Cross Canada Run

The last week or so has been quite exhausting for me due to pressures that I imposed upon myself to learn new things and to advance myself. Through new encounters with people, I continue to discover areas that I need to work on in order to live a more fulfilling life. I may be a little hard on myself at times and I know that patience is the key but I realized right from the start of this run that in addition to running for a cause this would be a journey for personal development, and as such, I am always excited about opportunities – however they may present themselves - for personal growth.

The run has been progressing well and my current tour manager, Jay, has been very helpful since he came on board and took care of many things that would otherwise cause me headaches. Jay is a very organized, multi-talented individual and I am very fortunate to be working with him. Jay and I had some fun in Brooks, AB speaking to students at St. Joseph’s Collegiate. Kim and Heather at the school did a fantastic job at organizing the meeting opportunities and we spoke to approximately 120 students over two days about mental health. At the start of all of the presentations, Kim and the students always began with prayers for things that they care about and for my journey. In addition to it being a new experience for me, I felt that Kim and the students were genuinely wishing me well and that they were supporting this journey. Most of the students were very receptive to my messages, some came up to me to shake my hand after the presentations and one even talked to me about his personal experience with anxiety, which was inspirational to me.

On another note, I ran into Calgary with little media coverage even though Jay had contacted all the media and local organizations in advance. The only media that came to the Calgary City Hall to cover my run was the Metro Newspaper, who did a good job at reporting the cause. What made up for the small media attention was our wonderful meeting with the folks from the Mental Health unit of Alberta Health Services in Calgary and the Canadian Mental Health Association of Calgary. Julia and Christine from Alberta Health Services were very enthusiastic about the run and they even introduced us to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, who is producing a short video about me and the run to be featured on their website to promote mental health recovery. The Commission is a national body funded by the Government of Canada to focus on mental health issues and to work to improve the health and social outcomes of people living with mental illness.

Carmen, our warm and welcoming host at the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) of Calgary, introduced Jay and I to their wonderful staff and gave us a tour of the nice facility. It always warms my heart to meet people who passionately care for those who need assistance and I came across many at CMHA.

I got a little lost when I was running out of Calgary. Although Jay and I had mapped out my route where I would be running on the sidewalks along the Calgary streets, I got confused at one point when the path for pedestrians ended. I panicked at first because I wasn’t sure which way to go and the easy choice would be to backtrack to the streets and try to find my way out of the city. I panicked because my sense of direction is not too good and I don’t like the feeling of getting lost. So at that point I could either run back to the streets where I at least know where I am going or I could challenge myself a little to chart the unknown roads facing me. I decided on the latter. I figured that if I fall back to what was comfortable to me –which was to run back to the streets- then I would miss out on the chance to improve my navigational skills. Upon that decision, I started to look around and found a trail along a river that led me out of Calgary. It turned out to be an enjoyable run after all.

On my first day running into the Rocky Mountains, I came across a small town shortly after entering the mountain range and was looking for a place to borrow a washroom. I spotted the local lions club at first but it was closed so I looked around and saw that next door was a community church. I pulled on the front door to the church and was a little surprised to find it open so I stepped in and found a man inside who then gave me permission to use the facility. I thanked the man afterwards and proceed to leave when he asked if I was out for a run, obviously noticing my running attires. I told him what I was doing and found out that he was the pastor of the church and that his relationship with God helps him deal with anxiety. The nice pastor then asked if he can pray for me, which I agreed, and he proceed to ask God to bless me and my journey. I do not have any religious background but I appreciated the prayers very much and it really made me feel good. I suppose most people would feel good when a stranger, or anyone else for that matter, wishes good things for you. I thanked the pastor for the prayer and for making my day but he indicated that I also made his day: he was actually struggling with his anxiety and was just praying to God a few hours ago and then here I am with a t-shirt saying “I have anxiety”. I was pretty inspired by that encounter which gave nice warm feelings that accompanied me up the mountain roads.

Total distance ran: 7285 km
Where I am: Banff, AB

Upcoming schedule:
May 13 – Lake Louise, AB
May 20 – Revelstoke, BC
May 23 – Salmon Arm, BC
May 28 – Kamloops, BC