[Music]
I’ve often heard it said their life is a
marathon not a sprint
well I’ve run a few marathons and I’ve
come to believe that actually life is a
relay I love watching the Olympics and
in particular the 4 by 100 meter relay
race
the athletes lined up the gun goes off
and they explode out of the blocks
hitting their stride they hurtle down
the track with just one objective in
mind to hand the baton to the next
runner in life exploding out of the
blocks is when you find what you meant
to do you find your passion hitting your
stride is a journey you may not know the
destination but you’re on the right path
and passing the baton is when you reach
out to someone and share your knowledge
share your experiences Usain Bolt’s
reaction time at the beginning of a race
is 0.15 5 seconds it took me a lot
longer to explode out of the blocks on
December the 9th in 2001 my wife Wendy
died of cancer the following year I
struggled with my grief and many times I
felt empty and alone in December 2002 I
got a phone call from my brother Peter
and after some small talk he said Martin
I challenge you to a marathon now I
didn’t hesitate and I said you’re on and
put the phone down but the problem was I
didn’t run I was 47 years old and I had
always had a rocky relationship with
sport now this is baby Martin
a child only a mother could love
I mean look at those cheeks now back
then I was known as a huggable child and
my size caused me issues at school in
England the sports were a soccer and
cricket and rugby and I was always
pickle ass for the team I’m what you
call a reverse Olympian they’re very
good at one sport and I’m rubbish at
lots of sports but that night Peter
challenged me I headed out and I was
wearing canvas tennis shoes I was
wearing cotton jogging pants a fleecy
tarp a woolly hat and big mitts
I ran 1k out and 1k back and when I got
home I was cold and wet and I thought to
myself this is ridiculous I’ve just run
two kilometres I’ve got another 40.2 to
go I mean how does anyone ever run a
marathon but I knew I couldn’t back down
from a challenge for my brother but I
needed help so I joined the Sudbury
rocks
running club and they told me about
nutrition hydration shoes pacing and
within a couple of months my mileage had
gone up from five kilometers to ten
kilometers and in April
I ran the Ottawa half marathon now
before I knew it July arrived and I was
on the start line
of the 2003 Calgary marathon next to me
was brother Peter but to show you how
big a challenge this was my other
younger brother Andrew had flown in from
England this was global sibling rivalry
the gun went off
and I flew from the start but in the two
kilometer mark I stepped in a pothole
and smash my knees were bleeding my
hands are all gravelly but I got myself
up kind of brushed off and kept going
and managed to finish the marathon in
just under four hours however in the
brotherly stakes
Andrew was first I was second and Peter
was third but I was elated to have
completed the marathon Peter had reached
out to me during my time of grief and
through running I had found my passion I
finally exploded out of the blocks Usain
Bolt’s fastest relay split time is eight
point seven seconds and he hits his
stride in 60 meters and in the hundred
meter relay the path is very clear
you’re in a lane and you stay in it
however in life that path is not so
clear I continued my running journey and
in 2004 I went to the Boston Marathon
but in 2005 I signed up for a full month
trip cycling trip in Africa along the
way I played sports I played soccer and
ping-pong and I ran with the kids and I
saw the power of sport and it doesn’t
matter your age your gender your
religion your culture sport brings
people together I returned from the trip
but I didn’t know what to do with the
experience until one evening in February
of 2009 a friend of mine introduced me
to write to play now write to play uses
sport and play based programs to teach
children life skills leadership
team-building conflict resolution and
that night something clicked for me and
I knew I wanted to help in the middle of
2009 I was training for my first
100-mile race the lost souls ultra and
while on a five-hour training run
way too much time to think I came up
with the idea of Marathon quest 250 to
attempt to run 250 marathons in one year
and try and raise $250,000 for right to
play so on January the 1st 2010 I’m
lined up with a group of friends on the
1a highway just outside of Cochran and
it was minus 32 degrees we headed off
and five and a half hours later we
finished the marathon one down 249 to go
now during the year my favorite days
were Thursdays because I would go to a
school and run a marathon so I would go
to the assembly I talked to the kids
about right to play and then I’ve head
outside and I’d run a hundred times
around the soccer field or the school
buildings the kids would join me for the
first couple of loops and they would be
cheering and having a great time and
then they’d go in for classes and I’d
keep going and they’d wave at me from
the window at lunch time they’d come out
and they’d join me for two more loops
but they would feed me apples and
carrots and Snickers bars I was like a
running guinea pig I was the pet for the
day then they’d go back in and I’d keep
going and they’d wave at me and after
six hours of running around and around
at the end of the day that come out and
they’d run the last two loops with me
would finish the marathon and their
