Claire O’Connor

Claire O’Connor

I started my running journey last spring after retiring from a 38-year love affair with soccer.

I needed to still move my body but wasn’t sure what that looked like so I just started running. I was positive it was a temporary plan as I had always vowed I would never, ever run without a ball to chase down.

So here I was running, walking, cursing and thought, heck how about I just look and see if there are any runs I can sign up for to keep accountable in this silly, most definitely temporary hobby.

The first thing to pop up is the Island Series. Hmm maybe that could be fun, it’s in nature, it’s got dirt, I’ll try this.

It was tough and I questioned every single footstep but then I signed up for another run. What was happening? Did I like running? No, I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.

And I didn’t. I stopped running come fall of that year until this itch. This incessant itch kept creeping on me until January reared its head and said, ‘admit it, this might just be the new thing, come on, dooooo it’. Sooo I did, some Island trail series, The Cumby, Devils Ladder, Mother’s Day 10km in my home town and then the ultimate shocker came. Like the curser on an ouija board my fingers floated over the keyboard of my laptop. A little notification popped up over the screen, REGISTERED RVM HALF MARATHON. My god. What has happened?!

Running has brought me to a place I hadn’t imagined. It’s opened up a whole new mindset. It has made me more grateful for this body than I have ever been.

Although I am not currently part of a specific running community I know when I through a bib on I am part of all the running communities. The inclusive, supportive, fun, gritty people I have met have made me not only want to grow within it but be that friend who’s recruiting all their friends to run. ‘Come on, it’ll be fun. Donuts and beer at the end, I promise. You’ll love it’

So in closing if your looking for a semi-average runner who quite possibly is going to become that slightly obsessed yet likely still a semi-average runner with a lot of energy, bad jokes, is a complete Oreo monster and grotesquely positive, hey, I’m your gal.

I am stoked to participate as a brand ambassador for the Vancouver Island Race Series. The really special thing about running is that it is such an all-inclusive sport for all bodies, all shapes and all ages. I look forward to running and talking with people in all the stages of their running journey!

I’m looking forward to participating in the Cobble Hill 10K, Bastion 12K, Hatley Castle 8K (a birthday run, fun!), McLean Mill 10K, Bazan Bay 5K and ask me about the Comox Valley RV Half Marathon after I complete my first half this October at the RVM, yikes!

I am most looking forward to the Bazan Bay race, I know what you’re thinking, ‘because it’s a 5K?’ Well, you wouldn’t be wrong buuut I am hoping to push myself and move into a faster pace for that one, so that’s a fun idea I have right now 😉 

Topics I am hoping to delve into are along the lines of 

  • Personal stories, mental performance. 
  • And creative posts. 

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