Brian: I am a Runner

Name: Brian Baker

1. Why did you start running? What pushes you to keep going?

I started running because my wife, Doralyn, and I had been talking about things we could do to get in shape. Then, out of the blue, she presents me with a Running Room Learn-To-Run membership for Father’s Day in 2012. Not only that, as added incentive, she got a membership as well. A couple of weeks into the training, she developed shin splints and after a valiant effort to persevere, finally needed to call a halt. I continued on but at the same time I was pretty sure that after the training was over that that would be the end of the running. Well, I was wrong! At the end of that 10-week session, I could very clearly see the physical benefit and could clearly feel the emotional benefit.That is essentially what keeps me running, that and the fact that there are so many awesome people in the running community, helping to provide inspiration and keep me motivated!

2. What is your running/fitness routine for a typical week?

In a perfect world, I try and run every other day and cross train on my non-running days with maybe one rest day. The weather this winter, however, has REALLY not co-operated with my training plans! The cross training consists mainly of weight machines at Goodlife. Hopefully in the summer it will include a little ball hockey!

3. Do you have any running goals right now?

My principal running goal right at the moment is to get a 10K race under my belt. I was building up toward 10K’s last spring before the dreaded PF hit. Once I run a 10K, I guess I’ll re-evaluate!

4. Do you track your runs by time or by kilometre?

My usual training run is a 5K and I track those by time. Any time I up the distance, my goal is just to get that distance done. Were I to stay at that distance, I’d probably start tracking the time.

5. What is your favourite distance to run?

I’ve done so little running of anything other than 5K that it’s hard for me to tell. At one point, I got up to running a 9K training run. I was pretty damn excited and I was REALLY looking forward to tacking on that one extra kilometre and that’s when the PF hit.

6. Do you have any running role models?

That’s a toughie! I’d be hard-pressed to say I actually had a running “role model.” Being from London, my hero right at the moment would have to be Lanni Marchant, who just broke the Canadian women’s marathon record. Apart from that, I get great and almost daily inspiration from a whole host of Canadian running bloggers, most of whom seem to be doing things I can only dream about. Oh to have started running sooner in life!
 

7. Were you active as a child/teenager? Was fitness a priority in your household?

I was pretty active. Those were back in the days when there weren’t nearly the sports opportunities there are these days for young people. Rather than being “organized,” we all just got together as kids and played road hockey, football, baseball, tennis, you name it. Got some good athletic genes from my parents and they seem to have stood the test of time.
 

8. Have you ever had an “aha” moment when you were running?

Soon after I started running, I found myself asking the $64,000 question “Am I a real runner?” One evening, at the tail end of a blizzard, I found myself out on a run. It was still snowing pretty hard but it was actually beautiful and calm. Both the beauty of it and the fact that nobody else would have been out in that weather kind of cemented the whole “running thing” for me!

9. What has running taught you?

If nothing else, running has taught me that things which seem unlikely or impossible are actually worth trying. It has also taught me that there is value in challenging yourself. There are aspects of running which are quite transferable to “real” life.