Kathryn, Fearless Leader

   At some point, as I am discussing my new-found interest in running, I would be truly remiss in not mentioning the young woman who was the leader of our Running Room Learn-to-Run clinic.

My Learn-to-Run group and, far left, Kathryn Fenton

   Her name is Kathryn Fenton and I refer to her as Fearless Leader. She is the lady who taught us how to run, taught us how to dress, and taught us how to plan races. She managed to assess all of us and our running abilities and talk to us individually about little ways of running more efficiently. She arranged to have experts come in and teach us about running faults and how to avoid them, running injuries and how to avoid or heal them, and how to properly plan nutrition.
    Beyond all that, she connected with us. She was interested in not only our running adventure but what was going on in our daily lives as well. This made her a little more than one of those "rah-rah" instructors who only geared up to deal with you for an hour and a half a week.
   On top of all this, she has a Phd. in Musicology (which means I now have two Facebook friends with Musicology Phd.'s, which seems bizarre to me) and, when we're not talking running, we might actually be talking opera, which is kind of cool. I now know twice as much about opera as I did before, simply by chatting over post-clinic coffees at William's Coffee Pub. And, by the way, if you're looking to hire a Doctor of Musicology, she may still be available...


Kathryn, in our nation's capital, for the Ottawa Marathon.

   Kathryn has one of those bubbly and energetic kinds of personalities and, more than anything, is engaging. I don't usually hang out socially right after athletic endeavours and I don't usually make long-term race commitments but, all of the sudden, I found myself doing this, somewhat to my surprise (and terror). A different kind of running instructor might not have had the same co-ercive effect and I strongly suspect that the other runners in the group would have that same observation. This, by the way, is a good thing.
   Were you to have encountered our running group on a random Saturday morning back in the summer, you might not even have picked out Kathryn as the leader. She kind of blended in effectively with the rest of us. What you might have noticed, though, had you watched for any length of time, was the one runner who occasionally ran the opposite direction to the rest of us. This was Kathryn, checking up on how the frontrunners were doing and then falling back to double-check on the slower ones. I was generally in the latter group and always welcomed her appearance. She wouldn't try to engage you in back-and-forth conversations (realizing you could barely breathe), she just wanted to see how you were doing and offer a word or two of encouragement.
   You would not probably pick her out as a marathon runner, she is a little shorter and does not have the long, lanky stride that you might associate with distance running. What she does, though, is runs and runs and runs. The day we talked about the specific preparations for our upcoming target race, she brought us in her medals and race-wear from the events she's competed in. I found myself kind of thinking holy crap a couple of times, this woman is dedicated. And she can run!

Kathryn (L) and her running partner, Brenda, post-Toronto Waterfront Marathon

   As supportive and co-ercive as Kathryn can be, she was unable to talk me into joining the 5K clinic. This is the next logical step for anyone who has completed the Learn-to-Run clinic and most of my fellow runners signed up. For me, the decision not to was more of a financial one (I am a broke runner, as you may remember, if you've been following this blog) and at the time I also wasn't sure how I felt about running in the winter. The 5K target race is the Brita Resolution Run, scheduled for New Year's Eve--so you could pretty well anticipate cold and snow. Stupidly, I have signed up for this race and am now training on my own. Once in a blue moon, I e-mail Kathryn, just to find out how the 5K group is doing. I can only imagine that she is guiding them, little bits at a time, on their way to a triumphant finishing sprint through the frosty late December evening air, right through a throng of people at the finish line. Hopefully, some time after that, maybe even I'll show up!