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cmartinchang@hotmail.com
Chris Martin-Chang has been a lifelong athlete. Since childhood, he has enjoyed a variety of sports, ranging from martial arts to volleyball. He is currently a member of an amateur basketball and football team in Montreal. As a high school teacher, he also promotes the importance of being active through his teaching and coaching.
However, in recent years Chris has developed a passion for running. In 2004, he ran his first long distance (30 km) race in Hamilton, Ontario. Local residents were able to follow his progress in a weekly article in the Hamilton Spectator as he chronicled his challenges in training for the Around the Bay Race. At the time, Chris only saw himself as a training partner for his wife. However, what began as part of a modest fitness regime has now grown into larger part of his identity.
Since then, Chris has participated in a number of organized races. Running has become a “family affair”, where not only his wife runs in the races, but his young children as well. His eight year old son is now a veteran of two 5 km races, and his six year old daughter has done a number of 1 km “fun runs” and is looking forward to her first 5 km next May (even his baby has participated in a 100 m “Diaper Dash” in Disney World).
So far, 2009 has been a very successful running year for Chris. In January, he completed his first marathon in Disney World, placing in the top 10th percentile in a field of 14 000 runners. This was followed by achieving his personal best in a 10 km race in Ontario (placing 1st in his gender/age category), and running his fastest 13 km, and 20 km times in two legs of the Cabot Trail Relay Race in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (finishing in the top 5% of the field). As the racing season comes to a close, Chris is planning to run the Montreal Oasis ½ Marathon, and the Toronto International ½ Marathon. While his racing goals for these latter races are not as ambitious as those at the beginning of the year, Chris has planned on maintaining his running regime and racing at frequent intervals. His ultimate goal is to qualify, and eventually running in the Boston Marathon.
Chris firmly believes that running is a sport that is accessible to everyone at all fitness levels. His approach to running has always been one of setting and meeting personal goals. Consequently, Chris is thrilled to be a part of the lululemon Fairview team to help novice runners meet their goals.
“For me, racing is simply a date. Races are essential to my goal setting; races provide an important end-date to a routine. They inevitably become the all-important catalyst to get my shoes on when I simply don’t want to. It is the training and the challenge of managing my workouts around my life that makes race day a fun, celebratory stamp of achievement. Through the thousands of kilometres of roadwork, I’ve learnt that I am definitely not the fastest runner out there. I am also not the slowest; but I am a runner.”
