Trevor the Runner (Proving Others Wrong)

Growing up, I played basketball. Basketball was life, and the dream was to be in the NBA. There was nothing that I wanted more than to be a pro basketball player, but as the years past, and as I matured, that passion for the sport dwindled away. I was always “good” at basketball, but never phenominal. In grade 12, it hit me that basketball was not my sport, golf was my sport. At that time, I had a decent swing, but wasn’t consistent. The next 3 years I worked and worked to get good at golf, to the point that my handicap was around 5, but then that passion vanished about a year ago when I realized that I’m not Trevor the golfer, nor am I Trevor the basketball player. I’m Trevor the runner, always have been, always will be.

It started in grade 8 when I was at Cardinal Newman doing the run across Canada. At the time, I wasn’t fast by any standards, but running during lunch was fun, and I did it to make loved ones in Heaven proud of me. My mother enjoyed going for walks and the occasional run, so I tried to be more like her, and that’s why I ran at lunch instead of hanging out with others. At the time, some of the “cool” kids would make fun of me and tried to throw me off course, but that never worked out, I kept going. In grade 9, I was on the XC team with Cardi. Nobody outside of Cardinal Newman knew who I was, so when it came time for the divisional meet, all the kids had their picks to win, and only a select few thought I would win. I didn’t even think I would win. So the gun sounded and we were off. I hung out around 5th all race until the last stretch when I found this new level, and took off. I won that race, with one of my best friends to this day, Matt, placing 3rd. We won the first ever divisional XC title for Cardinal Newman. That victory was all thanks in part to the run across Canada in grade 8.

Fly right through and past high school because high school sucked and nothing exciting happened then. I played basketball and ran XC, that was about it. When I enrolled at SAIT, I made the decision to return to running. In May of 2011, I contacted Coach Jamie. Just a side note, that decision was the best decision I’ve made so far. Coach Jamie had me join the crew for summer workouts. I quickly fit in and was back to running! “Hold up” said my shins, “you’re going to sit around for a few months while we give you agonizing pain”. First off, being injured sucks, but keeping a level head and remaining confident got me through the tough times.

During the holidays of 2011, I decided to quit drinking (not like I ever had a problem), and I set myself a goal. The goal was to complete the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon on May 1st. On December 26th, I returned from injury, only able to elapse a 3km run. That 3km run was awful, but it was something, and it was my starting point. Over the months, I ran more and got my longest run up to 15km before the half marathon. I was in no shape to run a half marathon, but it was my goal to complete it, so I set another goal to beat 1:30. In my eyes, that was a hefty goal due to the recent injury and lack of training. My race result was 25th place at a time of 1:19:08. That race time almost didn’t happen. At the 400m mark of the race, we made the turn from Queen Elizabeth Park onto Cambie Street going into downtown. I lifted my head, saw downtown Vancouver, the surrounding mountains, the ocean, and almost broke out into tears due to the sheer beauty of the scenery. At that moment, I kissed my necklace, told my mom that I’ll make her proud, and off I went.

Vancouver taught me a valuable lesson. Don’t ever doubt yourself. No matter how tough times are, remain strong, fight to be where you want to be, and don’t quit. This doesn’t apply to just running, this applies to everyday life.

Over the summer of 2012, I ran more races including the Jugo Juice Calgary 10k, K-100, and the Stampede Road Race. Running was going well, and it was really fun. I also enjoyed drinking water as a substitute to alcohol. I went to the bar/club/parties, and drank water. People made fun of me for it, and I was constantly judged, but it gave me peace of mind. After the Stampede Road Race, I decided I wanted to be an olympian.

The fall of 2012 came along, and another season of running with SAIT had kicked off. I’ll skip to the goods. As a team, we won ACAC gold, got sent to nationals in Quebec and finished in 5th. Individually, I was on the ACAC All-Conference squad and ran a strong spirited race in Quebec. Remaining on my mind during this time was the olympics.

The track season began in the winter of 2013. I ran some strong races and kept progressing at a decent rate. I was feeling pretty confident at this time, so I started to open up about my dream of being in the Olympics. I shared that information with my dad and he supported my ideas, but also explained how tough of a road it is to make it there. To be honest, I didn’t care about how tough the road is, or what the odds were. I wanted to be an olympian and that was all. At this time, I also shared my dream with others and got a different response. People laughed at the dream and tried to shut it down. Here’s the problem with that right there. You never ever laugh at somebodies dream, or try to shut it down, unless it’s a really stupid dream like finishing a keg of beer, which sounds cool and all, but that won’t get you anywhere. Getting laughed at and made fun of for the past year or so about not drinking and such really pissed me off, and that’s where “proving others wrong” comes in. You can also factor in getting made fun of in grade 8 for running at lunch.

When I decided I wanted to be an olympian, I was a 1:19:08 half marathoner and a 35:18 10k’er. Then the fire got ignited and fueled by the doubters and the haters, so a year later in the 2013 BMO Vancouver Half Marathon, I turned into a 1:13:01 half marathoner, then in October of 2013, I turned into a 1:09:07 half marathoner in Victoria.

Also in October of 2013, I turned into a 32:15 10k’er on an XC course. 6 days from now, I race in Vancouver and will look to break 32 minutes for the 10k XC. Through all this change with these PB’s, one thing hasn’t changed a bit, and that’s the dream, olympics.

I’m not saying that everybody has to be a runner. I chose to be a runner because that’s what I love to do. Everybody has a dream though, and everybody wants to do what they like to do. So there’s my story so far about Trevor the runner, and here’s some advice. Do what you love to do. Don’t care about what others think of you because people that judge you or tell you that “you can’t” just want to crush your dreams. Those people don’t have any dreams, and that’s sucks for them. If you have a dream, make it happen, it’s all up to you. Stay strong, remain confident, and fight for what you believe in. I’ve said some bad things to others, and I’ve judged others at times, not that I wanted to make them hate me, but because I wanted to ignite their fire to be the best they can be. We all have one life in this life, so don’t sit around and be a nobody. Go out there, get noticed, and be a somebody in the eyes of others. We all have the potential to do great things, so what’s holding you back?