“I wasn’t exactly sure how I would react to it. I had obviously envisioned, for many years, what it would be like to finally reach the border… and then when I made that last climb and I saw that ‘Welcome to Ontario’ sign I choked up and had to fight back the tears cause suddenly you have this overwhelming sense of emotion. Oh my goodness. This is the end. We’ve reached our goal.”
Shannon Dueck’s longtime dream of running across the entire province of Manitoba along the TransCanada Highway was realized earlier this month, but not without personal doubts, physical struggles, and roughly seven different flavours of Gatorade. He also was initially unsuccessful.
For Dueck, the journey began last year with expectations that were much more ambitious than he realized. Starting on the Saskatchewan and Manitoba border, he planned on running his way across the entire province in a span of 8 days. He failed. Dueck made it to Portage la Prairie; only half of the way to his ultimate goal.
“I had bitten off a little more than I could chew,” he remarks, in retrospect. “I realized that the task was more daunting than I expected it would be.”
Though his first attempt was unsuccessful, Dueck’s defeat quickly transformed into a steely-eyed determination.
“I think before we even pulled into our driveway I had already decided that in the summer of 2020 we were going to finish that dream.”
The other person in the “we” Dueck is referring to is his wife Tracy; a source of unwavering support. Her strength made the first run possible, and her tenacity helped convince him to try it again.
Despite the hours, days, and weeks of training that precede a run of such magnitude, Dueck considers himself a short-distance runner. Technically speaking, he has never run a marathon. His love for the sport comes as much from a desire to test the limits of human ability as it does from a childhood fascination.
“I’ve always been inspired and intrigued by people who do crazy stupid long-distance running,” he says. “When I was younger, I thought it would be awesome to run across Canada but as I got older I recognized that wasn’t really attainable so I set a smaller goal of running across Manitoba.”
On Saturday, August 1st, Dueck laced up his sneakers and prepared to finish his “crazy stupid long-distance” run only this time, with expectations to match.
“Going in the second time around I knew what to brace for so I think I was better prepared," he comments. “I’m not going to say it was easier, but I think I was better prepared.”
He began in Portage la Prairie, where he had stopped the year before: 147 miles from Saskatchewan and 155 miles from Ontario. During his first attempt, Dueck’s schedule was regimented, requiring him to run, eat, and sleep at very specific times. This time around, however, he took a more leisurely approach to the day. Dueck says he woke up between 6:30 and 7:00 every morning, had a relaxing breakfast, and began to run around 8:00. After logging about ten miles, he would retreat to his trailer for a brief rest and some more food.
“If there was a splash park nearby, or a lake or some swimming hole Tracy and I would go do that. But, for the most part, the afternoon was for vegging,” he offers.
Dueck would finish the day with another ten-mile run. Having a total of eight days to complete his run, that 20 miles per day were just over what he needed. Every day when Dueck began pounding the pavement, Tracy would drive the trailer a ways ahead, put it in 'park', and then bike back to where he was running to join him. Of Tracy, Dueck has no shortage of good things to say.
“My only job for 8 days was to run. That’s all I had to do. But she took care of pretty much everything else whether that meant being a chef, doctor, driver, or plumber on the motor-home, she did all of that stuff.”
On several occasions, Dueck says he was also joined en route by friends of his, happy to support him by walking, running, or biking alongside him.
“I have never done anything remotely close to this in my life,” he says of the endeavour. “And it was a total team effort.”
Like his first attempt in 2019, doubt crept in from time to time and Dueck considered throwing in the towel. It was the incessant prayers and encouragement from family and friends, he says, that sustained him.
The last leg of the journey was a 6 mile long stretch from Whiteshell Provincial Park to Ontario. For Dueck, it was one of the easiest sections of the entire run as the terrain was “a whole lot more interesting than the many miles of field in western Manitoba.”
Dueck remembers the final moments as lighthearted and says he was joking and laughing for most of it. Still, to have that sense of victory and emotion wash over him at the end was, as he puts it, “tremendous”.
Having accomplished a run across the province, in two parts over two consecutive summers, Dueck is glad to temporarily not have a goal.
“I can run for the fun of it again,” he says, “I am excited to wake up and go for morning runs, knowing that I don’t need to get in X number of miles.”
The rewards for his tiresome efforts were minimal. He did not gain money or fame, but rather a story of personal endurance that he will be able to tell for years and years to come. That, and a lot of blisters on his feet.
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