I first wore the Fast Trax singlet two years ago at the Banff Ekiden Mountain Relay. The following spring against my coach's every wish I joined the Fast Trax K-100 Team and oddly enough I was completely hooked on "running up the mountain." This spring, thanks to Jack and his talented crew, I joined the New Balance Speed Project.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jack for his generous support and tell you all a bit about how I made it this far.

My running story goes back to the fall of 1995 when I arrived as an exchange student from Poland. I was determined to become one of the cool volleyball players in grade nine at the Tisdale Middle and Secondary School in Tisdale, Saskatchewan. However, it quickly became apparent that volleyball was not my forte…In fact the only thing I excelled at during the volleyball practice was the endurance run somewhat dreaded by everyone else. After this epic run, the volleyball coach pulled me aside and said "I think you should meet our cross-country coach." Well, to be completely honest at that time I barely knew how to say "thank-you," "please" and how to count to ten in English so I had no idea what he was talking about but I nodded.
Nodding was one of my highly tested and successful survival mechanisms at that time. Needless to say I never made the volleyball team. My lack of skill on the volleyball court has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I joined the cross-country team and thus I became a runner…

I ran fast enough through high school to run myself onto the University of Saskatchewan Cross Country and Track and Field teams. I travelled all over Canada and the US, met some pretty cool people and generally had the time of my life. My major focus was on 5 km races during cross-country and 1000m and 1500m distances on track. At the end of my five year Huskie career, four CIS championship titles and 8 All Canadian titles, I was ready for a brake. I moved to Edmonton vowing to take some time off and enjoy long, slow runs…

The plan worked great for the first two weeks. Then during one of my long, slow runs I literally run into Chantell Widney and her coach Glen Playfair. A new found training partner, coach and new training plan were enough to motivate me to bring out my "bum-hugger shorts" from their retirement and braid my hair once again for competition.

During last summer, Stephanie Mills and Krissy Dooling joined me and Chantell making our training group the best I have ever had. The results of our foursome training together have left a lasting imprint at several major competitions in 2007, including the Banff Ekiden, Alberta Provincial Cross Country Championships and Canadian Cross Country Championships.

Following the long lived motto: "The older you get the further you have to run to stay ahead" I am leaving the comfort of my 1000m and 1500m races and moving into 5 and 10 km distances.

In April, I made my first ever 10 km race debut in the Vancouver Sun Run finishing as the 5th female overall with a time of 35:11.

I spent the month of May battling a number of nasty bugs and viruses and recovering from my Masters thesis defence. I hope that the worst is behind and that winter has finally decided to leave Edmonton for good (well maybe at least for the next four months...)

Next weekend I will be making another attempt at the 10 km distance at the Little Big Run here in Edmonton.

To be continued…

Personal bests:

• 800m 2:08.09
• 1000m: 2:46.02
• 1500m 4:22.19
• 5000m (cross-country): 17:09.00
• 10000m (road) 35:11.00
  
  Edyta

Little Big Run (10km) - May 31

Caltaf Classic and Alberta Senior Provincial Championships (3km),
Calgary- June 13-15

Kananaskis Relay - June 21

HBC Canada Day Run, Red Deer – July 1

HSBC Calgary Marathon (10km) - July6

ING Edmonton (10km), Edmonton - Aug 16