From the Better Half

Hi, my name is Sharon and I live with an ultra-addict who goes by the name Dave Proctor. This is a man who does nothing in moderation; he does not understand the meaning of enough. He is obsessive, a control freak, and worst of all…no, best of all he thrives to push further stripping the idea of limitations.

And I love him for it.

Many have said they admire Dave for his running efforts and are inspired by him. Truly he is an amazing athlete deserving of recognition (Dave’s head just got a little bigger right there). However I am humbled and have felt sheepish of also being told I am admired for what I do for him. Being the supportive wife, encouraging his passion of running, being a faithful and ruthless crew by his side. As his best friend and better half, I can’t see myself being any different. I do my best to keep him balanced in life, as he can either have the blinders on obsessing on one thing or suddenly be random and off chasing a squirrel. I do enjoy getting to experience the excitement and fun at ultra-races without having to run and put myself through stupid pain.

First and foremost our kids are our priority and Dave makes no exception to that. Dave tries his best to maximize time with the family by training generally when the kids are in school or in bed. There is no lack on his part when it comes to helping out around the house and with the kids. This hipster may wear a fancy scarf and a ‘murse’ (don’t get me going on his thrift shop pimp jacket) but his cooking and cleaning make him a real man. Dave nearly cooks all meals as I loathe cooking, so I consider myself a lucky woman! Even when Dave is logging 160 km a week, he still manages to find time for just him and I. Netflix nights are just as essential as date nights are. But I hate that he’s skinnier than me and can eat 2 bowls of ice cream in one sitting.

Dave is the ‘move now and get things done’ kind of guy where I am one to stay organized and do logistics - together we make a great team. I’ve got spreadsheets laid out for the 72 hour ATY, gear lists, packing lists, scare tactics, etc…and Dave says, “I like running.” Dave calls me a ruthless crew, well with him I sometimes need to be because if I wasn’t it would be like, “SQUIRREL!” I remember at Sinister 7, Dave came into an aid/transition station and a group of the Bow Valley Harriers were there waiting for their teammate. Dave came running in, cowboy hat on, mud caked to his face, whooping and hollering like he was ready to have a party with the guys. I could tell he wanted to hang out and just talk ultra-shop with each one of them. I had to grab his face to get him to look at me and with a stern voice I said, “Dave! Focus, what do you need? Get it and get out of here!”

My hard love will come out again at ATY when Dave has his 1 hour naps. When it’s wake up time I will be giving him a 1 minute warning before I zap him with a special ordered electric wasp swatter. Not only that I will be videoing his wakefulness leaving it up to him if it will be a post I make of shaming or heroism. Now how’s that for motivation?

There is so much I get out of from Dave’s races just like the aforementioned. I love seeing him come in at a station, helping him out, and best of all watching him finish. When things blow up, like in Run Rabbit Run, back in Colorado, I am just as indebted and appeased to be there by his side at these mad ultras.

With the 72 hour ATY quickly closing in I am so much more excited to be Dave’s crew in this particular race. Our kids and all of Dave’s family will be there to cheer him on. We will all stand proud watching him on the sidelines in our Care for Rare shirts. It has been an exciting time putting focus on raising awareness and funds for Care for Rare plus break a 134 year old record, I couldn’t be more proud of Dave as a father, husband, friend, athlete and advocate for our son Sammy and other children affected from rare diseases. There is no better half, just better whole.

Please donate: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/donate.aspx?eventid=184560

Arizona…the Proctors are coming!

History of Pedestrian racing

The first Madison Square Gardens, New York

Imagine, it's February 1883 and you are standing shoulder to shoulder in a sold out crowd in the first Madison Square Gardens. The smell of cigarette smoke and whisky loft in the air while upbeat tunes of a brass band play in the musical section. Vendors are busy selling roasted chestnuts and pickled eggs while the celebrities of the day alongside the average folk to watch the spectacle before them. Wagers are made and hundreds of thousands of dollars trade between hands as the spectators urge on there favorite athlete to achieve athletic brilliance. The collective tension builds as the clock ticks; it's now noon on a Saturday and there is only 12 hours remaining.

