Here are some people who have impacted my running journey, whether they know it or not. These moments have been etched into my memory and have made a difference in my life.

Deborah Ng (1986-1990)

Debbie was my best friend in elementary school. In Grade 7/8, we were part of the cross-country team and she was always faster than me. The last time we ran together was in Grade 8 when I surprised myself by beating her. I wanted to remain “undefeated” so I stopped running cross-country after that. 😅

Tania Jones (2000-2003)

Tania was a co-worker in my early career. In addition to a demanding full-time job, she was an elite marathoner and was the Canadian marathon champion in 2002. I had never even met a marathoner before, much less an elite marathoner. When she told me that she usually runs >10km most days, the concept seemed so foreign to me. I just couldn’t fathom how she had the energy to do that.

Therese Brisson (2003)

Back then, my work sponsored a 5k run/walk event to fundraise for the United Way. I was signed up to do the 5k but I didn’t train at all since I wasn’t really planning on running it. Somehow, I ended up running with Therese who was a co-worker but also a 2-time Olympic gold medallist in Women’s Hockey. Needless to say, she was in way better shape than me and she insisted on runchatting with me the whole time. At the last ~50m, the clock was close to 30 minutes. She said “Let’s gun it!” and took off. She gunned it and got a sub-30 minute time. I did not. #IamNotAnOlympian

I was really impressed with her ability to carry on a full-on conversation while running and she still had the energy to gun it at the end.

Louisa Lee (2004)

Louisa was a good friend from church. I blame credit Louisa for introducing me to the wonderful world of racing. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, she convinced me to join her for a 10k race. I trained a bit for this race and I remember finishing on such a runner’s high that I felt I could do another 10k. That’s when I set my sights on running a half.

Sheena Li (2005)

Sheena is another good friend from church. She and I travelled to Ottawa for my first half-marathon and Sheena did the rollerblade marathon (before it was discontinued). I made the rookie mistake of taking a gel at the halfway point and vowed never to take a gel again. I had never taken a gel before and I didn’t expect it to be so thick. I didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to try anything new on race day.

It also a super hot day and people were dropping like flies in the last 5km. I told myself that I just wanted to finish standing up. I finished in 2:24 and promptly signed up for the Scotia half where I got a 7 minute PB 4 months later. Yay me!

After this, I didn’t run much. I was working full-time, doing my MBA part-time and got pregnant in 2007.

Jeff Liaw (2008)

By now, I had finished my MBA, had my first kid and was on mat leave. I remember going to get a new pair of running shoes at The Running Room with Jeff, another a long time friend from church. The sales person asked me to roll up my pant legs and walk from one end of the store to the other end so he could check my gait. The problem was, I hadn’t shaved for what seemed like a century. I had to tell Jeff to look the other way while I did a catwalk with my hairy legs in front of the sales person. Poor guy. Some things you just can’t unsee. I hope he was not too traumatized. 😂

Jeff and I ran the SL10K and the Nissan 10-miler that year. Unfortunately, that race marked the beginning of a very long hiatus from running for me.

Lorilee Scott (2015-2017)

Lorilee was one of my good friends from elementary school. We had lost touch after highschool but reconnected on Facebook in 2015. She was on a weightloss journey and had lost >50lbs at the time. We chatted over FB messenger and she suggested that we both work on #bikiniby40. Over the next couple of years, as we both approached 40, I would follow her transformation on FB as she continued to lose weight and helped others do the same as a Beach Body coach. When we both turned 40 in 2017, one of us was able to rock a bikini and it wasn’t me. 😂

Charlotte Miller (2017)

Charlotte is a friend from work. After doing a successful CN Tower climb, I asked Charlotte to join me on a Triathlon Relay team. I would run. She would bike. We also found a swimmer, Loretta, to complete our team. None of us had done a triathlon before but we ended up placing 3rd in the women’s relay division (there were only 6 teams but still!) and I didn’t die after doing the 5k. That gave me the courage to sign up for a 10k in Sept which gave me the courage to join the RunNinjas.

After I joined the RunNinjas, Charlotte would be the one to encourage me to sign up for the full marathon with 2 little words: Why not?

Jim Willett (2017)

Jim is the leader of the RunNinjas. He is a cancer survivor and an ultra runner. He has been an amazing inspiration to me and has changed the trajectory of my life.

He was the first person I met on my first Saturday morning RunNinjas run at MEC. I felt so welcomed from the beginning.

During the first part of the run, he kept on doubling back to check up on the slower runners (me and Dave – more on Dave later). Because I had earphones on, he startled me a couple of times since I didn’t hear him coming from behind. I would later learn that earphones are not part of running club etiquette. I don’t wear earphones anymore but I still get startled occasionally when Jim sneaks up on me intentionally. 😂

Gillian Chow (2017)

That first time joining the RunNinjas, Jim had planned a point-to-point route from MEC to Lawrence station. Unfortunately, I was very slow and didn’t know the route at all. At one point, Gillian ran back to make sure I made the right turn to get back on the trail at York Mills. By the time we got to Sunnybrook Park, we had run 12k (the longest I had done in years) and we were nowhere close to Lawrence station. I was exhausted and had to admit defeat. I told Gillian that I was done and I called Jeremy to come pick me up at Sunnybrook hospital. Gillian ran with me to where Jeremy was going to pick me up and made sure I was okay before continuing to Lawrence station.

Even though we got lost and I didn’t make it to the end, I’m glad Gillian stayed with me and made sure I was okay. She was super encouraging and supportive which meant a lot to me. It showed me that this was a community of people who cared for each other and I wanted to be a part of it.

Dave Shernofsky (2017)

That first time I ran with the ninjas, I was surprised that Dave was running even slower than me so I assumed it was also his first time joining this group. To my surprise, it was because he had already done a ~15k pre-run before this run. He was training for the upcoming Niagara marathon. Wow, who does that???

Little did I know that 6 months later, I would be doing the same thing as I trained for The San Francisco Marathon.

Lisa Sun (2017)

About a month after I joined the RunNinjas, Lisa joined because of a post I made on FB. So many words have already been written and spoken to describe our amazing journey together. I thank God every day that He has placed this angel in my life.

RunNinjas (2017)

I could probably write something about each Ninja in how they have contributed to my running journey. Better save that for a future post. 😍