Winter weather is no problem for dedicated runners

By Roberta Bell and Sarah Turnbull

It was dark, it was cold and with the exception of five women running through the slush on Richmond Road there were few people on the streets of Westboro Monday night.

While others who work nine-to-five might find the prospect of mustering up the energy for a 2.5-kilometre run exhausting, that’s exactly what Bethany Elkins, Maureen McGrath, Christine Rivet, Cathy Delany and Julie Kulcha were doing.

At a time when many Ottawa residents are preparing for a holiday filled with food and drink, these women were getting a head start on the new year’s resolution season.

“If I could have the same effect sitting on my couch eating bonbons, that’s where I would be,” McGrath, an Ottawa nurse, said Monday night.

“Every time I come, by the time I leave here, I feel 100 per cent better.”

The women are members of the Westboro Running Room’s Learn-to-Run clinic, and are now seven weeks into their 10 weeks of training for the Ottawa Resolution Run and Walk on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

The Running Room helps runners at all levels with their technique, nutrition, motivation and goal-setting.

Through the Running Room clinics, members receive expert advice and gain the support of fellow runners.

The Resolution Run is an annual event held across the country. Ottawa participants are taking pledges to raise money for the Ottawa-Carleton YMCA and will be running down Colonel By Drive near Pretoria Bridge.

Training for the run has been a grueling process for some of the women, many of whom are inexperienced runners.

Prior to signing up for the clinic, Elkins, an administrative assistant at a law firm by day, had never tried running.

During the first week of training, the group ran one-minute intervals separated by two-minute walk breaks for about 15 minutes.

“I almost died. My lungs were burning and I had a runny nose,” Elkins said Monday night. “Now I finish and I feel good.”

Delany, who works at a medical office, said the winter weather wasn’t a deterrent to take up running.

“Snow usually meant you could skip school and go skiing. Well, now I’m a responsible adult and I go to work and I even have snow tires,” Delany said.

“The winter’s really no big deal, no big deal at all.”

While there are other members in the clinic, which also trains Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings, coach Dave Preston said few are as dedicated as the five women out Monday night.

“There are some people who are here rain, shine, cold, you name it,” Preston said.

Kulcha, a retiree, said she is ready for everything the weather throws at her after the training she’s gone through.

“When you get out there and you’re out there running and people are looking at you like you’ve got 10 heads and where’s your brain, what are you thinking — that in itself is motivating. It’s like I can do this. I don’t care if it’s minus 40. I’ve been there, done that,” she said.

“The weather doesn’t matter. It’s all character building.”