Photo: Melissa Gosse

A local woman is raising money for the Canadian Mental Health Association by running from Vernon to Penticton next month, a feat of more than 100 kilometres.

Melissa Gosse will make the effort to shed light on mental health during the pandemic in the wake of her own challenges. 

“COVID for me and this year, it’s been challenging with all the changes. All my races got cancelled, I lost a friend to suicide this year and I was in a bad car accident,” said Gosse, who's been running ultramarathons for seven years.  

Between the pandemic and everything else, she stopped running this year, something that ended up being detrimental for her and has served as another motivating factor for the run. 

There’s a famous quote in ultramarathon running, “it’s 90 per cent mental and the other 10 per cent is in your head.”

“I’ve gone through my own mental struggles and I think being an ultra runner a lot of people think, ‘holy smokes how do you do such a physical feat like that?’ They always ask what my training is like and curious about what my running skills are, what workout schedules are … and no one really talks about the mental side of it."

She says running has proven to be one of the most effective forms of therapy for her. 

“I’ve done self-help courses and everything like that... Just being on a trail by yourself, going to the very raw spots physically, listening to your own voice — it’s been eye-opening to me.”

Gosse has numerous ultramarathons under her belt, including the Tahoe 200 mile, which took her just over 90 hours to complete.

Despite her experience, she’s never run from Vernon to Penticton, something she is now very excited about. Looking long-term, past COVID, it is a run she would like to turn into an annual race.

Gosse has opened up to friends about her struggles and says talking about it has made her realize how many people actually are suffering in silence. 

“It’s not something many talk about, a lot of people will check into a gym on Facebook for their workout saying, ‘I just crushed a workout’ … but you don’t see many people checking into a counsellor or therapist saying, ‘hey, just went through one of the hardest sessions and I’m mentally stronger from that now.”

She admits she knows her friend’s jobs, favourite type of wine and activities they enjoy but may not necessarily know their biggest struggle points are right now. She hopes the conversation around mental health was more normalized and taught at a younger age. 

Gosse has a GoFundMe page with a goal of $1,500 to raise for the Canadian Mental Association and says she’ll double the goal if they achieve it by October - as of Thursday evening she’s raised $545.

Gosse has a small crew of family and friends that will be helping her while she runs. 

Ideally, she wants to complete the run in one day and plans to do the run either the final weekend of October or the first weekend of November, depending on the weather.

“Whether [completing it in a day] happens or not definitely just completing it and raising awareness is the biggest, the most important part for me.”

Photo: Melissa Goss