By Laurel E. Anderson
Kourier-Standard June 17/05
You get the feeling that Morgan and Donna Cranley are close from the moment you meet them. How close you might ask? Close enough to run a half marathon together that’s how close! This mother and daughter team from Kanata set a goal, trained together and accomplished a feat most individuals can’t ever picture doing-running further than a block to the corner store, and they did it together all the way.
Morgan is a recent university graduate studying for her CA while working in Ottawa and her mom Donna was a teacher for many years. I first met Morgan and Donna at yoga class and was both intrigued and impressed when Morgan mentioned that they were training for a half marathon together and so I asked how this project came to be. Donna said, “I had been a runner at different times in my life and had been away from running for about four or five years when I started up again for health reasons and one day I asked Morgan to run with me.” Morgan was not confident that she could run to the lamp post never mind around the corner and that’s when her mom pounced and said that they would run one lamp post at a time and that’s what they did, adding another one during each run.
Morgan joined in last May and many lampposts later the two women ran the Terry Fox 10K run together last September. Morgan says what started as something she didn’t think she was capable of doing totally changed her outlook when she saw what five months of training did. “I went from one lamppost to 10K in five months.” Both Donna and Morgan were happy with this accomplishment with Morgan being maybe a bit too happy or delirious when she jokingly suggested that they run a half marathon next. Much to her surprise, her mom, Donna, agreed and there was no turning back.
Needless to say, this duo needed to up the tempo a bit in anticipation of a longer race, leading Donna to increase her running mileage quite a bit. Donna would soon find out, by talking with someone at the local Running Room, that she was running too far during her regular runs. She learned that if she continued at her current pace, she would burn out before the race and increase her risk of injury and with this in mind, both she and Morgan enrolled in a running course for some guidance.
Joining Movement to Health’s half marathon training course proved vital for these two runners. Donna Davis, a runner herself, is the founder of Movement to Health, an organization that describes itself as focusing on strengthening lives through fitness and health and offers all sorts of running and other fitness courses. Both Morgan and Donna believe that this course helped them succeed in their goal to train and finish the race.
“You make a commitment when you sign up,” offers Morgan. Donna adds that the course really helps with a weekly running schedule, once a week group runs and food and diet suggestions. “We each only missed one long group run for the entire session which was 16 weeks,” says Donna with a hint of pride. At this point in the interview I’m impressed both as a former (and current wannabe) runner and by the fact that they took this course over the winter-the Ottawa winter at that!
This mother and daughter duo both mentioned how the buddy system of training and running with someone really helped them keep at it, even when they didn’t feel like getting up and running early on a weekend morning. Donna mentions the course leaders as being very helpful throughout training and both girls mention how much they especially appreciated the efforts of coaches Jeff Waterfall and Sue Ward. “Our leaders were key and the course really helped our focus, ”she says. Morgan adds that joining the group formalized the commitment she had made and that she viewed it as a contract with herself.
I asked both women about challenges they faced throughout their training. Donna mentioned running in all kinds of weather, including really cold February runs while Morgan talked about how running 15 km’s without any sun was not the best. She also mentioned the mental aspect of running long distances and working to get over the self doubt of “I can never do this” through the affirmation of others and eventually, of herself.
When I ask about the joys, both Morgan and Donna light up and the smiles that haven’t left their faces since our interview started seem to get brighter. Donna looks at Morgan before answering “spending time with my daughter” while Morgan said she liked their time together and the opportunity to catch up on each other’s lives. “Mom would tell stories while we were running and I looked forward to them.” “The connection was just there,” offers Donna.
So they made it through the training and the time had come to put their runners to the pavement on race day. How were they both feeling closer to the race I ask? Morgan was preoccupied with an important exam result and only received the results two days before the race (she passed). Up until then, she was focused on the test first and didn’t have time to be nervous about the race but once she had her test results and Saturday rolled around it was, in Morgan’s own words, “Oh man, it’s here.” Sunday morning is race day and they both got up in their own unique ways. While Donna woke up on Sunday hyper and full of energy, Morgan slept until the last minute possible and ate at the last minute possible.
8000 runners queue up, Morgan and Donna among them, all focused on the next 21 km’s. Race day challenges included heat for most runners and unfortunately, at the 19th km mark Donna stepped on a paper cup and twisted her foot. “I had to walk and told Morgan to go ahead,” Donna says with a smile. Morgan then said, “we started together and we finish together.” True team solidarity or the strength of a mother-daughter bond comes into play as Morgan starts yelling to the crowd “this is my Mom” with the crowd answering “go Mom, go.” All of this support helped get Donna’s momentum going again and this mother and daughter team crossed the finish line together holding hands and crying.
An emotional finish on many fronts-seeing their hard work pay off, fulfilling their goal together and a very proud father and husband meeting the two most important women in his life at the finish line with flowers and champagne, was an exciting finish to a great adventure. Their matching time was 2:38 and while Donna was initially disappointed that she didn’t make her goal time, she quickly remembered that her first goal was to finish the race. She vows to be back next year to reach her goal of a 2:30 finish and you can guess who will be tagging along right beside her even though Morgan remembers during the race vowing under her breath and maybe a few times out loud, to never do this again!
It’s obvious after talking with both Morgan and Donna that they gained so much from this adventure, both together and individually. Donna told me that she learned that she can try and then do it and Morgan learned that if you say you can’t do it, you’re never going to do it. Both women look great and feel better than they did before starting their training. Morgan lost between 10-15 pounds and noticed an increase in her energy level and an overall better feeling about herself and Donna lost 6 pounds, is more conscious of eating better and also has more energy.
What’s next for these two? It may not be Survivor or the Amazing Race but these two strong women ran their own amazing race and survived to the finish line. Both plan to continue running so if you see two women running past lampposts in Kanata Lakes, honk your horn or wave in support and say a little ‘you go girls’ as you drive by!
For more info on the running course the girls took go to http://www.movementtohealth.com