The Boston Marathon Experience

For many people, marathon running becomes a must-do at least once in your life. Hatter, Corry Leduc has been charmed by the thrilling challenge of marathon running, thanks to his incredible journey taking on the Boston Marathon as a first-time participant. Today on Bring Back The Porch, Brian speaks with Corry about his exciting story of dog walking, and marathon training to uniquely combine his business, Canine Sprinters, with his training for the Boston Marathon. You’ll learn about the efforts, trials and triumphs that go into this remarkable personal story. 

Chapters

00:00 Introduction 

01:20 Why Corry Chose to Run Boston Marathon

02:02 Qualifying for Major Marathons

02:28 Historical Significance of Boston Marathon

03:29 Race Day Experience and Crowd Support

04:23 Record-Breaking Conditions and Winning Times

04:40 Race Start and Wave System

05:02 Catching Up to Other Runners

05:53 Landmarks and Course Memorization

06:31 Fellow Competitors and Support for Disabled Runners

08:48 Training with Dogs for Endurance

10:22 Upcoming Races and Personal Goals

11:24 Recovery and Diet Strategies

12:48 Local Running Community in Medicine

13:20 Final Thoughts and Appreciation

Corry Leduc is an avid runner and the owner of Canine Sprinters, a service that takes dogs out for runs. With a passion for fitness and community, Corry decided to take on the challenge of the Boston Marathon, not just for the competition, but also for the experience and the atmosphere.

Corry describes the crowd as phenomenal, that “…from the time you start to the time you finish there was at least somebody cheering.” This vibrant environment transforms the marathon into a community celebration. Running in Boston is not just about the race; it's about the people that surround it. There is a festive energy as many people come together to participate in the race, or the barbecues. Onlookers would be cheering for all the runners in the marathon, This support can be a huge motivator for runners, especially those like Corry who are participating for the first time.

Corry had a unique approach to training, incorporating his business, Canine Sprinters, into his regimen. By running with dogs, he not only stayed accountable but also enjoyed the camaraderie that comes with it. "It was just a way to get me accountable to go out," he shared, emphasizing how the dogs' excitement helped elevate his own motivation.

He warns about the common pit-falls of marathon training. One common mistake that many runners make, according to Corey, is not adjusting their training after qualifying for a marathon. "Once I qualified it kind of fell off the wagon," he admitted. It’s crucial to maintain a consistent training regimen to ensure you're prepared for race day, even if you're not aiming for a personal record.

Navigating the course is as much about strategy as it is about endurance. Corry found that understanding the course layout ahead of time helped him manage his energy during the race. "I had a pretty general idea of where all the landmarks are," which allowed him to pace himself effectively.

Corry Leduc's experience at the Boston Marathon showcases the blend of community spirit, historical significance, and personal achievement that defines this iconic event. Whether you're considering running a marathon for the first time or simply curious about the experience, the Boston Marathon offers lessons in perseverance, community, and the joy of running.

If you’re interested in getting your dog running (maybe not for a marathon), here is Corry Leduc’s K9sprinters.

