With only a week to go to the race, I’ve started the journey to Saint John this weekend. I made a slight detour west to Sturgis, SK to celebrate the wedding of some good friends. Next leg of the journey is a long drive to Thunder Bay to spend some time with family. I can take advantage of the time there to do a couple of hilly runs to get the feeling for the terrain I’ll be facing in Saint John. Finally, later this week I’ll make the final flight to Saint John where I’ll be racing.

These last few months have been a whirlwind, and with the bulk of my training behind me I can now say I’ve survived the training. I wasn’t sure when putting together my training plan if I would be able to handle the demands of a plan that wanted me to run 115 km a week – the most I’d done prior to this in a week was 75 km, and those high mileage weeks can take a toll on your body. Fortunately, I was able to stick to the plan very closely and avoid an injury which might have derailed my race plans.

There’s always a lot of stuff going through your head the week leading up to a race. Pre-race jitters, wondering if the time goals you’ve set for yourself are realistic, and going a bit stir crazy because you’re so used to running for hours every day, but can’t because in the final week you should be resting and not running too much. I do think I’m well prepared to break that 3:10 mark based on how well I raced the 10k at Clearwater Lake. I’ve done the training, now I have to put faith in the work I’ve done and hope it gets me through on race day.

More importantly, while training and with the help of family, friends, and the great people of my community, I was able to raise well over $2500 which will go towards supporting those living with Cystic Fibrosis. When I first conceived of this project, I had no idea if it would be successful or not. I told my wife I would be happy if I could raise $250. She laughed at me and told me to have a bit more faith. I guess she was right, because people have been extremely generous, and word has got around about this race and fundraiser more than I could have hoped. It got to the point where people were stopping me on the street during my runs to hand me donations. I couldn’t be more proud of what we were able to accomplish, and for that reason I want to go out next Sunday and give it my all.