Edward Payson Weston

Fact is, the race started on a Sunday at midnight and these athletes have been running and walking for the past five and a half days around a 1/8th mile dirt loop emulating essentially a 6 day Nascar race on feet. Races never exceeded 6 days as public amusement was illegal on Victorian Sundays.  The sport was called Pedestrian Racing and in the 1870's and 80's it was a worldwide craze. Some say the mass urbanization following the American Civil War left people with too much spare time while others say the sport had everything a sports lover could ask for. Either way the Western world fell head over heels for Pedestrian Racing.

Pedestrian Racing got the spark it needed from a lost bet. Edward Payson Weston lost a wager in regards to the outcome of the 1861  American presidential election. His penalty was to walk from Boston to Washington D.C. to view the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. The terrible weather and deep snow slowed his pace whilst averaging 51 miles a day over a 453 mile distance just wasn't enough and Weston missed the inauguration. All was not lost as news spread quickly of this impossible task and Weston found himself a major celebrity with the newspapers eager to document his next feat. A $10,000 wager in 1867 catapulted Weston's career to the next level which saw him walk from Portland, Maine to Chicago in 25 days, not walking on Sundays. Along the 1,326 mile stretch fans, marching bands, and local politicians would greet him from town to town showing him hospitality. Across the early 1870's Weston attempted a series of walks against time. Yet the year 1874 brought about the w

Daniel O'Leary

idely regarded, impossible feat of walking 500 miles in 6 days. At this point other pedestrians were attempting this great task but on the 14-19 of December, 1874 Edward Weston finally achieved that distance. The incredible publicity immediately stirred up interest from many new athletes to the sport and not soon after did competition get fierce. One of those new to the sport was Daniel O'Leary, an Irish door to door book salesman. O'Leary very quickly compiled an excellent list of accomplishments. In 1876 Weston and O'Leary travelled to compete in Britain where Weston proved victorious the previous year. In front of 70,000 onlookers O'Leary emerged the winner. The promoter Sir John Astley was so enthusiastic that he chose to promote a whole series of similar races called the Astley Belt and due to the differences in opinion about the fairness of Weston's walking action, the events were labeled 'go-as-you-please' which was open to both runners and walkers. The new labeling of these

George Littlewood with Astley Belt

pedestrian events created a stir in the pedestrian community and allowed the athlete to take it into his own hands on how to travel as far as possible in 6 continuous days. The next years Astley Belt race was won again by O'Leary with his relentless dog-trot setting a new world best of 520.25 miles. O'Leary returned to America and like the champion he was consistently defended his belt against his strong opposition. In 1879, O'Leary defended his title in Britain against a tough British new comer Charles Rowell. O'Leary emerged victorious with 500 miles and pocketed $20,398. Preparing a comeback in 1880 Weston took on a running coach and was training at a feverish pace. Using his wife's inheritance he entered the fourth Astley Belt race to be held at Agricultural Hall in London. After a back and forth battle with the Briton Henry Brown, Weston pushed hard for the final three days and won the race. Weston was not only declared the winner he also completed 550 miles setting a new world's best. Over the next few years Pedestrian races gained a lot of momentum as more and more races popped up all over the English speaking world. Variations of the traditional 6 day race were held across the East coast of the United States and Britain, including the popular 6 x 12 hours and 6 x 10 hour races, designed to optimize the athletes activity while the paying public were awake and able to view.

The Agricultural Hall, London

With now so much talent and a tremendous amount of prize money available the 6 day record kept creeping closer to the once thought impossible 600 mile mark. In 1881 Americans Robert Vint, Patrick Fitzgerald, and John Hughs flirted with the elusive 600 mile. In February 1882 an epic show down happened at Madison Square Gardens in New York when Rowel had an early surge crossing the 100 mile mark in 13:26 and reached the 300 mile mark at just 58:17:06 setting a record that still stands to this day. Unfortunately, during a rest stop Rowen accidentally swallowed some vinegar causing him to drop from the event and eventually lead to his retirement. George Hazael following Rowen's earlier lead ended victoriously and became the first to run 600 miles in 6 days. With the pedestrian era on the decline American Patrick Fitzgerald set a new world's best of 610 miles in 1884. In 1888 a newcomer to the sport James Albert became the first man to crest the 1000 kilometer distance with 621.75 miles and George Littlewood raced brilliantly in New York capturing the world's best title by running 623.75 miles.

