I run because I can. When I get tired, I remember those who can’t run, what they’d give to have this simple gift I take for granted, and I run harder for them. I know they would do the same for me.

Running is my PASSION. Training brings DISCIPLINE to my life and over time the sport has helped grow my character, fostering both my physical and emotional STRENGTH.

I began running in 2003, competing my first-ever 10K race. 2009 brought triathlon-ing to my life and 2010 my first half marathon. As I gradually increased my mileage, I realized how fortunate I am to be able to pursue this sport, my passion.

I dedicated my last training and racing season to going the distance for those who can’t … in support of fundraising for research and programs for persons with Multiple Sclerosis.

My best friend, Ray, is an MS patient. He was diagnosed in 2003 and began running in 2006. He has raced every distance from 5K to 42.2K, but his greatest accomplishment to date was completing Ironman Canada in August 2010 in support of Race4MS.

His love of the sport runs deep, as does his commitment to fighting MS. He noted, “MS stops people from moving and I hope to prove it will not stop me.”

I run to support him and the fight to help keep those with MS moving.

This year we ran for my husband, Tim Lyttle, currently deployed overseas in the middle-east.

We also ran in memory of our friend and fellow runner, Anthony Klumpenhower, who passed away while serving in Afghanistan in 2007.

I am a PhD student in War Studies at the Royal Military College. This was my second half-marathon and first time participating in the Army Run. I am the daughter of a former CF member and ran today as a tribute to injured soldiers and all military families. I absolutely loved the race and will definitely be participating again next year!

I am dedicating my run in the 2011 Army Run to all our injured soldiers
- especially the so called “walking wounded” whose injuries are not
always immediately apparent.

In particular though, I will be running in the memory of my late
common-law husband Master Corporal Randy Murphy. Randy fell victim to
suicide on January 24, 2009 at the young age of 37. His 19 year career
in the CF as a medic involved many overseas deployments including a
mission to Rwanda during the genocide of 1994, in addition to missions
to Bosnia and Afghanistan among others.

In this post-Afghanistan era, the coming years will bring about an
unprecedented wave of deployment-related mental health related illnesses
such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Many of
our soldiers will battle their inner demons as a result of things they
have seen and done, and the decisions they’ve had to make, while serving
abroad.

When I lace up my running shoes this Sunday those soldiers currently
suffering from mental health related issues will be heavy on my mind.
Most of all though, I will be remembering Randy and the many sacrifices
he made throughout his career in selfless service to his country. I
will never forget.

I run the Canada Army Run for many reasons.

My late father, John Allen Hay, was a Second World War veteran. He fought overseas with the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders regiment and was one of those who landed on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944. Growing up I was always fascinated by this and I developed a deep appreciation for his role in the military. I grew up observing Remembrance Days, something I do to this very day. It wouldn’t be right not to do so. As a youngster, I used to revisit WW2 in scrapbooks of memorabilia my mother had saved. Even though both my parents have since passed away, I still possess my late dad’s kit bag, including his meagre pay book, photos and letters he carried throughout the war, and a tattered pocket Bible, which he probably, no doubt, referenced too many times to count.

Each and every Remembrance Day, I continue to wear his Balmoral cap to the local cenotaph in his honour.

Although soldiers, including my dad, are usually very reluctant to discuss what they’d endured, one of the things he jokingly never minded telling me about were those 20-mile hikes in full army gear and pack sack. Many times I have drawn upon these stories to help me through what I’d perceive to be a difficult run, no matter how short or long it was. I figure, if he could do it with that distance and weight on his back, I can do a fraction of it with my little running gear and nice comfy shoes. So I run the Canada Army Run for my late dad.

In 1983 I graduated from Queen’s University, in Kingston. As a student there, I came to be friends with many Royal Military College students. Some of them have gone on to lead Canada’s military, while others suffered seriously debilitating injuries. Today, I have friends whose sons and daughters are serving overseas, and others who’ve lost children fighting in places like Afghanistan, including Sgt. Marc Leger, of the Third Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. Sgt. Leger, 29, was killed during the friendly fire incident at Tarnak Farms, Afghanistan, in 2002. I have still other friends who’ve left their own young families at home in Canada, while they’ve served our country overseas. So I run the Army Run for those I’ve known in the military, or for the loved ones of friends.

In 2005, as a reporter then for the Standard-Freeholder newspaper in Cornwall, Ontario, I had the great pleasure to accompany 11 local S, D & G Highlanders overseas to Holland and Belgium. During this all-too-brief trip, the regiment was being honoured for their service in Zuphen, Holland during the closing days of WW2. This was a tremendous honour to cover these festivities, especially as they were representative of my late father’s regiment. In return, the regiment presented me with a plaque for my coverage, and that I was “A Glen at Heart.” So I run the Canada Army Run for the S, D & G Highlanders.

