Tarrant Cross Child: Run Your Way

Saskatoon-based marathoner Tarrant Cross Child doesn’t just love to run; he loves to get other people running with him. That’s why the former marathon champion spends his days working with Indigenous youth through Prairie Run Crew, helping young people discover a love of running. Here, he explains what running means to him and how his version of “run your way” has changed over the years. 

What was your first memory of running?

My first memory of running is out at my late grandfather, Daniel Weasel Moccasin’s, in southern Alberta’s Treaty Seven area. I remember when he got me to run around and chase the horses to get them into the corral. And after that, he said to me, ‘Tarrant, you sure like to run.’ I said, ‘Yes, Grandfather, I really do.’ And he got me to run my first race. But before the race, I remember being able to go into town to purchase my first pair of blue shoes, these fast blue shoes. Then I ran my first track race and came in last. But I loved it.

Have you changed your approach to running over the years, from winning the Saskatchewan Marathon in the ’90s to now? 

Being a lot older now, I’m definitely more cautious with my running and my training. I’m making sure I’m not overtraining because, let’s face it, at my age I could easily get hurt. So I’m very careful about making sure I’m doing all the exercises that I need to do to be able to maintain and to be able to have the muscles, ligaments and joints prepared to run those long miles. But I can tell you, I’m definitely enjoying it a lot more. The more I run, the more I enjoy it.

How do you keep your love of running alive?

It’s definitely about being able to set goals. Being a goalsetter and a goal achiever, you have to have something in sight that keeps your eyes on the prize. It gives you direction, it gives you purpose. And if I’m just out there running every day, I would personally feel that it’s kind of aimless. That’s how I’m able to keep that spark, that love, that zeal alive: by chasing these goals that I have.

You’ve spoken about using your running as a vehicle for talking about mental health. How has running helped you with your own struggles?

After I run, I never regret it. Sure, some days, it’s tough to get out the door. But once I do get out the door and run the trails, run the streets, run through town, and get back home, I never regret it. I’m always feeling so much better. I can have a difficult day, I can have a difficult week. But after a run, I always just feel so much better. It improves my mental health: I can think a lot more clearly. When something is going on in my life where I don’t quite have the answer for it, I go out for a run, and my mind’s not as foggy afterward. Running really is medicine. And it’s something that has really helped me every single day.

Addy Townsend: Run Your Way

A lot of your work also centers around getting, and also keeping, Indigenous youth in running. Why is that so important? 

Every time I cross the finish line of a race, I see and hear the people, the noise, the music. The feeling is really overwhelming when you cross that finish line, because you feel a sense that you’ve accomplished something worth celebrating. To be able to share that with Indigenous youth is really important to me, because I want them to be able to experience that same thing. A lot of the Indigenous youth, especially in the northern Saskatchewan communities, can’t get to some of these races. But with the Prairie Run Crew, we bring the race to them: we bring the fence to the right, the fence to the left, the music and the finish line arch that they run under. They’re able to feel a sense of victory and feel something that they’ve accomplished. It’s so fun to see them cross that finish line!

My Fast Blue Shoes

What does the phrase “Run Your Way” mean to you?

Running has really given me that connection to the land. That’s what it means to me to run your way: the way that I run is experiencing a connection to the land. And I find that the more I run, the more I’m able to run from my past, the not so good things that I’ve gone through, and I realized that the more I run, putting one foot in front of the other, the closer I get to those dreams, those goals that I have set out for myself.