Running dads: The dad on the start line in spirit

“I had the sort of dad that was quiet, stoic and stubborn,” says Anne Ritter of Halifax over the phone, “stubborn enough to keep going through 18 years of kidney disease before succumbing to brain tumours right before the birth of my daughter, his first grandchild.”

Ritter first started running in 2006, when she participated in a 5K. She wasn’t sure of her father’s opinion about her decision to start running. “I always thought that he might be thinking, ‘why is she wasting her time running around Halifax?’ so I was really pleasantly surprised to hear from my mom that he was quite proud of me. He didn’t show much emotion, so it was nice to know that he was quietly supporting me.”

After her father passed, Ritter threw herself into her work, friendships and relationship with her mother, afraid that the emotion of grieving would threaten her carrying her baby to term. She took a hiatus from running while adapting to life with an infant but was drawn back to the sport when her daughter reached age two.

“All of a sudden it all came back, all my memories of Dad,” says Ritter. “I spent many runs in tears, but it felt good to finally grieve. I felt like my stubbornness in running was proving to myself that I am my father’s daughter. I was really kind of shocked by how much I’d been holding in that came out on these runs.”

After a series of setbacks and injuries that prevented her from racing, Ritter stepped up to the start line of the Ottawa half-marathon just a few weeks ago.

“We rented a house just a few minutes away from the race and I walked to get to the start in the morning. As I was walking along the beautiful canal to get there, I was thinking about my dad and what he would think if he was still alive. To feel his presence there, as I was walking to the race, made me so very grateful for where running has taken me,” Ritter said.

Many runners who have also utilized the sport as a way to cope with tragedy can likely relate to Ritter’s story and thoughts while walking to the start line of her race.”I think running can really help people,” says Ritter.

Now Ritter plays the parental role when it comes to encouraging her own offspring. She has already introduced her now six year old daughter to the sport. “She’s done the Bluenose 2K for the past two years, it’s really sweet,” says Ritter.