I think back to my participation in last year’s event in Ottawa. Running friends had told me much of the spirit of the Army Run, the enthusiasm, the depth of appreciation by our troops and, of course, the nifty dog tag finisher’s medal. I think of the canon-shot start, scenic beauty of the run, the troops standing roadside throughout it, and the wonderful patriotism it inspires in everyone, whether they’re pounding the pavement or cheering participants from the sidelines.

I think of the troops the run helps to assist, their families, the core of Canadian military, its past, present and its future. And I know why I run the Canada Army Run.

I run to survive. Initially diagnosed with PTSD (I choose to use the term battle fatigue) in the fall of 2009 following physical and mental collapse after two tours in Afghanistan, I began to run as a form of mental health therapy. Today, my mental well being is closely linked to my daily runs.

I ran my first half-marathon, the Army 1/2 in September 2010, the week prior to my medical release from the Canadian Forces. Running, along with my involvement with Project Healing Waters (*www.projecthealingwaters.ca), sustains me during my dark periods.

This year I’m running in memory of those soldiers who have lost their personal battles against the ‘Black Dog’.

I’m an RCAF veteran (1957-1964) fighter control operator/public affairs specialist. My father was in North Africa during WW II and the Battle of Ortona, Italy. His brother, my uncle, helped liberate Holland from the Nazis.

I went to Afghanistan to visit my son in 2004, where he was a field operative for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and saw first-hand the desperation of the people we were trying to help.

I believe in our military and its missions, at home and abroad.

I have four terminal cancers but am celebrating my second year as a participant in the Army Run.

I hope to be around next year for a third run. It’s important to the things I believe in and to my country.

Per Ardua ad Astra!

I am running for my husband, Lt(N) Yannick Bernier. We originally planned to run together, but as he was recently injured on operations abroad, I will run for both of us.

“Running over here is very different,” says Cpl Dion, who is part of the Military Transition Task Force charged with transitioning Canada out of KAF by the end of December. ‘It’s very, very hot – sometimes over 50ºC – and there’s dust in the air all the time. We usually wear scarves over our mouths and noses – some people even wear masks – to help minimize the dust we breathe in.”

The KAF version of Canada Army Run mirrors the Ottawa event to the extent possible, but local realities dictate some adjustments. Because of limited route choices and traffic constraints, for example, the KAF event features a 5K and 10K (no half marathon) and starts at 6:00 a.m., when temperatures are cooler and traffic is lighter. T-shirts also sport short sleeves instead of long.

Marie is the mom of Travis, a 21-year-old U.S. Marine, who was recently deployed to a remote area in Afghanistan. He’ll be there until February. “When he called me from college last June to tell me he signed up for the U.S. Marines, it was a moment of fear but also exhilaration.  It was the realization of a dream he’d had from childhood and a dream I encouraged him to pursue.”

Two weeks after Travis headed off to Boot Camp, Marie, who was once an avid runner but who hadn’t run in 17 years because of injuries sustained in two separate car accidents, started to run again.  “Thinking about what Travis was going through in Boot Camp is what kept me going and what keeps me going today. By training and running, if I do have a thought of fear, I’m in a stronger psychological place to overcome it.”

In further support of Travis, Marie made the decision to only participate in runs associated with the military. She ran an event last year while Travis was in Boot Camp that raised money for Toys for Tots (a program run by the U.S. Marine Corp Reserves) and was looking for one this year.

“Sharon said ‘I have the perfect event for you!’ And, that’s how I found out about Canada Army Run.”

Sharon and Marie met almost two years ago, when Sharon and other members of the Alpine Club of Canada stayed at the Rooster Comb Inn Marie and her husband Steve own in the heart of the Adirondacks. They became fast friends at a critical time in each of their lives.

Only months later, Sharon – who has been running for almost 30 years and who Marie describes as a “little firecracker” – was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and underwent surgery and chemotherapy. “What really kept me going was running.”

“For the first few months of chemo, I was running three to four times a week. But the second set of chemo, after surgery, was brutal. I was having trouble walking inside at times and thinking ‘how am I ever going to run outside again’?”

Although she had registered for the Canada Army Run half marathon last year, her final chemo treatment was only two weeks before, so she switched to the 5K and walked the route. After the walk, with determination and resolve, she began building her strength and endurance. On New Year’s Eve, she ran the 5K Resolution Run. This past July, she completed the 15K in the Utica, N.Y. Boilermaker event, and did it 30 seconds faster than she had four years earlier.

She’s planning on running the Niagara Falls International Marathon – her first-ever marathon – this October and will be using Canada Army Run as a step toward that goal.

On September 18, Sharon and Marie will be running the Canada Army Run half marathon together, in friendship and in support of each other’s personal journeys.