The Runners' Chronicles

par Claude Gagnon J’ai toujours aimé bouger et jouer. Plus jeune, hockey, baseball et basketball canalisait mon énergie. Mais l’athlétisme, le cyclisme, la natation ne m’inspirait guère. Ce goût du jeu s’est poursuivi à l’âge adulte. Le squash s’est naturellement intégré à ma pratique sportive. Tout me plaisait : l’aspect tactique, la finesse, le fairplay, la forme physique requise. Et toujours le fait de jouer, le sentiment d’être un gamin sur le court. Mais après 25 ans à courir après la petite balle, épaule, coude et dos en avaient assez. Quelques-uns de mes partenaires de jeu s’entrainaient également à la course à...

by Sophie Bergeron I still remember my mom… She’s shivering and she’s in a hurry to take a hot bath. I still remember the smell of snow and cold as it floats through the house. You all know what smell I’m talking about and it’s one only runners can recognize (well, perhaps skiers too!). She’s coming back from a run. My parents got divorced when I was a little girl, and my mother had us full time. Running is what she did to relieve stress and to allow herself to be patient with us. And then, during the pandemic, I...

I’ve fallen off the consistency wagon more than once.

When I look back at the beginnings of me and Mr. Running, I can’t help but romanticize it. Young and naïve little me, with a Casio watch timing me and a route that I became intimate with. The growth came easy.

Je suis tombé du wagon de la consistance plus d’une fois. 

Quand je regarde mes débuts de moi et de M. Course, je ne peux pas m’empêcher de le romantiser. Jeune et naïve, avec une montre Casio me chronométrant et une route avec lequel je suis devenue intime. Le progrès est venu facile.

I started drinking at the age of 12. Drinking was easy; I liked everything from the get-go. I hopped on the train right away. It was familiar, it was natural. As soon as a feeling of drunkenness settled in, the shivers ran through my body. I forgot that I was stuttering, I forgot that I was anxious, I forgot my responsibilities, I forgot who I was - I forgot. Until the next morning when reality came knocking on my door with great remorse and bad decisions. The evenings were as intoxicating as their sobering tomorrows. Gradually, alcohol paired with another...