Runner experience: “Running anchors my long-distance relationship with my dad.”

Rebecca Hartshorn’s story as told to Sinead Mulhern 

The experience that I take most from my running isn’t just one moment that I can pinpoint that happened while out on the road. Rather, it’s the strengthening of the bond that I have with my dad. Running is our shared interest, our passion.

I started running in high school. Dad was always there, supporting me in cross-country races and cheering me on from the sidelines of the track. Since the early days, I’ve increased my distances. Where once I competed on the track, I bumped up my race distance to the 10K and then half-marathon. My dad joined in.

We began to build on the number of races we had completed together, branching out by taking on longer distances and making our way to triathlons at events across western Canada. I can’t even count on both hands how many we have competed in together but the ones that stand out most include the Saskatchewan Half-Marathon, a 50K ultra in Saskatoon, the Magrath Triathlon and the BMO Vancouver Marathon.

Eventually I moved away and my relationship with my dad became a long-distance one. I left my home town in Saskatoon and moved to Vancouver. We live two provinces apart now but it doesn’t mean we can’t take advantage of every opportunity to go running on a Saturday morning or challenge one another to sign up for a daunting race. My dad took to one goal in particular: qualifying to run Boston.

He tried and failed. Two years ago he lined up at the start on the BMO Vancouver Marathon hoping to run a qualifying time. He didn’t succeed. It wasn’t enough to give up though. Just this past summer, my dad set a goal to qualify for the 2016 running. He followed a strict training regime– we even got to do some long runs together at the Grouse Grind when he came to visit me. The big race was marked on the calendar: the Queen City Marathon in Regina.

He ran in September and did it. My dad qualified running a 3:29 marathon. I was sad that my work schedule wouldn’t allow me to make it but I was there– virtually. The 35K point is tough during the marathon so as a surprise, a good friend of mine set herself at that point equipped with her iPhone and me on FaceTime. As he ran, my mother texted me constantly giving me updates.

When my dad approached the 35K mark, he choked up when he saw me there cheering him on. It was much-needed encouragement. He sped up and made it to the finish clocking his qualifying time. Our whole family will be booking flights to cheer him on at his first Boston. As a daughter who has always looked up to her father, this will forever mark one of my proudest moments. I see someone who constantly challenges himself to set new goals not just in running, but in life. That’s someone who I want to become.