Cycling events emerged quickly becoming the craze and the new sought out event to watch, while pedestrian races would still pop up from time to time the continual downward spiral was inevitable and by the early 1900's the sport was essentially buried.

Yiannis Kouros

A revival of the sport took place in 1979 when American Don Choi worked hard to regain the glory of this old sport by creating and promoting the modern multi-day race. The tables were turned in 1984 when George Littlewood's record set in 1888 was shattered when Greek Yiannis Kouros ran a mind numbing 635 miles /1022 km. Instead of this new record drawing attention to the multi-day events, for what ever reason the interest in the sport subsided again.

Jean-Gilles Boussiquet

A second revival took foot again in the late 1980's and early 1990's when Australian Bryan Smith and Iranian James Zarei exceeded 1000 km. A new leader took hold in 1992 at an indoor race in La Rochelle,France by Frenchman Jean-Gilles Boussiquet surpassing Kouros' record with 640 miles/1030 km. For 13 long years Boussiquet's record stood until 2005 Kouros took back what was previously his by running 644 miles/ 1036 km in Colac, Australia and is still to this day the current world record holder for the 6 day. Many runners have emerged since such as German Wolfgang Schwerk, Brit William Sichel, and Americans Joe Fejes and David Johnston. However no one has come remotely close to equalling the Kouros' 2005 record.

Fear and loathing in Arizona

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." - Plato

Leah Hennel - Calgary Herald

That said, it's fair to say I'm scared shitless. Not just because of the heavy goals I've burdened myself with but mostly cuz this is uncharted territory for me. The longest duration I've spent running to date is 24 hours; in Glendale, AZ over the turn of the year I'll be tripling that to a whopping 72 hours. I think I peed my pants a bit just writing that. The Across the Years Ultra Marathon (ATY) is host to runners from around the globe running 24, 48, 72hr and 6 day time duration's. The spotlight on the 6 day runners as they rack up a stupid amount of miles over one day short of a week. Essentially I'll be running the half marathon equivalent of the multi-day ultra events. Thinking of it in that context will put me at ease, maybe...not really, not at all...crap this is gonna hurt like hell! The thing I have going for me is I think I'll be really good at this multi-day running thingamabob. I mean, I didn't suck at the 24 hour race and looking around me at other runners during my last 24 hour race I don't think I was hurting as bad as they were. So with seven weeks to go before the dance I want to take this time to discus the good, the bad, and the downright ugly sides of fear.

Fear of the unknown is probably the most common reason why runners don't push past their familiar borders to attempt new feats. The blame is normally cast on time restraints, other commitments and other socially acceptable reasons that are easy to discuss with others whereas if the reason for not signing up for your first marathon was fear it would most likely be frowned upon and make you look weak. We all have fear, it has its place in our sport.

Two runners named Mary and Jill both have run a number of marathons and both share the desire to extend themselves and attempt a 50 mile ultra marathon. They have heard the same stories told in their running group on struggles of ultra racing. At 16 weeks before the race they decide to sign up for an ultra. The fear sets in. They read the same web sites, blogs and pretty much anything else they can gather to get advice on how to do this. Mary processes this fear and decides to get to work and let fear be the fuel to drive her through training. Jill struggles to adapt to her fears and quickly finds herself falling behind on training that is now fueled by self doubt. With 5 weeks to go before the race Mary worries about the enormity of this task she is about to embark on so she dials in her training. Jill's fear is coupled with the realities of being under trained as the day approaches and curbs what's left of her deflated enthusiasm, making it all too easy to repeatedly hit the snooze button thus shortening her much needed long runs. On race day Mary uses her fear throughout the day to propel her and surprises herself with a podium finish in her age group. Jill's day never happened. The fear of the pain and suffering due to her lack of fitness was all she needed to not drive out to the race start. Mary goes on to run many 50 mile races and one day completes a 100 mile ultra marathon. Jill upset, vows to steer clear of disappointment and never entertain a silly idea like that ever again. Both Mary and Jill had a similar fear but what they did with it ended very differently. When fear is present so is the coward and the courageous. Do you let fear hold you back or do you use it to push you further?
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." - Nelson Mandela

