Soldier On…

September 24, 2012

18,000 bodies came together as one big running family in the Nation’s Capital to support the 5th Annual Army Run. This run is more than just another event on the race calendar … it’s a way to support and thank our Canadian Armed Forces for there service as well as to show respect and remembrance for soldiers lost or injured in the line of duty. Charities supported by this run are “Soldier On” and the “Military Families Fund”. “Soldier On” provides financial assistance for adaptive sporting equipment to ill and injured soldiers, while the “Military Families Fund” assists through health support, memorials, burials, next of kin travel, and responding to unique and immediate needs of military members and their families.

I arrived in Ottawa on Saturday and after settling in to breakfast ( two eggs poached, ham, pancakes, potatoes, toast, coffee ) I made my way to picking up race kits with my running buddy David. Now to be fair to all parties involved, it was David who said…” you should come and run the Army Run sometime… it’s an awesome race… it’s like no other”. Little did I know that this was probably the biggest understatement of the year.

We arrived to pick up the kits under tents set up outside the race expo. There where all kinds of volunteers assisting with kit pick up, as well as military personnel dressed in battle fatigues participating in an outdoor display of a Leopard 2A4M tank, a Coyote and LAV lll light armoured vehicle, a EROC Buffalo mine elimination vehicle, and the M777 Howitzer ( also used at the official start of the race ). The public was free to wander and ask questions about the equipment, getting answers directly from the people who use the equipment.

The Expo was located at the Cartier Square Drill Hall. Upon entry to the hall we had to verify and activate our bib which also contained our timing chip. The main focus of this expo was to promote “Soldier On” and the “Military Families Fund”, there was some merchandise available from vendors, but not the usual “sea of shoe manufacturers & retail outlets” you would usually find at your standard, run of the mill expo.

Other displays included the Canadian Forces Personnel and Family Support Services booth and the elite tactical unit JTF2.

Having said that, I did manage to find some familiar faces passing out copies of iRUN magazine.

Sunday morning was the standard pre-race ritual of eating a light breakfast ( I won’t bore you with what I had for breakfast ), applying band aids and body glide, confirming Garmin functions, and the mandatory “voiding of the bladder”.

The “vibe” at the start line was different than other races, the presence of a full colour guard, military band, and enough military personnel dressed in battle fatigues to be an army…( oh wait, they are the army )…there were also many injured soldiers wearing running blades, in racing chairs, and buddy runners for the visually impaired. These gutsy guys and gals ready to run in spite of their disability … ready to “soldier on”. There were also thousands of race shirts worn “in memory” of soldiers who had fallen in battle.

The pre-race ceremony started at exactly 0800hr with addresses ( broadcast on a ultra large projection screen ) from the following:

Commander of the Canadian Army – LGen.Peter Devlin
Chief of Defence – General Walter Natynczyk
Minister of Defence – Peter MacKay
Mayor of Ottawa – Jim Watson
Honorary LCol. – John Stanton
Communications from soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, who were having their own Army Run.

Singing of “Oh Canada”

The start of the race signaled by the firing of the M777 Howitzer ( this thing is so loud…it was AWESOME ) !!!

The race conditions were perfect, about 15C …although I did not appreciate the 20km/hr wind gusts…but I digress…

The route took us along Wellington, past the Terry Fox Monument, Parliament Hill, the Canadian War Museum, crossing to Hull past the Museum of Civilization, then back across to Ottawa and out to Rideau Hall and back…a run downtown along Colonel By Drive and along the Rideau Canal crossing at Pretoria Bridge then back up Queen Elizabeth Drive to the finish.

I didn’t really see too much of the sights of the city as my focus was on the other runners and the crowds of supporters cheering us on. Many of the people around me were wearing their technical race shirts with camouflage accent sleeves and panels…two runners were carrying large Canadian Flags, I witnessed runners with artificial limbs and running blades, wheel chair competitors of both hand crank and racing configurations…and many shirts with pictures of loved ones lost to battle. I quickly came to realize that this race was not about time, but about guts, about pushing on, about remembering, about being grateful to what a Canadian soldier puts on the line for our safety and security.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t keeping an eye on the 1:55 continuous bunny, but my goal was to finish in under 2:00. David passed me around the 16k mark and continued to finish in 1:58:07. I managed to squeak in with a 1:59:17. It was over, but as I crossed the finish line and proceeded through the chute, I was amazed to see an army soldiers dressed in battle fatigues handing out race medals that looked like military dog tags.

The soldier that hung the medal around my neck, shook my hand, congratulated me and thanked me for participating in the race…and I thanked him for his service…and then thanked every uniformed service man and woman in the finisher’s area that I crossed paths with. This was by far a finish that I will never forget…and a race that I will run again next year for sure.