However you do it, running is still cheaper than therapy
By Lethbridge Herald on May 17, 2025.
Joe Manio
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
I heard on the radio recently that the number of Canadians participating in marathons is on the rise. Many marathons, including those in Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal, have seen record or near-record numbers of participants in recent years. For example, the BMO Vancouver Marathon has grown from 32 finishers in 1972 to over 25,000 registrants this year. I’m all for it!.
As an unlikely distance runner since 2000, I know from all the news and social media groups I subscribe to that running marathons and half-marathons is even more popular than when I was dragged kicking and screaming into my first Walt Disney World Marathon by my younger sister 25 years ago. She was training for her very first marathon and didn’t want to do it alone.
The current number of people who will cross the finish line at the end of the 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometre) course is one per cent of the world’s population.
According to a survey from the International Institute for Race Medicine (IIRM) there are only about 1.1 million marathon runners each year.
You don’t have to be a seeded runner to participate in a marathon. A seeded or elite runner is any runner with a qualifying time that gives them a statistical chance to cross the finish line first and thus win the Marathon.
I’m a recreational marathon runner, and I believe that anyone who crosses the finish line is a winner in their own right. Everyone who finishes a marathon gets a “participation medal” (so to speak) but this medal is well-earned!
There are three types of recreational marathon runners: speeders, cruisers and walkers. I identify as a cruiser. Some running purists (more like running snobs) scoff at the walkers. Some of those walkers, however, are race-walkers.
Race walkers, especially those at a competitive level, can often walk faster than many people run, including those who are slower runners. They achieve this through specific techniques and training that maximize speed within the rules of the sport. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been passed by a race walker.
I like running marathons because they are a metaphor for life. In Aesop’s immortal fable, the tortoise beats the hare because “slow and steady wins the race.” And just like life, running a marathon is about both energy management and pain management.
Each plays a crucial role in completing the race. Energy involves fueling the body throughout the race, while pain management focuses on coping with discomfort and potential injuries.
During one Walt Disney World Marathon, as I was struggling in the 80-degree heat, a senior runner (as in his 60s or later) passed me, and I saw written on the back of his running singlet: “It’s cheaper than therapy!” That made sense, because you get a lot of great thinking done when you’re trying to keep your mind off the pain and discomfort that usually hits at mile-20 (also known as “the wall”).
All Marathons have time limits to finish the course, whether running or walking it. As long as you cross the finish line with or ahead of the “balloon lady” (the designated walker assigned to cross the finish line dead-last) you’ve completed the marathon and are considered “a finisher.”
There can only be one official winner, one second place and one third place finisher. However, everyone who crosses the finish line is a winner.
The same goes with life. Everyone who keeps getting up every day and continues putting one foot in front of the other, and moves forward is a winner.
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