Some falter, some succeed. Many crumble at first thought while a few soar higher than first dreamed possible. I'm sure someone much smarter than I could give a synopsis of the inner workings of the mind and why we all seem to adapt to fear differently.

At my first 72 hour on Dec. 29- Jan. 1 there are many specific things I could fixate on that should scare my socks off but I must say the biggest fear is the fear of not having reaching the true limits I know I am capable of.

Checkin' In

I am about three weeks into training for my 72 hours at the ATY and I've gotta say things are looking up. My friends tell me I don't update my blog enough so by writing this I intend to silence them. Three weeks ago I got a last minute text to be a part of the MitoCanada team at the Grizzly Ultra in Canmore. The Mito team has been doing incredible work raising funds and creating awareness for families with children battling this debilitating disease. Simply put by my friend Blaine Penny, "We run for those who can't". Not only did I have a blast that day hanging with friends at the Nordic Centre but we also won the race setting a new CR despite the slowpoke on the lead leg (me). The rest of the week I put up some descent mileage trying to slow my pace as I get ready for the painfully slow shuffle commonly used in these multi-day races. Saturday Oct. 17 my friend Misti suggested I run the MEC marathon the next day. Truth be told I was planning to run 40-50K anyway so I told her sure, what the hell. I
showed up race morning to register, the cost was $30, yeah that's right 30 BUCKS and that's the cost to us last minute folk. I later found out it was $15 for those with better planning skills than Mr. Proctor. The gun went off and my plan went to pot right away. I got talking with the lead group and my plan of holding a 4 min/km pace throughout turned into a 4:20 min/km first half simply due to the excellent conversation that we all were having. Half way in I picked it up to 3:45 min/km and came in around 2hrs 53min. I was very happy with the effort and how I felt at the end. Oddly enough this was my very first marathon, weird huh? Costing $30 I thought the race would be dodgy at best but I was pleasantly surprised with the race markings, aid stations, fuel provided, and start and finish line. I will totally be doing another MEC race again. Only two days later I ran at the Miles for Microcredit fundraiser who's intention was to gather as many
Calgarians as possible and try to collectively run, bike, or walk the distance from here to Guatemala to deliver much needed micro-credit to women in need. The week prior I was contacting as many runners I could to get them out to the Prince's Island Park in Calgary to join me in the attempt. I spent the whole morning and early afternoon circling back and running with friends. Problem was that all my fast friends showed around lunch so there they were ready to giv'er while I was already 50-60K in. Sheesh who needs enemies when you've got friends like these. The day came to a close with me running 67K. Since then I've run a few longer runs and am generally feeling great. Sharon's support for my questionable sport has been unwavering, thanks Sharon! The monkeys are busy having fun at school and the funds collected for the Care4Rare fundraiser are quickly approaching 5G's.

The closer I get to race date the slower my pace will get in order to prepare my body for the task at hand. In my opinion, the slower the pace the more collision takes place with every hit so an obvious adaptation must slowly occur between now and then to ease my tissues into the plan of impacting the ground 600,000 to 700,000 times in the three days. Now that I've put it that way I'm not so sure this is a good idea...