https://www.k9sprinters.com/

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Transcript

0:00

Hey, this is Brian again, and I'd like to ask you to do a favor. We can't do this work without people like you. So if you can, please like, share, subscribe, tell your friends about bring back the porch. the crowds were just phenomenal. Like there was from the time you start to the time you finished, there was at least somebody cheering, whether it be 1 or 2 people or thousands of people in little areas throughout the communities. It was pretty cool because you're you're going from one little town to the next little town, and because it's a holiday for them, it's Patriots Day. Everybody's off of work. They've got the streets shut down. People are barbecuing in their driveways just having like block parties. There was live bands playing in people's yards and big loudspeakers set up, and it was just a really a party atmosphere. This episode will bring back the porch. Brought to you by Bernie Leahy, River Street Realty. Let's get you home. This year, the Boston Marathon, there was something like 24,000 plus participants. One of them is sitting across the table from me, from Medicine Hat. Corry. Leduc, welcome. Thank you for having me. The first question that comes to mind is why? Like, I like to. I used to like to run sprint, but marathon. No. Yeah. It wasn't initially on my list of accomplishments to do, but I had a local friend here who's done it three times and he's a little bit older than me. And I thought, well, if you can do it. Why can't I? And so that's kind of started the pursuit. And yeah, I'm always up for a challenge. I've always got goals I like to set and meet every year. Now this is not just something you send in your check and and you're in the race to qualify. Either have to qualify for Boston is qualify on charity route or there's tours tour packages. So there's only three ways to get in for Boston. And I wanted to get in by qualifying. So was that your first marathon like that? That first major big major? Yeah. Okay. What are the other ones? The other ones are New York, Chicago. I will be going to Chicago in the fall. Okay. And then Berlin, London and Tokyo. Those are the major six originals. And then they've just added Australia last year. I think there's a historical perspective for the Boston Marathon. The course is has some some historical. Yeah. That's when we went to Boston. It was. It's Boston is such rich in history. It's it's amazing. Like almost all of the US is revolves around Boston's history. I mean, it's like one of the oldest in in the US in the world. And yeah, the whole marathon kind of evolved around the revolution. And, you know, the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party and it all just kind of evolved from from around that history. Does it have something to do with the ride of Paul Revere? Yes. Yeah. So the root is, is that's how they get 26 miles. And that wasn't quite 26 at the time. And then they actually readjusted it. I think it was around 70 or something like that. Or maybe literally I couldn't remember the old days. I had so many dates thrown at me over the course of the weekend. But yeah, they slightly adjusted it. And that's why it's way out in Hopkins is where it starts. So what was the experience like? Oh, it was amazing. Like just the crowds were just phenomenal. Like there was from the time you start to the time you finished, there was at least somebody cheering, whether it be 1 or 2 people or thousands of people in little areas throughout the communities. It was pretty cool because you're you're going from one little town to the next little town, and because it's a holiday for them, it's Patriots Day. Everybody's off of work. They've got the streets shut down. People are barbecuing in their driveways just having like block parties. There was live bands playing in people's yards and big loudspeakers set up, and it was just a really a party atmosphere. Now, for some, it's a competitive race. Yeah. Some people go there and they try to get their peers. They try to I mean, they're really fast. People are trying to win their age category. But no, I wasn't I wasn't into that for this particular time because it was my first time there. I've done the hard work. I was just there to enjoy it. I understand that the winning time this year was a record for the Boston Marathon, because conditions were optimum, I guess. Yes. Yeah. Tailwind. Yeah. It was perfect. The temperature for running was perfect, and spectators, not so much. But yeah, it was a little bit of a tailwind, a little bit of overcast. So it was a really, really perfect setting for for the times. So how do you start. They don't all start at the same time. No they they normally they only have four ways. But this year they added two more just to kind of break it up a little bit. And so then they have the fastest 10,000 people and then the next waves I guess they call them. So they after 15 minutes every 15 minutes they send out a wave. Did you catch up to somebody? Yeah, I did catch up to some people, but because I wasn't running my normal time, lots of people passed me and I was I was okay with that. You were running against the clock. No, I wasn't going for a clock. You know, I was just there for the experience. Experience? When I joined, absorbing all the the atmosphere, the crowd and just the historic of the course. There was lots of famous parts. There's Hopkinton, there's Newton's hill. Of course, Heartbreak Hill is the most famous one. And and then when you turn and go down to Boylston Street was something I'll never forget. You make that turn, and there's four blocks to go, and you can see the finish line from there, and there's like 6 or 7 people deep along the sides of the course and screaming and hollering. And did you have the route memorized in your head so that you knew where the landmarks were? Pretty much. Yeah. Like I've seen it over. I've watched it on TV almost every year and just looking on maps and stuff like that. So I kind of had a pretty general idea of where all the landmarks are, although Heartbreak Hill, I'll have to say I was a little disappointed at Heart Rate Hill because I didn't know there was a hill there by the time I finished it. Oh, not like Medicine Hat. No, exactly. I said come to Medicine Hat and come down some of our Shelton Hill and Altona Hill. Those are hills. But that one, as I got to the top and like, oh, that was a hill. Okay, okay. Yeah. What was it like with your fellow competitors participants? Everybody's there just having a good time. They're cheering people on. You know, I came up to the wave. That's one wave that started before me was the assisted people. So people that were blind people are deaf, all kinds of different disabilities. So you would come up upon them and people would just simply go around them. And they were cheering these people on it. I had great. Good job athlete, good job athlete. And it was it was amazing to see these people too. Like they were blind. And you're running a marathon, you