cheer and we do high-fives
but what blew me away was these children
would give me their pocket money for the
other kids they understood how lucky
they were with their schools and their
homes and their toys and then they told
him about other children that didn’t
have the chance to play children who had
to fetch water for six hours a day from
the single tap in a village or in
refugee camps where it was too dangerous
to wander off and play I could have had
the worst week of running marathons
on Thursdays when I ran at a school my
spirit soared and during the year I ran
at sixty schools with over 12,000 kids
from kindergarten to grade 12 on
December 31st 2010 marathon number 250
was complete and we had raised three
hundred and twenty thousand dollars for
right to play I had found my path by
using running to help underprivileged
kids and I was starting to hit my stride
Usain Bolt was a member of the gold
medal winning – at 2012 and 2016
Jamaica for by 100 meter relay team a
critical aspect of their success was the
successful passing of the baton in
February of 2015 I was hospitalized with
a massive clot on the brain suddenly
from running multiple marathons I needed
help to go the 20 feet from the hospital
bed to the washroom my recovery was slow
and I was on a cocktail of drugs but
then after a couple of months I was
given the OK to do short walks and in
May I inch my way along to the finish
line of the Calgary marathon 5k walk
things were dark things had changed for
me totally then in late October in the
morning one morning my wife sue showed
me an article from The Guardian
newspaper and it was about the first
marathon of Afghanistan and in
particular it talked about a young woman
named Zainab who became the first Afghan
woman ever to run a marathon
normally for runners the challenges are
nutrition hydration and blisters for
Zainab
she was training it was verbal and
physical abuse when she was out training
people would yell at her get off the
streets you’re a prostitute and they
throw stones at her to stop her running
and she had to go back to her home and
run around and around inside her walled
garden to get her marathon training done
and when I read this I vow that if I
could run again I would go to the second
marathon of Afghanistan and support the
women in the May of 2016
I ran the Calgary marathon and in late
October I was on a plane headed to Kabul
arriving in Afghanistan I met another
marathon participant her name was kübra
and as she was supported by Frieda run
an NGO that works with girls and women
in areas affected by war and conflict
Kubas training have been interrupted by
a bombing at her school and she really
felt she couldn’t run the marathon
there was a 10k race that she was going
to sign up for but I said this kubrick
uber why don’t we run together and try
and finish the marathon in under the
seven-hour cutoff and she said yes so at
8 a.m. on November the 4th in the town
of Bamiyan which is 140 kilometres
northwest of Kabul we were lined up at
the start line the course was brutal the
start line elevation is 9,000 feet it’s
an out and back race and the out section
is another 1,200 feet elevation gain
kübra and I started running nine
minutes and walking one and we used this
routine through the first half of the
race and the key to that was taking in
regular nutrition hydration and
electrolytes we reached the halfway mark
at 3 hours and 36 minutes and at this
rate I knew we would not make the cut
off and Kubrick started to have some
cramps we turned around and started our
way back doing nine and ones but kubarz
cramps got worse and worse and we
started to walk and the next two hours I
used all the knowledge that I had put
together in those hundreds of marathons
over a number of years to try and get
coober through and in essence it came
down to kübra focus on just 10 minutes
forget about anything else just keep
moving and focus on ten minutes after
six hours and 45 minutes
we still have one kilometre to go we
looked at each other and started running
and we crossed the line at 6 hours and
52 minutes with 8 minutes to spare now
kübra had exploded from the blocks with
the work she had done with the girls and
women and promoting their rights over
there and she had hit her stride with
her work with free to run we had run
together for seven hours for a common
goal and kübra had completed her
marathon and achieved her dream the
baton had been passed so now it’s time
to finish this relay and I would like to
introduce Kitty shares at
now Kitty came to Calgary from
Afghanistan at the age of seven with her
parents and a younger sister geese ooh
she’s studying at the University of
Calgary and Kitty and her team are
presently working on their very first
fundraiser to help the victims of the
recent bombing in Kabul these funds will
go to the families most in need
kitty is making a difference and she’s
exploded from the blocks and she’s
hitting her stride so now kitty it’s
time to take the baton
so I asked you have you started your
relay yet what will it take for you to
explode out of the blocks find your
passion and you’re on your way hitting
your stride can be a long journey but
the key is to have the openness to take
a chance and the willingness to
persevere and at the end of the relay
it’s time to pass the baton think about
reaching out to someone share your
experiences and make a difference in
their life thank you
[Applause]
I’ve often heard it said their life is a