Across The Years for Care 4 Rare

In Glendale AZ from December 29 through January 1 I will be racing my very first multi-day race at the renowned Across The Years ultramarathon. The race will see runners run 24 hr, 48 hr, 72 hr, and 6 days straight with the objective of accumulating as many miles as one can travel within the time allotted. The rules are simple: run, walk or crawl. Sleep when you want, stop when needed and when stepping off the track one must re-enter where they exited. It's a flat course, incredibly well supported, and has stiff competition making the race a perfect venue to rack up a huge amount of miles. Sharon and the kids will be track-side along with my brother Dan, sister-in-law Laura, and my Mom and Dad kindly offering me their support as I attempt my largest running goal yet. The lofty goal has two parts, one of far more importance.

One goal is to break the 48 and 72 hour Canadian records. The 48 hour record is currently held by Canadian running legend Trishul Cherns set in 1995 when he ran 355.875K. The 72 hour record is 496.482K held by a pedestrian racer by the name of Richard Lacouse, completed in New York city in December of 1881. Yes, that's right, 1881! That's a 134 year old record!!! In a future blog post I'll write about the fascinating pedestrian racing history in the late 1800's and I promise you it'll blow your mind; the truly amazing athletic feats our ancestors were achieving well over 100 years ago. After setting a new Canadian 24 hour record in April 2015 of running 257.093K, I feel these two goals are lofty but yet obtainable. I hope to only sleep 2-3 times for a maximum of 90 minutes per sleep session. Should get interesting.

My other goal, and by far the most important of the two, is to create awareness and funding for an organization that has grown near and dear to us Proctors called Care 4 Rare. This is a wonderful group of scientists, clinicians, bioinformaticians, and researchers with the goal of improved clinical care for patients and families affected by rare diseases.

Our story began in March of 2010 when our son Sam was rushed to the hospital with flaccid paralysis. Terrified, Sharon and I looked on as our 13 month old perfectly healthy son was now hardly able to turn his head and blink. After numerous tests the doctors at the Alberta Children's Hospital informed us that there was nothing they could find that caused this episode and it was most likely a virus that attacked Sam's brain and that he will most likely recover quickly and this will be just a bad memory. Sam's recovery was swift,  all except we noticed he was all wobbly and wibbley. In March of 2011 our world was shaken when Sam was hospitalized yet again with the exact same symptoms that crippled him one year prior. This round the recovery was slower and the worry deepened as Sharon and I came to grips that this was a serious ongoing issue that needed serious
attention. A team of neurologists, geneticists, and countless other doctors combined efforts. A trip was made to the Mayo Clinic and test after test were performed to identify what was ailing Sam but nothing was found. In the past 5 years, we received over-the-top support from government agencies, organizations like Cause And Effect, physiotherapists, OT's, and most notably Sam's CDF (Child Development Facilitator) Nicole Lightfoot. Sam will be turning seven this coming February. He finds all gross and fine motor skills challenging such as walking, feeding himself, writing, and everyday things we all take for granted. We've been spending the past few years coming to grips with the notion that we will most likely never have an idea what is causing our son's ataxia (lack of balance and coordination) and better preparing him for a life of challenges...

...That is until three months ago when we had a meeting with geneticist Dr. Micheil Innes from a group called Care 4 Rare. He explained a study called whole exome sequencing in where they could investigate Sam's entire genetic data in search for the glitch that causes Sam's ataxia. This is the latest and most detailed genetic investigation method. It was music to our ears when he broke the news that Sam and 499 other children with undiagnosed diseases and disorders from all across Canada will partake in this $11 million study to identify new genetic diseases. Any parent will tell you that the feeling of not having answers and being unable to help your child is one of the lowest and most helpless feelings but now thanks to Care 4 Rare we have a renewed optimism and new found hope. Dr. Innes explained that given recent studies similar to this one there could be a 30-35% chance of a diagnosis upon completion of this study. THIS IS HUGE!

Currently, 25% rare disease patients wait 5-30 years for a diagnosis; 40% initially receive a misdiagnosis; and half will never receive a diagnosis. Securing a clear diagnosis means that patients and families can make future projections about their healthcare, tap into best practice guidelines, seek reproductive counseling, and potentially start therapies.  

