Inspiring, Moving, Empowering: 2009 iRun Awards

Paul Franklin

After he lost both of his legs in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, Master Corporal Paul Franklin vowed he'd take his son to school again some day. The ground he's covered since then has been nothing short of amazing. >>

Plus: Read the complete story of Franklin's journey in his own words >>

Joanne Gunning

After reading about a young boy's courageous battle with cancer, Gunning decided to dedicate her Boston Marathon training to him, even though they'd never met. She had no idea how many people she would inspire along the way. >>

Derek Modry

How do you go from 50 pounds overweight and smoking to a sub-three hour marathon in one year? While it sounds like a miracle, Derek Modry reveals there are no shortcuts. >>

David Daze

An avid marathoner, Daze's passion for running helped inspire more than a hundred of his elementary school students to attempt a marathon of their own. >>

Matt Hill and Stephanie Tait

This power couple is running a marathon a day across Canada and the United States to raise money and awareness for environmental causes. And they're only just getting started. >>

Gary Gobeil

Diagnosed with debilitating psoriatic arthritis at the age of 29, there was a time when Gary Gobeil was in so much pain he could hardly get out of bed. He's now a multiple half-marathon finisher, fundraiser and public speaker fighting back against the disease that threatened to steal his quality of life. >>

Ken Hill

For your 60th birthday, would you give yourself the 'gift' of setting out to complete six marathons in the span of a single year? After reading Ken Hill's story, you just might. >>

Dina Salvador

Amid chemotherapy and reconstructive surgery while battling breast cancer, Dina Salvador managed to qualify for and run the prestigious Boston marathon. >>

Amanda and Mark Collis

This father-daughter team has completed 13 marathons together, three of which were in Boston. The fact that Mark pushes Amanda – who has cerebral palsy — in a customized racing wheelchair matters little to either of them.  Mark says Amanda pushes him along too, every step of the way. >>

Rob Tolman

From being the self-proclaimed 'Fastest Fat Guy' in the Clydesdale category to a multiple Boston qualifier and sub-three hour marathoner, Tolman proves there's no running dream too big if you believe in yourself. >>

Cheryl Bartmanovich

After finding the inspiration to change her life through diet and exercise while watching the Oprah Winfrey show, Cheryl Bartmanovich found herself in the unlikeliest of places—on Oprah's couch! >>

Alex Bain

At the tender age of 20, Alex Bain's running accomplishments are impressive—even more so when you consider how much Bain, who was diagnosed as autistic when he was three years old, has done to raise awareness and acceptance for autism in his native province of PEI. >>

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Paul Franklin, Edmonton, AB

iRun to see how far I have come.

For Master Corporal Paul Franklin, a 600-metre walk in May 2006 was tougher than any marathon.

After losing both his legs in Afghanistan, Franklin vowed one day he would take his son Simon to class again.

“I thought, it doesn’t matter how long it takes, one day I would like to walk my son to school,” says Franklin. “Even if it’s to college.”

The short walk took 45 minutes. “It was exhausting,” says Franklin.

But it was a vital step in a recovery that has transformed Franklin’s life.

Three years ago, Franklin was a runner who had completed the Dubai Marathon and four Mountain Man Challenges, a military competition in which soldiers run 32 kilometres with a 35-pound pack, add another 75 pounds of weight for 3k, canoe for 10k and run another 7k to the finish line.

“Everybody (in the military) is a runner,” says Franklin. “Most don’t like it, but I did. It’s the knowledge that you’re doing something more than other people can do. When you’ve finished it, you’ve accomplished something to be proud of. I remember the first time I ran 20k, I was so proud of myself.”

A year after completing Dubai, Franklin was driving a vehicle into Kandahar that was struck by a suicide attacker.

“My truck jumped about 10 metres in the air and 20 feet across the road and landed on its side. My left leg was torn off immediately. My right leg was destroyed.” Franklin’s goal during treatment was to run again. But he soon learned that running on prosthetics would be very difficult for someone who lost both legs above the knee.

“I had it in my head that I had to learn to run again,” he says. “I wanted to recover to the person I was. What I discovered was that person was dead.