marathon not a sprint
well I’ve run a few marathons and I’ve
come to believe that actually life is a
relay I love watching the Olympics and
in particular the 4 by 100 meter relay
race
the athletes lined up the gun goes off
and they explode out of the blocks
hitting their stride they hurtle down
the track with just one objective in
mind to hand the baton to the next
runner in life exploding out of the
blocks is when you find what you meant
to do you find your passion hitting your
stride is a journey you may not know the
destination but you’re on the right path
and passing the baton is when you reach
out to someone and share your knowledge
share your experiences Usain Bolt’s
reaction time at the beginning of a race
is 0.15 5 seconds it took me a lot
longer to explode out of the blocks on
December the 9th in 2001 my wife Wendy
died of cancer the following year I
struggled with my grief and many times I
felt empty and alone in December 2002 I
got a phone call from my brother Peter
and after some small talk he said Martin
I challenge you to a marathon now I
didn’t hesitate and I said you’re on and
put the phone down but the problem was I
didn’t run I was 47 years old and I had
always had a rocky relationship with
sport now this is baby Martin
a child only a mother could love
I mean look at those cheeks now back
then I was known as a huggable child and
my size caused me issues at school in
England the sports were a soccer and
cricket and rugby and I was always
pickle ass for the team I’m what you
call a reverse Olympian they’re very
good at one sport and I’m rubbish at
lots of sports but that night Peter
challenged me I headed out and I was
wearing canvas tennis shoes I was
wearing cotton jogging pants a fleecy
tarp a woolly hat and big mitts
I ran 1k out and 1k back and when I got
home I was cold and wet and I thought to
myself this is ridiculous I’ve just run
two kilometres I’ve got another 40.2 to
go I mean how does anyone ever run a
marathon but I knew I couldn’t back down
from a challenge for my brother but I
needed help so I joined the Sudbury
rocks
running club and they told me about
nutrition hydration shoes pacing and
within a couple of months my mileage had
gone up from five kilometers to ten
kilometers and in April
I ran the Ottawa half marathon now
before I knew it July arrived and I was
on the start line
of the 2003 Calgary marathon next to me
was brother Peter but to show you how
big a challenge this was my other
younger brother Andrew had flown in from
England this was global sibling rivalry
the gun went off
and I flew from the start but in the two
kilometer mark I stepped in a pothole
and smash my knees were bleeding my
hands are all gravelly but I got myself
up kind of brushed off and kept going
and managed to finish the marathon in
just under four hours however in the
brotherly stakes
Andrew was first I was second and Peter
was third but I was elated to have
completed the marathon Peter had reached
out to me during my time of grief and
through running I had found my passion I
finally exploded out of the blocks Usain
Bolt’s fastest relay split time is eight
point seven seconds and he hits his
stride in 60 meters and in the hundred
meter relay the path is very clear
you’re in a lane and you stay in it
however in life that path is not so
clear I continued my running journey and
in 2004 I went to the Boston Marathon
but in 2005 I signed up for a full month
trip cycling trip in Africa along the
way I played sports I played soccer and
ping-pong and I ran with the kids and I
saw the power of sport and it doesn’t
matter your age your gender your
religion your culture sport brings
people together I returned from the trip
but I didn’t know what to do with the
experience until one evening in February
of 2009 a friend of mine introduced me
to write to play now write to play uses
sport and play based programs to teach
children life skills leadership
team-building conflict resolution and
that night something clicked for me and
I knew I wanted to help in the middle of
2009 I was training for my first
100-mile race the lost souls ultra and
while on a five-hour training run
way too much time to think I came up
with the idea of Marathon quest 250 to
attempt to run 250 marathons in one year
and try and raise $250,000 for right to
play so on January the 1st 2010 I’m
lined up with a group of friends on the
1a highway just outside of Cochran and
it was minus 32 degrees we headed off
and five and a half hours later we
finished the marathon one down 249 to go
now during the year my favorite days
were Thursdays because I would go to a
school and run a marathon so I would go
to the assembly I talked to the kids
about right to play and then I’ve head
outside and I’d run a hundred times
around the soccer field or the school
buildings the kids would join me for the
first couple of loops and they would be
cheering and having a great time and
then they’d go in for classes and I’d
keep going and they’d wave at me from
the window at lunch time they’d come out
and they’d join me for two more loops
but they would feed me apples and
carrots and Snickers bars I was like a
running guinea pig I was the pet for the
day then they’d go back in and I’d keep
going and they’d wave at me and after
six hours of running around and around
at the end of the day that come out and
they’d run the last two loops with me
would finish the marathon and their
cheer and we do high-fives
