RACE DIRECTOR

I ran my first half marathon while living in Auckland, NZ, but it was not until five years (and two kids!) later that I would run another. Life happens, and to this point, I had never really enjoyed running. it always felt like ‘work’ to me. Six months after my son was born, I ran the Run for Water Half Marathon in Abbotsford, BC. After crossing the finish line, I started to see running through a new lens. Nine weeks post-partum I joined a running clinic, with a single goal of losing the ‘baby weight’. (Honestly, with two kids at home under two, any reason to get out of the house was enough!!) Not only did I smash the baby weight goal, but I also smashed out a new half marathon personal best and a new appreciation for hitting the road! Since Run for Water Half, my running has evolved off the road and onto the trails. In addition to completing several more half marathons, I have also completed various short and mid distance road and trail races and entered the world of ultrarunning. The Squamish 50k was my first ultra-marathon and it was TOUGH, but I had trained properly and crossing that finish line knowing what I had accomplished was (and still is) PRICELESS. Immersed in the forest and mountains, training through miles and smiles (and pain!) with my crazy running posse, I discovered the pure joy of running. It is so much more than just putting one foot in front of the other. It is happiness and suffering, exhilaration and pain, independence and support, weakness and strength – it is a passion. A passion with the power to unite community and create life-long connections to people and place. It is a passion that was merged with a dream, and hence, Peaks-N-Valleys was born.