For most people, running 30 kms a day, five days a week, might sound excessive, but Burns Lake resident Wendy Brown takes it all in stride.
Wearing runners that are so old ‘they don’t even make them anymore’ Brown has logged more than 640 kms of running - 88 hrs of pounding the pavement - since last January in preparation for two long distance charity runs she has scheduled for this summer. The first run will take place in Northeast B.C.
She’ll run a loop from Fort St. John through Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, Hudson Hope and back to her starting point. Brown is playing with the idea of doing a pyramid approach to the run where she breaks down daily runs into manageable blocks that peak with a 30 kms portion every day. That approach would mean that she could be doing 60 kms a day.
If that proves stressful on her body, she might simply run up to a marathon distance everyday as she covers the 327 km circuit. June 14, 2013 is the start date for the run in support of a drug treatment centre in Fort St. John, where Brown lived and worked for one year.
She is committed to another run at the end of July. Brown will run the 224 kms between Burns Lake and Prince George in support of the Prince George New Hope Society.
Brown, a 2011 3000 metre National Indoor Track and Field champion and the 2012 1500 metre national gold medalist doesn’t spend any time worrying about complicated running programs, heart-rate monitors, or special shoes.
“I don’t worry about those things,” Brown said. “All I want to do is run.”