but what blew me away was these children
would give me their pocket money for the
other kids they understood how lucky
they were with their schools and their
homes and their toys and then they told
him about other children that didn’t
have the chance to play children who had
to fetch water for six hours a day from
the single tap in a village or in
refugee camps where it was too dangerous
to wander off and play I could have had
the worst week of running marathons
on Thursdays when I ran at a school my
spirit soared and during the year I ran
at sixty schools with over 12,000 kids
from kindergarten to grade 12 on
December 31st 2010 marathon number 250
was complete and we had raised three
hundred and twenty thousand dollars for
right to play I had found my path by
using running to help underprivileged
kids and I was starting to hit my stride
Usain Bolt was a member of the gold
medal winning – at 2012 and 2016
Jamaica for by 100 meter relay team a
critical aspect of their success was the
successful passing of the baton in
February of 2015 I was hospitalized with
a massive clot on the brain suddenly
from running multiple marathons I needed
help to go the 20 feet from the hospital
bed to the washroom my recovery was slow
and I was on a cocktail of drugs but
then after a couple of months I was
given the OK to do short walks and in
May I inch my way along to the finish
line of the Calgary marathon 5k walk
things were dark things had changed for
me totally then in late October in the
morning one morning my wife sue showed
me an article from The Guardian
newspaper and it was about the first
marathon of Afghanistan and in
particular it talked about a young woman
named Zainab who became the first Afghan
woman ever to run a marathon
normally for runners the challenges are
nutrition hydration and blisters for
Zainab
she was training it was verbal and
physical abuse when she was out training
people would yell at her get off the
streets you’re a prostitute and they
throw stones at her to stop her running
and she had to go back to her home and
run around and around inside her walled
garden to get her marathon training done
and when I read this I vow that if I
could run again I would go to the second
marathon of Afghanistan and support the
women in the May of 2016
I ran the Calgary marathon and in late
October I was on a plane headed to Kabul
arriving in Afghanistan I met another
marathon participant her name was kübra
and as she was supported by Frieda run
an NGO that works with girls and women
in areas affected by war and conflict
Kubas training have been interrupted by
a bombing at her school and she really
felt she couldn’t run the marathon
there was a 10k race that she was going
to sign up for but I said this kubrick
uber why don’t we run together and try
and finish the marathon in under the
seven-hour cutoff and she said yes so at
8 a.m. on November the 4th in the town
of Bamiyan which is 140 kilometres
northwest of Kabul we were lined up at
the start line the course was brutal the
start line elevation is 9,000 feet it’s
an out and back race and the out section
is another 1,200 feet elevation gain
kübra and I started running nine
minutes and walking one and we used this
routine through the first half of the
race and the key to that was taking in
regular nutrition hydration and
electrolytes we reached the halfway mark
at 3 hours and 36 minutes and at this
rate I knew we would not make the cut
off and Kubrick started to have some
cramps we turned around and started our
way back doing nine and ones but kubarz
cramps got worse and worse and we
started to walk and the next two hours I
used all the knowledge that I had put
together in those hundreds of marathons
over a number of years to try and get
coober through and in essence it came
down to kübra focus on just 10 minutes
forget about anything else just keep
moving and focus on ten minutes after
six hours and 45 minutes
we still have one kilometre to go we
looked at each other and started running
and we crossed the line at 6 hours and
52 minutes with 8 minutes to spare now
kübra had exploded from the blocks with
the work she had done with the girls and
women and promoting their rights over
there and she had hit her stride with
her work with free to run we had run
together for seven hours for a common
goal and kübra had completed her
marathon and achieved her dream the
baton had been passed so now it’s time
to finish this relay and I would like to
introduce Kitty shares at
now Kitty came to Calgary from
Afghanistan at the age of seven with her
parents and a younger sister geese ooh
she’s studying at the University of
Calgary and Kitty and her team are
presently working on their very first
fundraiser to help the victims of the
recent bombing in Kabul these funds will
go to the families most in need
kitty is making a difference and she’s
exploded from the blocks and she’s
hitting her stride so now kitty it’s
time to take the baton
so I asked you have you started your
relay yet what will it take for you to
explode out of the blocks find your
passion and you’re on your way hitting
your stride can be a long journey but
the key is to have the openness to take
a chance and the willingness to
persevere and at the end of the relay
it’s time to pass the baton think about
reaching out to someone share your
experiences and make a difference in
their life thank you
[Applause]
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