit my fundraising page and donate.

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If you, or someone you know, is Running for a Reason, please send your story to webeditor@irun.ca and we might feature it right here on this blog!

I must have looked like a tasty chocolate bunny out there today.  Four dogs came running after me.  I learned a long time ago from my brother, that the best way to deal with the situation is to yell a very firm, “GO HOME!” to the canine in question.  It worked all four times.  Phew!

After that last “long” run this morning, (a breezy hour-and-twenty-minute-run) I looked ahead at the schedule set up for this week’s running.  The last week before the race.  There are four easy runs (one interval session in there for good measure) between me and Boston.  “Mentally prepare” is what coach Nicole said.  It seems that the only time I have to mentally prepare is out on the road while running, so I guess I will have to carve out some extra time somewhere else.  As well as “getting extra sleep,” “eating well” and “hydrating“.  Busy week ahead for sure.

The taper is always so tricky.  If you’re a procrastinator like I can be, everything in your personality tells you to “cram” in extra training every time you think about the big day.  Running doesn’t work that way.  It’s all about strong, even build-up in training for best results.  Tapering is also so much about self-control.  I feel so great out there!  I just want to keep going!  Okay, okay, I guess I will “save it up”.

As I count down the 6 more sleeps until we board the plane bound for Boston on Saturday, I will try to keep calm, trust my training, and just keep my head on straight!

p.s.  Do countless jelly beans count as proper pre-race fuel?  Happy Easter!

Three more Canadians will be chasing the Olympic Standard at the Rotterdam Marathon.

Coming off of her 1:47:03 win at Around the Bay, Krista DuChene announced on her blog that she was able to secure a space in the April 15 race and will be making a run at the 2:29:55 needed to hit the A-Standard.

In that same blog post, DuChene stated that Lanni Marchant will also be running for the standard, so we got in touch with her to confirm.  Marchant said,“Yes, I am running Rotterdam and hope to be in the mix to run the Canadian standard. Fingers crossed Krista and I can make some magic happen!”

Rob Watson also announced on his blog that he will be attempting to hit the men’s A-Standard of 2:11:29 the Rotterdam Marathon, saying, “Some people are going to criticize and call me stupid and delusional. And I agree, I am stupid and somewhat delusional, but s— man, I’ve always been told to dream big, and it doesn’t get any bigger that the Olympics.”

The race takes place at 10:30 am local time, so most of us here in Canada will be able to find results by the time we’re getting up for our own long run.

What a journey is all I can say. The actual marathon will last less then 4 hours of my life (hopefully) but my road to Boston has been 10 years in the making and the memories are going to last a lifetime. From my first marathon running alongside great friends and my great dad to having my 2 small children and my husband be so excited for me when I qualified for Boston, I’ve had a lot of supporters along my journey.
 
I have to say I was excited to finish the Around the Bay race last week. #1 is because I had a great “race”. I used it as a cross between race pass and LSD. I didn’t want to have my best race day 3 weeks before Boston. One of the great guys – Arun I run with nicknamed me as his own “running iPod”. We’d come up behind someone and they’d turn around and say “I thought that was your voice Kiska”. #2 ATB was my last “long” run and I’m in taper mode. I put “long” in quotation as there still was a 20km run I did this morning. Only someone training for a marathon or ultra thinks 20km is a taper week. We finished our 20k with hail/rain and some snow. No one can complain after our wonderful “winter” of training weather – unless you were one of the 20 people in our group still having to do another 13km in a cold downpour.
 
This has been a great iRun Road to Boston adventure and I haven’t even got on the plane yet. I owe a huge thanks to:
1. My very supportive family.
2. iRun for giving me this amazing opportunity.
3. Adidas for making me look great on my winter runs and providing me with a very supportive coach Nicole.
4. Lisa who paced me to qualify for Boston and never game up on me.
5. Rebecca who wrote my entry for the contest and pushed me every week during our speed workouts.
6. My coach Steven Connor (better known as Dr. Stevil) for making us run hills, hills and more hills. His dedication to the sport and to his runners is truly awesome.
7. Last but not least my Running sisters. You are truly an amazing group of women. Each has taught me a great deal about running but more importantly taught me how being surrounded by amazing people can help you accomplish amazing things – on the track and off.
 
 
12 more days until my in laws arrive from PEI to look after my kids (THANKS!)
13 more days until we fly out and go to the Expo (look out Visa – mama needs a Boston coat)
14 more days until we see the Red Sox with my mom and my step dad (who are driving from New Brunswick to cheer me on)
15 more day until the gun goes off.
 
Wave 3 Coral 1 bib 18222 – Boston here I come! I’ll be the one with the HUGE smile on my face.

