Gutsy Pan Am performances

There comes a point in just about every tough training session or race when, for a brief moment, you start to question “Can I do this?” But before the thought can even fully formulate you already have the answer: “Yes, I can do this. It hurts, but I can do it.” So you do it. You gather your strength and you keep going, pushing harder, digging deeper.

The women who ran the Pan Am Games marathon on Saturday morning in the hot, humid weather are a prime example of this. The two Canadians in the race, Catherine Watkins of Vancouver and Toronto’s Rachel Hannah, both dug deep to push through 42.2 gruelling kilometres. Watkins even managed to keep a smile on her face through one of the toughest sections of the course during the first two loops.

As the 43-year-old mother of two came up on the hill in Toronto’s High Park, she smiled as fans cheered. On the second loop her smile was still intact as she powered up the same hill. That takes a lot of perspective, perhaps perspective unique to Watkins.

The Pan Am Games weren’t on her training schedule. Watkins ran her first competitive marathon in January in Houston. She then won the Eugene Marathon in May, aiming for the Pan Am qualifying time at that race, but fell short of making the team with a time of 2:42:35. She had written the Games off at that point, but a spot opened about a month ago and she got the call. With only three weeks to train, a family vacation was put on hold and her focus shifted to prepping for the Games. That’s not a lot time. To pull off a ninth place finish in a race which saw five athletes drop out as the heat and hills took their toll is remarkable.

Her story is quite remarkable. She ran in elementary and high-school but moved on by her late teens. At the age of 36 she decided she wanted to compete again and started training with a group in Vancouver, ran her first competitive 10K in 45 minutes and kept going from there, getting stronger and faster each year. She is now one of this country’s top female distance runners.

It’s a testament to the power of dedication and hard work and it’s a testament to the power of the mind. I would bet Watkins has had many moments of questioning and doubt but through that she has found the strength to dig deeper — a powerful tool, the kind that places you among the best — as it did Saturday morning in Toronto.