“The moment I realized that I could never run again was the moment I realized that the person I used to be was dead and gone. I had to change my attitude. I had to have other challenges.”

Franklin does use prosthetic legs for walking, during transit and when he’s doing public speaking. “As a guy, they allow me to pee standing up, which is an amazing thing,” he says.

But he spends most of his time in a wheelchair. In September 2008, he raced the 5k in the first Army Run in Ottawa. A number of injured soldiers competed in the event, which raised money for Soldier On, a program which helps with rehabilitation.

“For me it was nice to get back into running,” he says. “Even though it’s in a wheelchair, I still consider it running. It was a feeling that I was back into running.”

Franklin says he doesn’t train like he used to because being in a wheelchair is almost enough training on its own.

“There’s so much strength needed to just get yourself around,” he says. “It’s pretty shocking sometimes just how much effort this whole thing is.”

Still a member of the Canadian Forces, Franklin now works in casualty support in Edmonton. “As wounded soldiers come back, we try and help them out and try and make their lives a little bit better,” he says.

He tells other wounded soldiers to learn from his experience the day he realized he would never run again.

“A lot of people struggle to return to who they were before. But that person doesn’t exist anymore,” he says. “The sooner you can accept that, the sooner you can move on with your life.”

But even though he’s accepted that he will never run again on two legs, Franklin still considers himself a runner.

“I definitely think of myself as a runner. That allowed me to be the person I am today. My runner’s body – being fit – is what saved my life in Kandahar. If I had not been fit, I would not have been able to recover as quickly.

“I’ll always be a runner. Even if it’s in a wheelchair. It will always be a piece of me.”

Read the complete story of Paul Franklin’s journey in his own words >>

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Joanne Gunning, Kingston, On

iRun because I love to.

For most runners who make it to Boston, the race is their reward for grinding out all the hard fought kilometres it took to get them there. But for Joanne Gunning, the 2008 Boston Marathon was meant as a reward for someone else — a young cancer patient named Spencer Dolling. After reading about Spencer and his family in a newspaper article, Gunning created a ‘fun fund’ where she set aside a loonie for every 15 minutes of Boston training she completed. “I thought I would send this money to Spencer so he could go out and have some fun in the midst of all his cancer treatments.” As she trained, Gunning posted about Spencer and his fund on Running Mania, a popular Canadian running forum. With her savings and donations from friends on the forum, she was able to send nearly $1,500 to Spencer. (Thanks to Gunning, not only were Spencer and his brother Foster able to afford the Macbook computer they’d been saving for, they also had spending money for their final family vacation together— a trip to Mexico in March at the advice of Spencer’s doctors.)

Two weeks before she ran Boston, Gunning was attacked by a dog, and needed surgery to mend a terrible bite and a broken bone. “Some friends thought I should consider asking for a medical deferral to run Boston in 2009,” Gunning recalls. But she never wavered in her commitment to run this year, no matter how painful it would be. “This was the right decision. I ran the Boston Marathon on April 21st and Spencer died on May 21st.” It was just over a week after his 13th birthday. Although they never got a chance to meet, Gunning insists Spencer was with her the entire time — his pre-race words of advice (“Keep Going. never Give Up”) ringing in her ears during the final, painful miles when things got really tough.

Gunning’s commitment to Spencer and his family didn’t end when she crossed the finish line. Gunning’s posts about Spencer on Running Mania encouraged her friends there to launch a successful national blood drive in celebration of Spencer’s life, as well as the sale of running hankerchiefs or “Buffs” with Spencer’s words of advice on them. (The proceeds from these sales go to the James Fund, a Canadian charity raising research dollars to cure neuroblastoma, the cancer that befell Spencer.) next spring, she’ll travel to Vancouver to pace Spencer’s mother, Tracey, in her first half-marathon. “I am looking forward to meeting the mom of the boy who has had such an influence on my life, even though we never got to meet.”

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Derek Modry, Vancouver, BC

iRun for my life.

How do you go from 50 pounds overweight and smoking to a sub-three hour marathon in one year?

