The Running Whys – Alan Theal
There were no indications, no warning signs.
Some 800 meters from the finish line, Alan Theal, a veteran of more than 30 marathons and five ultra-marathons, was down and those situated near the end of the 2008 ING Edmonton Marathon feared the worst.
Alan, the four-hour pace bunny for one of Alberta’s biggest road races, had collapsed just as his group was set to celebrate.
Just minutes previously, the mini fist pumps were starting for his team of distance runners, all of whom wanted to crack the treasured four-hour barrier. Alan was the pacing leader, the person in charge of getting this group through the emotional and physical peaks and valleys of the 42.2 kilometre course, entrusted to set a standard his group could follow and achieve a bucket-list goal.
With less than a kilometer to go, it looked great and Alan gave one last positive signal to the group that there was light at the end of their endurance tunnel. Success, after months and sometimes years of training, was right around the proverbial corner.
“It was a hot and muggy day,” says Alan, almost six years later. “We were having an awesome day. It was a little bit warm but we did our walks and we stayed hydrated.”
Moments after he pronounced the collective goal was within reach, Alan went silent, uncharacteristic for him, given his engaging personality, especially with the monumental mission virtually complete.
A few steps later, he staggered, stumbled and fell face first on the curb. Thankfully, through the efforts of many, Alan received the immediate treatment that ultimately saved his life.
“They still have not pinpointed what it was,” Alan said. “It could have been an arrhythmia…I had tests and my heart was enlarged.”
Prior to the race, Alan had wrapped up a seven-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, another accomplishment in his distinguished 35-year career in the Canadian Armed Forces. There is a thought that something – perhaps a virus – attacked his heart, which, “made it do some wild and weird things.”
Whatever the cause, the 2008 ING Edmonton Marathon was a dramatic moment that will be forever etched in his memory.
So what does this have to do with the 2013 and 2014 Emera Marathon By The Sea events.
Turns out, most everything.
“As I stand here today, that was the best race of my life,” Alan says proudly of his participation last August.
The progress from the finish line in Edmonton to the finish line in Saint John represented an intense journey on Alan’s metaphorically long and winding road.
“It was terrible,” he says of the recuperation starting after returning from his tour of duty in 2006, through all of the medical testing and leading up to when he was fitted with a pacemaker in 2009.
However, Alan being Alan, one of the first things he wanted to know when the pacemaker procedure ended was not ‘if’, but ‘when’ he could run.
“Nothing strenuous,” was the tone of the reply.
Gradually, he eased back into everyday life and as he gathered strength and confidence, he added some distance.
Yet things were different in so many ways.
He retired from the Canadian Armed Forces, moving across the country to Amherst, where he started to gain new momentum, both personally and through the running community.
It was a slow start, as when he arrived in the Nova Scotia border town, he noticed an absence of a local running club. Given his background as a mentor and clinic leader with the Running Room and his vast running experience, he felt he could step in and organize something to help promote healthy living. It would be a perfect tonic in his recovery and an introduction to his new community.
The first informal outing was the 24-Hour Activity Day where Alan was given two names who were also interested in running. So Alan, along with Ken MacKenzie and Peter Nixon started running together, adding new runners along the way.
“You know what John Stanton (of Running Room fame) says, when you have three, you have a club,” Alan said.
Over time, the interest grew as the group thrived on an all-inclusive philosophy, with the intangible social benefits striking a chord with the expanding membership base.
“Nobody would be left behind,” Alan said of the mandate. “We would start together and we would finish together.”
On Christmas Eve, 2011, the official club was born – The Amherst Striders. There are no fees, no bureaucracy, no aggressive bosses running the show. They pooled resources to travel to outside races, arranged large group photos near start lines, ran hand-in-hand near various finish lines, fist pumped when others achieved personal bests and bounced questions off one another in an effort to simply put one foot in front of the other.
The membership totals grew from three to several dozen to the current core of approximately 350 strong on its Facebook site.
Two of them ran the Boston Marathon this past April. Three have already qualified for Boston next spring.
But the enthusiasm that ranges from the variety of Saturday long runs and the early opening weekday jaunts is what impresses Alan the most.
“Everything is positive,” he says. “It is all about encouragement.”
Which brings us around to MBTS in 2013, where Alan and a crew of Striders toed the line, ready to tackle the summer route through the Port City. Four of them – Alan, Ken MacKenzie, Rick McKenney and Tim Parker – vowed to run as a group in search of a sub-two hour time.
“We hang around together, we run together, we were going to stick together,” Alan says.
Throughout the club, the participation goals are always there but there is also plenty of ambition to meet or exceed personal goals. In Saint John, it all came together for this quartet – a challenging yet fair course; an absence of humidity; no rain; proper preparation and great encouragement.
Eventually, as the gang of four approached Rockwood Park, there were no bad recollections for Alan.
Instead, after he checked the time in the final stages, the mini celebrations started again. This time, they lasted well past the final dash for home.
“With 300 metres left, I looked and we were good to go,” Alan said. “Tim put his hands in the air to celebrate. It was his fifth half marathon but his first under two hours. It was big. We were high-fiving everybody.”
The clock read 1:56:30 when they finished side-by-side in brilliant sunshine.
“I have been running for years. This was my favorite race ever,” Alan said.
So on the eve of the 2014 MBTS, the Striders pledge to make the trek to Saint John in force, thanks in large part to Alan’s resilience and his rebound from personal adversity.
He’s thought about returning to the full marathon but has been strongly advised against it. He still plans on competing, tutoring and being involved. The Striders will also be in P.E.I. in October and events placed in between, including several in and around their town.
For Alan, Saint John is the place that carries the most special of memories, heart-warming recollections of his continued progress on the roads as well as the collective joy experienced by his new Maritime teammates when they achieved their goals.
Nothing beats that.