know, and they just had one person in front of them, one person behind them, and they would just kind of use that as a gauge. Some of them had music and they would just follow the music along. Okay. Yeah. So a totally different atmosphere than a competitive track. Yeah for sure. Yeah. When it's competitive and it's for serious, you're, you're dialed and you're, you wouldn't even notice the crowd. Normally you're, you're looking at your watch, you're thinking of your fueling and stuff like that. But yeah, it's different when you're just running for fun. Did you meet anybody when you were there? Yes, I did. I actually it's kind of funny story. We had rented an Airbnb just out in Quincy, and it was a four bedroom place, and a friend of mine was supposed to come, but she couldn't come because they were getting married this year. So I said, you know, that's understandable. And so I had an extra open room. And I've been chatting with people online through Facebook groups. And one particular fella said that he his Airbnb canceled on him and he was stranded. He's like, I got no place to stay. Like I'm like, hey, I've got an extra room. Like, maybe I'll chat with my group and see if they're interested. And you know, what got back to him said, yeah, like, the room's yours if you want it. And so I looked him up on Facebook and he was from Hamilton, Ontario and super, super great guy. Like his his name was Jesse the Elf. Legally that his name is his name Jesse the elf. Jesse the elf. And he. Yeah, he loves Christmas. And he dressed up in an elf suit, and he ran the Boston Marathon in an elf suit. And how did he do? He's a way faster than I was. Really? Yeah, he's. Last year. He did it. He did it. This is a second year. Last year he did it in 245 and he was going for two under 240. But he didn't quite make it. He got to 248. So a lot faster than me. What was your time I was 331, 330. Which is slower than me, slower than usual for me. But you were taking it all. Yeah, I was taking it all in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Talk a little bit about your training because you do something that is rather unique. You train with four legged trainers. Yes. I started up a business called Canine Sprinters, and I take dogs out for runs anywhere from 5 to 10 K, sometimes 1520 K, just depending on the dogs. A lot of the bigger dogs will go longer distances with me, and it was just a way to get me accountable to go out. Like sometimes I was like, oh, you know, I don't really feel like going out, but I had an appointment, so I was like, okay, I'll go and pick up the dog, and they see me and they're all excited. And so then I get excited with the dog. So it just definitely changed your mood and your in your mentality. You thought about it and and it also making some money to help pay for traveling because you know traveling expense isn't cheap nowadays. So the dogs, they know the way that you're going, a lot of them do. I'm going to have to start changing up the rows because I don't even have to tell them or nothing. I kind of a few dogs where I've. I've taught them how to do the mushing calls, yee and ha. And so I've tried to get them to turn when I needed them to turn, but now they just know the route so much that I don't have to say anything. They'll cross the street when I need to cross it and turn around when I normally turn around. So. But yeah, I'll have to try and change up the routes here. Will we see you on the streets? Oh, yes. With the dogs. Yeah, I'll be out when I got back. I got booked right up for this whole week and into next week. And so yeah, I'll be pretty busy now. Have you got anything else on your calendar in terms of running? I got some small runs. I always try and get at least something once a month. So next month I've got the dinosaur. Pump it up run. June is the hidden Oasis and K 100 July is the tabor. Tough August. No running ones. I'm doing the Battle Creek showdown with the bikes. Okay. Out in Elk Water and September. Oh, September. I've got 100 K run, 100 k, 100 K. Yeah. My God. Yeah. Out in in Lethbridge A friend of mine did the 50 K last year, and so I kind of raised her saying, oh, it looks like you're going to have to do the 100 K next year. And she goes, well, I'll do it if you do it. So I kind of goaded myself into it. So okay, I'll go with you and I'll do that. Now. Is there hills? There's hills and there's it's it's not an easy course by any means. And then I didn't quite really think it through, because a month later I got to go to Chicago and run a marathon. So how long does it take you to recover from an event like that? I'm not too sure about the 100 K, but like for Boston, I was good for days later. Okay, you have a special diet that you try to follow. I did when I went to go for my qualifying, I really cut back on on a lot of fats and sugars and stuff like that. And I dropped 20 pounds and like, I was really, really serious about it to get that qualifying time. But then once I qualified, it kind of fell off the wagon. And, and it wasn't quite as motivated to to stay on that diet regimen and everything. So that's kind of why I didn't really go for time as well at Boston, just because I hadn't had that intense training like I did. Yeah. When you were running in Boston, did people hold out water for you? Always. Oh, yeah. There's people holding it. Water. Oranges freezes like tons of people along the way that were offering all kinds of snacks and refreshments. So when you're running like that, do you try to match up with somebody to kind of help pace you? Yeah, sometimes you do. Yeah. You'll you'll find someone that's kind of in a rhythm and you just kind of hang with that person for a little while. If you're competitive, you would be behind the person and kind of drafting them and making them take, take the wind from. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you're in Lethbridge, you better hope it's not a windy day I know. Yeah you're running into it. Yeah it's in September. So anything could happen in Alberta. Anything can happen in Alberta at that time of year. So is there a running community in medicine that. Yeah, that's actually a really good community. We got a couple groups, the Mad Hatters and there's a riot group. Parkrun happens on Saturdays and there's lots of different levels of people that run walk. It's a great place to to meet people too. Yeah. And the training is ongoing. You can't park it for a month. Pretty much know you don't. You don't park it. The only time you ever take a break as if you're injured or have something aching. But runners, that doesn't stop them either. Yeah, yeah. I admire you for the years. Stick to it of this and the ability to work through. There's always a barrier that you have to get through. And then once you've passed it, you get your second wind and. Yeah, yeah, no, me, I was 100m and that was it. And I was done. I wanted to go and find something to drink. And so yeah, I have the utmost respect for what you do. So Corry. Yeah, thank you for the visit. Well, thanks for having me.