“It was just the belief that I could do it,” says Derek Modry of Vancouver. Just over a year ago, he was carrying 188 pounds on his 5 ft., 6-inch frame. Until a few months earlier, he’d been smoking since he was 12 years old.

But after watching his sister complete Ironman Canada, he decided to get in shape. It all started with a five-kilometre run.

“It was brutal,” he says. “I was huffing and puffing.”

But it worked. Modry completely changed his diet and started working out daily on an elliptical trainer in September, 2007. By Christmas, he’d already lost three dozen pounds. Early in the new year, he started running again.

“It was much better than the first time,” he says, “so I signed up for the Vancouver Marathon.”

In the months ahead, his pace and distance improved and in April, he ran a marathon in training, four loops of Stanley Park. He finished in three hours and one minute.

“I was in tears when I was running the last few miles around Stanley Park,” he says, “because I was so overwhelmed that I was running that distance. And that things had changed in my life that I could do this.”

Modry ran Vancouver and finished in 2:55, an astonishing time for a first marathon. The race had some tough moments, but Modry not only hung on to make his time, he even stopped for a few seconds to sing with a band performing along the final kilometres of the route.

“It was so thrilling to have a day and have everything coming together for me,” he says.

Since then, Modry has completed an Ironman and has continued running with the goal of doing Boston in 2009.

“Running’s a part of my life now. It’s just something to do every day,” he says. “When I think back to that first run, it was painful and I didn’t want to run again. I suffered. When you’re overweight and you’re smoking and you’re running and it’s painful, there’s a disincentive to go out again. If you do go again, changes will happen in your body and your mind.”

“When I started that three-mile run, I never would have thought that in that period of time I would reach that goal. But I kept at it. If you change things in your life and stick to it, you can do anything.”

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David Dazé, Ottawa, On

iRun to test my physical and mental limitations.

Everyone at Monsignor Paul Baxter School in Ottawa knows David Dazé is a runner. The elementary-school teacher keeps his medals in his classroom.

And one year, when he taught in a portable classroom, there were no drapes.

So he used the foil blankets he’d saved from some of his races. So when the Ottawa Race Weekend announced a kids’ marathon, Dazé jumped into action. For the event, children would run 41k in the months leading up to race day, then run 1.2 kilometres toward the same finish line as adult participants.

Dazé, who has run 13 marathons, went to every classroom between grades three and six. “I forced them to watch my video of the Boston Marathon,” he says.

“I said to my wife, if I get 30 kids, that would be great. But it just sort of exploded.” By race day, there were 103 kids signed up, including Dazé’s own two daughters. Dazé had the students run one kilometre twice a week at lunch hour, starting in the gym and then moving outside in spring.

On the day of the marathon, however, Dazé didn’t get to see the kids run – he was busy running the marathon himself.

“I was actually quite nervous for the kids’ race,” he says.

Dazé has since started a running club at the school, which will lead into the next kids’ marathon in the spring.

“It’s very gratifying to see them run – it’s something I’m passionate about,” he says. “But it doesn’t matter if they keep running. My hope is only that they stay active.”

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Matt Hill and Stephanie Tait, Vancouver, BC

iRun to make a difference. - Stephanie Tait
iRun for life. - Matt Hill

Two years ago, actor Matt Hill was on a flight to Detroit for an animation convention when he suddenly figured out what he wanted to do with his life.

“It was like I heard this voice in my head, like ‘This is your captain speaking,’” says Hill. “It was a lightbulb moment.”

A few days later, he told his girlfriend, Stephanie Tait, about his crazy idea. He wanted to run across Canada and the United States, a total of almost 18,000 kilometres in one full year, to raise awareness and money for environmental causes. A few days after that, Tait suggested they do the run together. “

Matt and I had been asking ourselves similar questions,” says Tait, “like what’s our role in life. We both felt really passionate about the planetary changes that are going on. So when he came back from his flight with the big idea, I really felt like, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’”

After 19 months of training, on May 4, Hill and Tait ran the Vancouver Marathon to launch their Run for One Planet. Since then, they have run all the way across Canada and into the United States. Every few days, they take a day or two off for events and interviews, but when they run, they each run a marathon a day.

