New Balance Canadian runner of the week: Sharon Bennett

Ontario (and much of rest of Canada) has broken several cold records this winter tempting runners to stay in and hibernate until spring. It’s an ongoing struggle for Canadians to just get out there. Sharon Bennett is an example of a Canadian runner who took a no-excuses approach this winter. She’s training for her first Around the Bay 30K this year, having logged over 600K since the new year and despite having a busy family life, she endures frozen grounds and biting winds each morning to get in shape.

The ideal morning for Bennett starts off at 5 a.m. with the same breakfast as always: a slice of toast with almond butter, a banana and a glass of water. Coffee happens after the run, always. For Bennett, mornings are just part of the routine, but with a hectic home life, that run is also her alone time – something that’s necessary for anyone who is a parent and runner. “I run in the mornings always. I have three kids and a husband so I have a busy life,” she says. “It’s my time for me – it happens at 5 a.m.”

Running in Hunstville, Ont. is like a dream for urban runners sick of dodging cars and pedestrians and navigating icy sidewalks. You can continue for kilometres without having to stop and in summer, as she weaves through the trails and trees of cottage country, she passes many lakes on her way. If you were to run alongside Bennett on an average morning these days though, you would see tons of hills and snow which she battles under several layers of clothing. “There’s no route you can take without hills,” she says.

That’s perfect training for her 2015 goal: racing the Around the Bay 30K. “I’d have told you that’s crazy,” she says of racing the distance. For Bennett, running had been recreational for years but over the past few, she has taken it more seriously. She’s hoping to race the course in about 2:30 this month. Getting her time down is something she says she couldn’t do without her training group, the Muskoka Algonquin Runners.

Part of the motivation to get the training in is to juggle family time. As parents know, with three kids, there’s always something. Bennett gets up at the crack of dawn to do the training so she doesn’t miss family life. Luckily, they’re supportive of that. “One of the things that’s huge is my kids. They set alarms and they get up and get ready. It’s pretty huge for me to rely on them. They’re pretty responsible,” she says. She adds that sleeping in on weekends isn’t exactly optional. She still rises at 5 a.m. to get the work done before a kid’s hockey game.

While that can be hard to go out sometimes, it’s worth it. “That only lasts once I’m out the door,” she says. “I have a routine and I’m pretty stuck on it.”