Watch: Canada’s marathon mom, Krista DuChene, on the road to the Olympics
Canada's Krista DuChene, 39 and a mother of three, is popularly known as the nation's "marathon mom" and is expected to be named to the Olympic team.
Just in time for Mother’s Day, Krista DuChene opens up about high-level running and life as a mom in Saucony’s latest featured video. Popularly known as Canada’s “marathon mom,” DuChene, 39, is expected to be named to her first-ever Olympic team ahead of this August’s Games.
As DuChene explains, she was a mother well before she was an elite-level long-distance runner. The mother of three has gotten faster with each child and is one of Canada’s fastest ever in the women’s marathon.
“I think that being a mom has so many advantages, there’s so much energy, love and enjoyment with having kids,” says DuChene. “There’s a lot of work to it. Still, as a mom, the kids come first.”
In 2015, just one year removed from a near-career-ending femur injury, the Saucony-sponsored athlete ran 2:29:38, below Canada’s qualifying standard of 2:29:50, at the Rotterdam Marathon.
Watch the four-minute video below as DuChene talks about training, juggling life as a mother of three and running faster now than she ever has before.
The Brantford, Ont. resident trains with a screw in her leg because of her injury in 2014 though she shows no signs of slowing down. She won the Montreal half-marathon on April 24 and prior to that finished second overall at Hamilton’s Around the Bay 30K in March.
“Failure is not really in my vocabulary,” says DuChene. “We certainly do have disappointments in life and things we want to change but I chose to always focus on the positives.”
It was at the Montreal half-marathon in 2014 that DuChene suffered a fractured femur. As DuChene describes in the video, her first thought when being in the hospital was how she was going to be able to care for her kids rather than how she was going to be able to train.
RELATED: Krista DuChene all smiles after running fitness standard at Montreal half-marathon.
Below is DuChene crossing the line at the Montreal half-marathon where she proved her fitness to Athletics Canada, the country’s governing body for track and field. DuChene needs to maintain a top-three spot until May 29 among Canadian women in the marathon to qualify for the Rio Olympic team.
It's @kristaduchene for the WIN at #Scotia21kMtl! pic.twitter.com/2WHZoAC7ZA
— CanadaRunningSeries (@RunCRS) April 24, 2016
No Canadian women competed in the marathon at the London Olympics while DuChene and national record holder Lanni Marchant are currently on track to qualify for Rio. The Olympic Games begin on Aug. 5 and conclude on Aug. 21. The women’s marathon is set for Aug. 14.
Behind-the-scenes with DuChene during the Saucony video shoot:
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