“It’s not about the run, but about the fact that this inspires others,” says Hill. “We want people to look at us and say, ‘If these guys can run a marathon a day around the continent to try to make some changes, maybe I can look at my life and figure out how I can change.’ ”

Along the way, Hill and Tait have overcome a fire in their support vehicle and several minor medical issues, including one scary moment when Hill ingested some household cleaner he mistook for a protein shake. They have spoken at dozens of schools and running stores to talk about their adventure and inspire others to pay attention to the environment.

And despite running 42.2 kilometres on a daily basis, Hill says he hasn’t gotten tired yet.

“I love the running,” he says. “I seriously feel like it’s a dream come true.”

“For me, it’s been harder than I thought,” says Tait. “It’s been harder but more rewarding. It’s a tangible sense of being on purpose and contributing to the greatest extent that I can right now. I can’t think of anything more that I could give back right now.

“Until now, I’ve been focusing on how can I build a great life for Stephanie Tait. now it’s how can I build a great life for those around me.”

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Gary Gobeil, Winnipeg, MB

IRun for tomorrow.

There was a time, not so long ago, when Gary Gobeil would never have even dreamed about running a half-marathon.

Fourteen years ago, at the age of 29, the then-active Gobeil was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. This aggressive condition attacks the immune system as well as joints, tendons, ligaments, muscle tissue and skin. Very quickly, Gobeil’s body began to stiffen up as the arthritis invaded his body, deforming his fingers and toes.

As recently as 2006, Gobeil was so completely debilitated by psoriatic arthritis that he could hardly get out of bed and walk, let alone put on his running shoes. Mercifully, his life has radically changed since then – thanks to running and his involvement with Joints in Motion, the Arthritis Foundation’s athletic training program.

After several years of struggling to get control of the arthritis through medication, occupational therapy and even surgery, the condition spread to his back and neck. It was at this time, Gobeil says, that he really hit rock bottom. Following some difficult personal issues, including the death of his father, “I went into shock,” explains Gobeil. “My body was dealing with so much emotional pain that I didn’t even feel the physical pain anymore.”

Incredibly, it was then that he made the conscious decision to start exercising. His inspiration, he says, came from a colleague who asked him to be a “hero” for a Joints in Motion event – Gobeil was to be the motivation for his friend’s run. Touched by the honour, Gobeil went online and realized he could walk as part of the marathon.

“As I pondered the unthinkable idea of walking 13.1 miles in my condition, I also thought about how in need I was of something positive in my life,” recalls Gobeil. “More than ever, I needed something to focus on that would offer me a purpose and some emotional fulfillment – why not a cause that could benefit 4.5 million Canadians who suffer with this disease, me being one of them?”

In november 2006, Gobeil registered for his very first racing event – the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Half-Marathon for Joints in Motion. He began walking to prepare himself for what he was about to embark on. He gradually began to run, starting with 10 minutes of walking and one minute of running. Unbelievably, he did not only walk in that half-marathon just three months later – he ran non-stop, finishing in an astonishing 2:37:47.

“Your mind is a powerful tool and it can change things for you,” says Gobeil. “It turned out to be a life lesson for me – that positive energy wasn’t always there.” Since that day in Arizona, Gobeil has completed seven more half-marathons and many 10 and 5K races, each one an accomplishment he is proud of. On Father’s Day 2008, he set an impressive, new PB of 1:46:27 at the Manitoba half-marathon – in honour of his father’s memory.

Gobeil is now intently focused on a most important cause – to find a cure for arthritis. He helps in every way he can, by continuing to run in Joints in Motion marathons, and by sharing his story. He was the guest speaker at the Joints in Motion Reggae half-marathon in negril, and has spoken publicly on a number of other occasions to share his story.

“There is an unseen battle that rages on aside from the pain of arthritis,” Gobeil explains. “For so long, I was determined not to allow my arthritis to define who I was, yet the reality was this was what I was dealing with.”

“It became this elephant in the room with me at all times as I did everything to hide it, and as a result, I sunk into a depression. I came to the realization that telling my story was important – both to help myself initially, and in turn to help bring awareness to this disease.”

