Day 14: Checking In on My (Virtual) Cross-Country Run

My mileage has started to pile up again. Last week was 93k. The week before was 86k. My hip still bothers me a little bit, but it isn’t enough to stop the mileage or the workouts. Now that Alex and I are full on for the T-dot marathon, I feel like my training has direction and purpose again... so bring on the miles!

With the last two weeks of good numbers, I’m curious to see where I am now on my virtual run across Canada. So where does 2818km get me? Oddly enough, it puts me just outside Marathon, Ontario!

Of all the places to be!

Alas, though. This town is named less in honour of the start line of Pheidippides’ brave run to Athens and more for the Marathon pulp and paper company from Wisconsin that built a mill here in the 40s and grew a town of 35 to over 3,000.

But there’s more than just a mill here, there’s also gold! There are three mines relatively nearby, so the town also hosts a contingent of mine workers. The town motto aptly captures the raison d’etre of Marathon: “Built on paper – laced with gold!”

Sadly, it’s not, “Run a lot, then run some more!” I was secretly hoping that this town was Canada’s answer to Kenya’s training compounds – a whole town devoted to three-a-days and pushing beyond the 2:10 barrier. But it’s not – there’s no secret government running training program. Not in Canada.

But like everywhere else along the stretch of highway that arches high across the northern shore of Superior, the place is beautiful. I found a site that has a bunch of spectacular photos from the area – all the photos posted here are from that site – I thought I would share a few of the ones that stood out for me. I hope the photographers don’t mind sharing!

I tried to find some curious facts about the place, but not a whole lot came up. There’s a large mall – and a Canadian Tire, which makes it the most important town between the Soo and Thunder Bay. There’s a spectacular pebble beach and a river with a long history of Ojibway occupation. But, to be honest, it didn’t look like there was a whole lot going on. It's a resource town, after all.

Here’s an interesting fact: in 2006, the mean annual household income for Marathon was over $80,000. There may not be a lot of cosmopolitan amenities, but the land is beautiful and most of the folks aren’t hurting for cash.

Looking at the pictures on the photo-sharing site has made me wistful for travel and for putting boots on trail. My summer life used to be mostly in the woods – now it’s mostly on asphalt. But the time will come to walk the trails again... for now, I run.