A view from an elite Canadian runner

Today’s blog profile is of a Canadian runner I met because, of all things, an interest in sunglasses.

Erin Burret is a 33-year-old runner, born and raised in Nanaimo, B.C. Living with her three cats, Erin has committed to following her running dreams.She’s seen her fair share of struggle.

“When I look back on my struggles with running thus far, two really stand out. The first being puberty as a teenager as it was very cruel on my running success at that time. The second would be my first serious injury in late May 2014. Puberty crushed me at the time and left me frustrated enough to quit running for a bit; whereas, the stress fracture left me frustrated and heartbroken but it also put fuel on the fire to come back stronger than ever in 2015.”

But with struggle and hard work often comes success. Erin finished seventh at the 2013 national cross-country championships and, qualifying for her first national team and competing for Team Canada at the 2014 NACAC championships in Trinidad and Tobago.

Personal bests

5K: 16:35
8K: 27:13
10K: 34:42
10,000m: 36:20
half-marathon: 1:15:01

What do you like about sharing your running story on your blog?

I find that updating my blog is the easiest way to provide readers insight as to how my races have gone. I kind of also use it as a way to document my experiences for my own record as well. I am fairly good at keeping a journal chronicling my everyday training; however, I find that I tend to lean towards a blog update versus my training journal for race details. Maybe that’s because by writing online it isn’t limited to the one page per date in my training calendar.

What drives you to keep running and competing?

Quite honestly I have grown up in this sport, competing in track and field from ages nine to 18. I was somewhat like an “all-star” kid who won every race and set provincial records off little to no formal training. Then puberty struck in Grade 9 and running became a struggle for Grades 10-12. After Grade 12 I was completely burnt out and wasn’t having any fun anymore so I quit competing. My love for running never fully died though as I continued to run in road races here and there. Finally in 2008 I got back into it more seriously and have been progressing every since.

After years of running and struggle you made a national team in 2014. What does 2015 hold for you?

It was a privilege to run in a Team Canada uniform and it made me hungry for the future. After a breakthrough season in 2014 I suffered my first serious injury (stress fracture) in late May of 2014 that kept me out for the summer as it was misdiagnosed for six weeks.

My main goals for 2015 will be for fall which tentatively is my debut marathon. My coach Matt Clout and I both feel that based off workouts I am better suited to the longer distances than the shorter ones.

Do you have a running story to tell?

runningwriter@hotmail.com

You can also catch me on Twitter @NoelPaine and on my personal blog.