His biggest accomplishment, by far, is the physical and mental transformation he has achieved. “The arthritis that had held me back for so long now does not,” says Gobeil. “My quality of life and my state of mind have brought me back amongst the living, and I owe that to where it all began – with a Joints in Motion half-marathon.

“I got my life back – and I’m running with it.”

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Ken Hill, Calgary, AB

iRun to remain active for my grandkids.

Shortly after his sixtieth birthday last December, Ken Hill set an ambitious goal. He decided to tackle “Sixin-Sixty”: six marathons within a single year, four running and two cross-country skiing. Just two days after he completed his final event – the Victoria Marathon, which he completed in 3:29:17 – he described the year as an amazing journey of self-discovery.

“When I first started all this, I had a feeling of being overwhelmed by all I planned to do, but as I completed each event I had a real feeling of accomplishment,” says Hill.

“SixinSixty represents the determination, fortitude, courage and accomplishment born out of passion to achieve unthinkable feats no matter the age or barrier,” explains Hill, who only began running at the age of 55. “Personally, I just feel more energetic – it’s really changed my life and my outlook on how I tackle things.”

Much of Hill’s own personal motivation comes from the desire to remain fit and healthy for his two grandchildren and great grandson. He believes that an active lifestyle in the “golden years” eases the burden on the health system, while renewing a sense of purpose in life.

Hill wants to improve his time so he can begin to win marathons in his age category. He is already registered for the Boston Marathon, where he is aiming for a time of 3:20.

“My daughter asked me if I would be doing ‘seveninseventy’ and ‘eightineighty,’” laughs Hill. At the rate he’s going, nothing seems to be in the way.

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Dina Salvador, Ottawa, On

iRun because I can.

In November 2007, Dina Salvador wasn’t running at all. She was recovering from reconstructive surgery after battling breast cancer. Yet five months later, to the surprise of her doctors, she ran the Boston Marathon.

“It was very surreal,” says Salvador, a legal clerk in Ottawa. “As of November, I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it.”

But Salvador’s story is full of unlikely events. Incredibly, she was able to continue running throughout most of her year-long cancer treatment, again to her doctors’ surprise, right up until her final cycle of chemotherapy.

“I wasn’t able to do it at any great speed, but running gave me something else to focus on,” she says. “It just made me feel like I was alive and I was fighting it. Like I was still in the game.”

Salvador had run two marathons before her illness. After completing her treatment, she decided to run the 2006 Las Vegas Marathon with her sister, finishing in a personal-best, Boston-qualifying time of 3:32.

“I thought chemo might have made me a bit slower, but it didn’t,” she says. “I’m actually faster now, which is kind of bizarre.”

But even after qualifying, she wasn’t sure if she could run Boston. Her surgery was scheduled for the spring of 2007, then postponed to August.

“That made it kind of iffy to be able to run it this year,” she says. “I wasn’t even running by November. But once I started running, everything came back again.”

Her run in Boston didn’t go as well as planned, but just being there was the fulfillment of an almost-impossible dream.

“I had a really tough run, but it was an amazing experience,” she says. “I loved every minute of it.”

Since then, she has twice run a personal best in the half-marathon and is considering a spring and fall marathon next year.

More important than any marathon, Salvador has been cancer-free for almost three years.

“I’m just happy that I can run, whether I can run a race or a marathon. I’m kind of in awe of it,” she says.

“I’ll be happy if I can run until I’m 90. I do like the marathons and the half-marathons but that’s not the main thing. Hopefully, running will help me stay healthy.”

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Amanda and Mark Collis, Burlington, On

iRun to dream big.

If Mark Collis wants to head out for a solo run, he can’t let his daughter Amanda see him wearing his running gear – she’ll get upset if she thinks he’s going without her.

Born with cerebral palsy that affects her speech and muscle control, 23-year-old Amanda gets to trade her regular wheelchair for a special racing chair when she’s out running with her dad.

“All you have to do is mention running and she gets excited,” says Collis. “She is generally pretty quiet on the road, she’s overloaded with stimuli, but at home before the run it’s a sing-song chorus of ‘Daad!’ along with tap-tap-tapping her wrist to say, ‘Is it time to go?’”

