Photo: Castanet

Maximilian Ruther (L), Michael Potestio (centre) and Aaron Schultze (R) get ready to start spring training for Boogie the Bridge on Tuesday, March 11.

Join columnists Aaron Schulze, Maximilian Ruther and Michael Potestio each Friday morning over the next seven weeks as they lace up their running shoes to take part in RUNClub training for Boogie the Bridge. Follow their progress as they prepare for the big event, which will kick off on Sunday, April 27, in downtown Kamloops.

Don't change anything

Admittedly, I’m in a writer’s block.

The professional wrestling fan in me even contemplated taking a fall — nothing life-threatening like Mankind getting tossed off Hell in a Cell — while running to tweak or scrape something. Just a little bit of adversity to spice things up again so I don’t feel redundant in this column.

However, while time’s arrow marches forward, we somehow feel in the spot. Tuesday was another gorgeous night running the Rivers Trail as part of our 10K Boogie the Bridge route. Once again, we stayed hydrated and stretched while keeping our tanks empty. As eloquently put by Jo Berry prior to breaking off into training groups, we won’t be pooping our pants on April 27.

This week may sound rather routine, as it was. But with under two weeks to go until Boogie the Bridge, not changing a thing is, in fact, good. I valued the “not pooping our pants” advice greatly, but “don’t change anything” was another solid piece of wisdom from Jo.

As our group catches our breath and sips water from our bottles and running vests following a training session ranging from six to eight kilometres, we realize we still have a few miles per hour left in our fastball to hit the 10K finish line. It’s not the time to drastically change our diet or break in a pair of new sneakers.

Just because things don’t always change week by week doesn’t mean you still can’t end the day leaving with a dopamine hit.

-Aaron Schultze, CFJC News

Testing the legs on familiar ground

Last week was pretty chill. I couldn’t make RUNClub on Tuesday, so I did a tempo run around my neighbourhood and got in a bit of strength training across the week.

On Saturday, I volunteered at ParkRun again and then met up with Coach Howie to help measure and mark the Boogie route. It was fun scoping things out and realizing how close race day is now.

On Sunday, I ran the Dirty Feet trail half marathon up in Bachelor Heights, where I’d been training all spring — so it was a fun way to put all that training to the test.

The course starts out with a quick, flat 5K where people really set the pace early, and then it hits you with three solid climbs. Lots of ups and downs, and some fun sections with little route variations. It was a great chance to practice pushing on the climbs and recovering well on the descents.

I felt steady the whole way and finished in exactly two hours, which gave me a good laugh — that was the time I was aiming for. Good vibes, some familiar faces from the running community, and a few of us RunClubbers out there made it a really fun day.

-Maximilian Ruther, RUNClubber

Pushing past pain

It’s week six and we’re meeting on a sunny, albeit deceptively cold morning at McDonald Park in North Kamloops.

RUNClub training has flown by as Boogie The Bridge is just two weeks away. I’m a power walker now, and feeling better about my prospects come the big day.

Apparently Shannon is too. She suggests we try walking 10K instead of five, and I’m hesitant.

But I couldn’t imagine being where I am now six weeks ago, so anything’s possible. I decide to see how things go this morning.

We start out nice and easy, but the pace within the group begin to separate — some of us are faster power walkers than others, so we divide the group in two as we enter McArthur Island.

At first I struggle to keep up with this faster subgroup. My calf pain comes back and I begin to worry that I may not belong in any category in RUNClub.

Despite reservations I’ll gas out, I push through the pain and keep going. Shannon notices my lagging behind and circles back in support to walk the rest of the way with me.

Once again I’m surprised as, after pushing through, the pain goes away and I feel great keeping up the rest of the way through. We ended up doing six kilometres and I’m feeling good.

Maybe I can do 10.

-Michael Potestio, Castanet Kamloops

Are you ready to Boogie? Registration is now open. Sign up to be part of the family-friendly April 27 event by clicking here.