A lot can happen in a year.

Just over one year ago, (one year and 3 days, to be exact) I gave birth to a brand new baby.  We named him Oliver.  He is the third little ray of sunshine in our lives.  After a few short hours of labour, (the ultimate in marathons) we held his helpless little life in our arms.  I vowed that I would never again complain about the pain of a long run, as nothing compares to the endurance needed to have a baby.  Nine months of training lead up to that day.  Remembering to breath is important.  Proper fuelling is important.  Having a good coach is important.  Mental preparation and visualization is important.  Doing whatever it takes to get through it is important.  Now, I know, races aren’t the same as childbirth, yah, yah.  But come on and agree with me on this…That euphoric feeling of stepping on the timing mats at the end of a marathon erases much of that pain, doesn’t it?  Kind of like holding that tiny little beautiful baby in one’s arms.  It makes it all feel so worth the pain.

Race medals don’t wake up in the night for feedings.  Or need countless diaper changes.  I guess that is where the parallels end.

Over the last year I have been working toward gaining my pre-baby running shape.  I feel so lucky to have the race of a lifetime (by now we all know I mean Boston, right?) as a culmination of the long road of running I have been on since about 2 weeks after Oliver was born last year.

Happy Birthday to my little Olly.

The group of runners that I’m coaching through Team in Training is gearing up for their last very long run (33k) this Saturday before the marathon at the end of April.

As I ran a 5k this afternoon, I thought about them. It’s a small team, made up of five people.

One man who lost his wife right before joining TNT. Aside from being a champion fundraiser, I’ve never heard him complain. Not once. Not about distance or energy or anything. With everything he’s been through, oddly, he’s the one I’ve “coached” the least. I’m not quite sure how it took him 40 years to discover running, but he is, at least to me, a natural.

One man who has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met. I’ve never known someone to embrace a team like he has. He teases me about my grammar in the emails I send out and affectionately calls me coach. He’s grunted through leg pains and injuries. Even after his toughest runs, he has given every single person on the run a hug and a high five after they’re done.

The woman who is my sole Flex participant. Who does all her runs alone on a country road. The woman who has never traveled nor fund raised and has raised almost $5,000 this season and who is flying to Spain to run. The woman who motivates herself to go and run, and then to run faster and farther.

The coach turned participant who has so much other stuff going on in her life that it amazes me she still has the energy to run at all. The woman who will do three back shifts and still manage to show up at 8:00 on a Saturday morning. I run with her and she tells me, “I’m good, Keep going.” And I know she is, because when she isn’t, she grimly informs me, “It’s hard going today.” And I so admire her honesty and her perseverance to always get that last 500 metres in, no matter what.

And the woman who started this not as a novice runner, but as a non-runner. The woman who has pushed through more injuries than I honestly would recommend. The woman who has started running, hated running and now has begun to excel at running through sheer tenacity. The only reason she has kept going is because this cause and this race specifically means so very much to her.

Five months ago, when I signed my contract, I had no idea it would be like this. I knew there would be laughter and smiles and probably even tears, but I didn’t know that by the end of it, there would be true friendships.

I’ve watched this group through the ups and downs of marathon training. Such as it is with marathons, the ups are very high but the lows can be very, very low. I’ve seen how they’ve managed to motivate themselves to continue, how they’ve pushed themselves on.

I knew that it took a special type of person to join Team in Training, but I didn’t realize just how special these people would be.

18 months ago, I wasn’t in the best place. I found myself in a spot in my life where I wasn’t satisfied with what I was doing or who I felt like I was. And so through some therapy sessions and a lot of deep reflection, I figured out a way to get pointed in the direction I was pretty sure that I wanted to go.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve realized that where I am now is the perfect place for me right now. Team in Training came into my life at the perfect time. Perfect for them, because they needed a coach who really cared about the participants, and perfect for me, because I was able to embrace this whole program in a way that it deserves.

Next week, I’m going to register to run the Montreal Rock and Roll Marathon as a part of Team in Training Halifax chapter. I am going to continue to coach through the summer, but in watching the runners I’ve met over the past 5 months, the 20 in my season and the 50 from the summer season who I also have the honour of running beside, I feel like it’s time to join them.

I didn’t expect friendship, and I really didn’t expect to care so much about them outside of running. And yet here I am, thinking about how I’ll start my journey back from Nepal just as they finish their marathon and wondering what airports will have WiFi for me to check in and see how they did.

This whole experience has completely reinforced my belief that we are all such wonderful creations, willing to share and suffer and love just because we want to belong. Because we want to make the world a better place.

And I am so proud to have been a part of it.