This unique father-daughter running duo has become a true fixture in the local running community of Burlington, On, since they came on to the racing scene in 2000. For Collis, running gives him some meaningful, one-on-one time with his middle child.

“Why do I run with Amanda? I do it because I like doing things with my children and running is something that I can share with her,” he explains. “I do not feel that I’m doing anything special at all. For me, it’s really not a big deal, it’s just time spent with my family.”

Collis, who started running 12 years ago, credits his initial inspiration back to seeing televised footage of the Hoyt father-and-son team competing in the Hawaii Marathon. iRun to dream big.

“I remember lying on the couch flipping channels when I came across this incredible story,” says Collis of the duo from Massachusetts; son Rick can’t walk or talk. “By the end I just lost it, because it just hit way too close to home.”

Since then, Collis and his daughter have had the honour and pleasure of qualifying and running in the prestigious Boston Marathon with Rick and Dick Hoyt in 2005, 2006 and 2008. “These guys are literally my heroes,” says Collis.

It all started back when Amanda was 15 years old, and Collis took her for her first run. “Amanda was laughing her butt off the whole darn way – she thought this was just grand fun,” he recalls.

As a show of support, friends from the Burlington Runners chipped in to buy Amanda her first running chair. Five years, 3,000 miles and two Boston marathons later, Collis decided it was time for an upgrade. Today, Amanda rides in comfort in a custom-designed running chair that Collis claims “hardly makes any difference at all” in his overall run times. Currently, Collis and Amanda are training for the Road to Hope, which will be their 13th marathon.

“She really is my favorite running partner,” says Collis. “I can joke and kid around with the usual suspects when I’m out with the running group, but it’s just not the same. She’s quiet, she’s accepting.”

One of the aspects Collis likes best about running with Amanda is how it seems to break down those invisible barriers between ablebodied and disabled individuals.

“Normally, if you see someone in a wheelchair there is a stand-offish feeling, but when we’re out for a run that’s taken away,” says Collis. “People seem more inclined to approach us because we’re doing something that’s a little weird and strange.

“It gives people the chance to meet Amanda. If you saw her in person, she has a smile that would melt your heart. She doesn’t have a veil where she hides her true emotions – she’s totally genuine.”

It would seem that it runs in the family.

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Rob Tolman, Erin, On

iRun because I just love to run.

Rob Tolman will be the first to admit there’s no magical secret behind his journey from self-proclaimed “Fastest Fat Guy” racing in the Clydesdale category to multiple Boston qualifier and sub three-hour marathoner – just hard work, and lots of it.

A none-too-dedicated cross country runner in high school (“I remember running a cross country event in basketball high tops one time”), Tolman returned to running in spring of 2004, weighing in at 225 pounds. Later that year he ran his first-ever marathon in Toronto, and despite at times thinking he “would die on that course,” posted a highly respectable first time of 4:10:42. “I was hooked. I wanted to run more and get faster,” he recalls. “I started to study nutrition and training programs and race strategies. I listened to anyone that would talk to me about their marathon experiences.”

As his times steadily improved, Tolman still thought Boston was out of reach. “I didn’t think I could BQ at my age, I thought I’d need to wait until I was at least 40 or 50 before I could make it to Boston. Getting 30 minutes faster still seemed impossible.” But with every hill repeat and speed workout, Tolman came closer and closer to proving himself wrong.

At the Forest City Marathon in May of 2007, he earned his BQ by posting a time almost an hour faster than his first full marathon (3:14:45) and, despite a difficult day in the heat, pulled off an impressive PB at Boston in April 2008 (3:05:17). Now racing at a more thoroughbred-like 165 pounds, Tolman ran what he calls his first “perfect” race in Picton in October, clocking an astounding 2:57:48.

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Cheryl Bartmanovich  Woodlands, MB

iRun because it soothes my soul & makes me smile - it's my buffer, my escape & my salvation.

It’s My Buffer, My Escape & My Salvation. For Cheryl Bartmanovich, the inspiration to transform her life completely through diet and exercise came at a seemingly unlikely moment – while on the couch, watching Oprah. Listening to Winfrey’s guest, country singer Wynonna Judd, share her life-long battle with her weight, Bartmanovich – in her mid-40s at the time and carrying more than 100 extra pounds on her diminutive frame – was inspired to take action. “That was it. I thought, ‘I am going to do this.’ I bought a treadmill the next week.”

