Brandon Laan

I will make this short and sweet as I need to get my life in order. LOL. I always wanna clean out my room, have a goal setting session with myself, and put the next race on my calendar. Today was disappointing to say the least. That being said, I have an incredible support team, including my family, friends, and the running community. I wanna give a big shout out to the Kaspersma and Antonio families who traveled from Stratford to watch me run!

I’d like to say I put a lot of things on hold in order to train for this marathon, but truth be told, I did not.

In the past few months, I have started a few small businesses, which have required much of my attention. I have averaged 5-6 hours of sleep per night while running 200K per week. Bad combo. I need to manage my time better such that the time spent doing various jobs is done efficiently as possible.

I should also give a big shout out to CHAN YIN, my business partner. Runners Feed, Rock The Road 10K, and our Run Groups hit the ground running with his expertise and I cannot wait to see where this journey takes us. If nothing, I am stoked to be spending more time with an old friend!

I ALSO NEED TO LEARN HOW TO SAY NO, accept that emails do not NEED be replied to within 4 minutes, and honour the amount of running I do with equal amount of rest.

I have also been thinking for quite some time about finding a coach. I have been self-coached for the past few years, and while I have been steadily improving, I NEED SOMEONE TO BLAME WHEN I HAVE A SUBPAR RACE, just kidding!!! I have been thinking about a Wilder/Schultz combo!

Lastly, I really struggled today because of an issue with my back. It provided a sharp pain in my side which made it VERY difficult to take a deep breath. I promised in a previous blog that I would run through the finish line. I finished the race and was immediately able to walk down stairs, sit in the car without getting EXTREMELY stiff, and I have the desire to run a marathon tomorrow! I am used to being dragged to the first-aid tent, put in a wheelchair, and walking gingerly backwards down the stairs. Ya win some ya lose some.

I gotta take my hat off the Coolsaet, Gillis, Wykes, Loiselle, and Chiasson. Those guys toughed out a tough race.

MAHALO FOR ALL THE SUPPORT! Until next time…