“My husband and I are both runners,” shares Karen.
“Road and trail — and we just moved from Vancouver to the Island (Maple Bay, near Duncan) in September. We were both very active in the Vancouver running community.”
And so she was, having run with the East Van Run Crew, Fraser Street Run Club, North Burnaby Runners, Studio Brewing Run Crew, and Parkrun Burnaby and Richmond Olympic Oval.
In 2018, she started a run club of her own: the Ice Cream & Donut Run Club.
“We started and ended each run from an ice cream or donut shop. We always have a no-drop, casual 5k route, and a speedier 8k route. Our run leaders ranged from casual social runners to Boston Marathoners and ultramarathoners. We even count Olympic bronze medallist race walker, Evan Dunfee, as a member!
ICDRC primarily runs on the road, but on the third Sunday of every month, we have a trail run, usually about 10k in distance and up to 400m of elevation. In 2022, we expanded to Wednesday morning coffee 5k runs at 6:45 AM at a different coffee shop each week; and also ad hoc hikes and themed run events, like the Chicken Run (multiple stops for fried chicken over 13 kms of running), Taco Run, Cider Run (same idea, but with tacos and cider).”
Karen and the crew sound like fun. Who says “no” to all these food and dessert-themed runs?”I am still relatively new to the Island, so, I believe that I am bringing a new perspective to the race series. ICDRC, with its silly name that has people looking at our shirts wondering if it’s a real thing, is a pretty fun, inclusive run group. I’m not a professional athlete, nor by any means an elite runner, nor am I young (I’m 55 and recently retired), nor super fast (though I do ok for my age category), but I like to have fun running and I enjoy making running more accessible to newer runners.”
Great motivations to be sure. Karen has run six marathons, 17 half-marathons, and more 10k and 5k races than she can count in over 25 years of running.
Karen is currently a Nuun Hydration ambassador and the past Vancouver & BC Regional Ambassador Captain (2019-22).