In the past 5 years of parenting a special needs child we have found it astonishing just how many special needs children are undiagnosed. This baffled me, until I realized that scientists have just scratched the surface of the underbelly of diseases and dysfunctions science has yet to understand. What upsets me the most is that while Sharon and I are celebrating being part of this study there are thousands of helpless and hopeless families, many of them worse off than us, still left wanting an answer about their child's rare disease. This is especially disheartening knowing that the technology is ready and available but the only thing lacking is funding.

PLEASE HELP BY DONATING HERE

Some say the reason why rare diseases don't receive the attention and funding that known diseases get is because people don't identify with things they don't understand. We can all put a face to Down syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and Autism. Here is the face of a rare disease...and he is beautiful.

A Quick Update

A lot of you have been asking me how I've been feeling since my major and premature crash and burn at Run Rabbit Run only two weeks ago. The simple and honest answer is that I feel great. I've gone for 8 runs since and all's good in the hood. I haven't been pushing the pace or distance but I feel a bit of conservatism is necessary during the weeks following a hospital visit. The doctors agreed it wasn't my heart that failed only 2.5 miles into the last race but a number of other circumstances that led to my collapse on Mt Werner. The possible reasons I've had explained to me were exhaustion (16hr drive to get there), electrolyte deficiency, over training, altitude, low body fat, and a minor virus I became aware of 24 hours prior to racing. All things considered the one certainty is that I've gotta start taking my sport more seriously and it turns out that racing 100 miles is a damn hard thing to do.

So I'm gonna continue on with my race schedule with a focused effort of all the peripherals that are essential to ultra running. Any sign of chest pain, my season is done, like a midget at a urinal I'll be on my toes.

Yes I'm disappointed but self-loathing is so pathetic. Instead all guns are pointed at the next race and believe me you, it's a doozy. I'll be announcing my next goal later this week and not to hype it up too much but it'll be the most important endeavour yet.

Well that didn't end well

Me and Andy at race start

It's 6am Saturday morning in Steamboat Springs CO and instead of running the home stretch of Run Rabbit Run 100M race I'm lying here in the Yampa Valley Medical Center being tested for chest pain and after passing out only 2.5 miles out of the gate in yesterday's race start. The gun rang at noon announcing the start of the RRR100M and immediately started the trudge up Mt Werner. Within minutes I felt like I was working harder than what I should be. I blamed this on the feeling of a tickle in my throat I felt the day before, maybe coming down with a cold. I pressed on hoping I'd fall into a groove. Around 2 miles my pace started dropping and I found the effort I expended was way too high for this climb given it was this early in the race. Only a half a mile later my chest began to hurt coupled with a significant back pain. I remember dropping down to my knee and many runners stopping to assist me. Being my usual self I
told all the racers don't worry about me and run on. A concerned friend who happens to be a doctor Andy Reed had stopped. I nearly needed to beat him off with a stick to get him to move forward and go on with his own race. Shortly after that all I remember was waking up on my back with someone holding my feet in the air and the Race Director (RD) standing overtop of me. If there was one positive at least it happened there and not some distant secluded portion of the course. The RD Paul was extremely helpful and concerned. Next I remember the mountain patrol staff arriving and arranging a transit vehicle to rush me down to the gondola where an ambulance awaited. Thank you to everyone involved for your concern and swift actions I am very grateful. Super disappointed and embarrassed but mostly concerned about my health of course. I've had the most comprehensive exams here at the hospital headed by Cardiologist Dr. Saef. So far he is confused as most tests have returned negative and show a healthy heart. My blood work repeatedly showed a heightened enzyme called Triptonin indicating there was trauma in the heart organ.

I'm labeled a "fall risk" :(

I'm a father of three and that is the most important thing in my life by far, so I need to do the responsible thing by playing safe and have everything checked out. So as it stands now I'll compile all the data we've discovered here and continue the journey with our doctors in Canada to try to unravel what happened or maybe it was just a one off. I will keep running without too much strain and effort until I feel comfortable to pick things up again. It just wasn't my day for Run Rabbit Run...