Still, Bartmanovich’s transition from couch to marathon finish line wasn’t without a few bumps along the way. Even with a new commitment to healthy eating, that first walk on the treadmill was “a huge wake up call. My hips were screaming. I came off dripping,” she recalls. “In the mornings, my husband put the pillow over his head so he wouldn’t hear me thumping.”

Once Bartmanovich had shed nearly 40 pounds, she made her first attempt at running on a deserted back road near her farm north of Winnipeg. “I figured, there’s nobody but the cows to see me, I’m just going to start chugging along.” Alternating between running and walking, it took her several months to work up to a full mile of running.

But something about the goal-oriented nature of running appealed to Bartmanovich, who had been an accomplished athlete in high school. It also gave her a sense of belonging to a community that she’d never had before. “I used to see a thin person and think, ‘I wonder what that would feel like?’” Bartmanovich admits. As for runners, “I didn’t even see them. I wouldn’t pay them any attention. To acknowledge runners would be to acknowledge the fact that I couldn’t run. now I wonder, ‘Are they doing a steady run? A long run? How far are they going?’”

Within a year, Bartmanovich had shed a total of 103 pounds and run her first half-marathon; eight months later, she ran her first full marathon. She has since completed 16 half-marathons, four full marathons, and one ultra-marathon, raising tens of thousands of dollars for Joints in Motion in the process. She has also appeared on the Dr. Phil show as a weight-loss success story, and made a trip to Oprah’s couch to share how the show inspired her to change her life – though not without some trepidation. “Dr. Phil was a lighthearted adventure. This was Oprah!” Bartmanovich says, recalling her nervousness before the show. “I was sitting in the green room, staring at a picture of her with nelson Mandela!” But when they cut to commercial, Bartmanovich realized she and Oprah had more in common than she thought. Oprah asked her what part of her marathon she’d found toughest, then confided, “It was mile 12 for me. When I hit mile 12 I thought ‘I am never going to get this done!’”

Bartmanovich credits her eversupportive husband Denis and her community of running friends with helping her to finally put “the real Cheryl on the outside.” Despite her dramatic transformation, Bartmanovich insists that maintaining a healthy weight and lifestyle truly is a lifelong commitment – and, at times, a real struggle, as she learned during a five-month hiatus from running this year due to an Achilles injury sustained while training for the Edinburgh Marathon. “The old Cheryl is still in the corner of my eye. She’s still there, waiting to come back. It’s a life-long struggle to keep her away.”

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Alex Bain, Oyster Bed Bridge, PEI

iRun for Autism Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion.

At the age of 20, PEI native Alex Bain’s unwavering dedication to running already sets him apart from most of his peers. Bain races almost every weekend. He has broken the 20-minute mark in the 5k and is very close to breaking 40 minutes in the 10k. He just completed his first full marathon in an impressive time of 3:29:29.

But his age isn’t the only thing that’s special about Bain; he was diagnosed as autistic at the age of three. Today, a huge part of Alex’s motivation each time he laces up his shoes is to promote awareness about autism – and the fact that he, and many others like him, wish for acceptance, not a cure. “Autism makes me different from my friends,” says Bain. “That’s OK.” As his trademark yellow race t-shirt spells out, Bain is “Running For Autism, Not Against It.”

In July 2006, Alex (accompanied by his mother, Janet Norman-Bain, who played both support crew and videographer) embarked on a run from tip-to-tip of PEI to raise money for autism awareness and risk and safety management. But even this challenge – he averaged between 20-25k per day – didn’t quite prepare him for what the last stretch of his marathon would feel like: Bain admits he hit the wall with 10k to go, “the first time I’ve done three hours of running.” Still, he exceeded his projected time goal by more than five minutes.

Bain is no stranger to awards; he has also been crowned PEI RoadRunners Rookie of the Year, Junior RoadRunner of the Year and Inspirational Runner of the Year.

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