We’ve all heard the expression, “Walk a mile in my shoes,” but for Leamington’s Chas Allison, the term would be about running 100 miles.
The local runner recently completed his first “hundred-miler”, the Tally in the Valley race in Dundas, Ontario.
The ultra marathon is the first of such a distance for Chas, who just began running seriously last summer.
“I ran a bit when I was younger,” says the 29-year-old. “But hadn’t done much running as an adult.”
He says he was inspired one night after a baseball game — he plays for the Leamington Senior Barons — to go out and run two kilometres around the neighbourhood.
“I hadn’t run in a long time and after two kilometres I was super gassed,” he said. “After that I started doing 5ks, 10ks and last year I ran the Windsor Waterfront Half Marathon.”
He says that immediately after that race, he told his wife that he was never running a full marathon. Fast forward less than a year and he’s now completed his first 100-mile race, which measures out at 161 kilometres “Canadian”.
Chas runs with the Shores of Erie Run Club and a fellow runner had told him about signing up for the Tally in the Valley.
“He kind of inspired me, so I signed up too,” he said. “But it was hard to push that submit button. My mother-in-law ended up submitting the entry for me because I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
The apprehension soon gave way to pure will and determination and he got to training. He started running five days a week, some days being 10-15 kms and others up to 50 kms — much of that spent on the Chrysler Greenway.
Chas credits his physical job as being a help with keeping him fit. He works for Sun Parlour Movers and says that the physical demands of the job keep him moving and wanting to move more.
The seven km loop in Dundas had to be done 23 times to complete the distance — he finished seventh in his division and ninth overall. He completed the 100 miles in 23:31.15. He had a crew of friends and family who gave him water and nutrition every time completed a lap.
His future plans include doing another ultra marathon and he plans on keeping up the running. He’s also planning on helping the Barons go deep into the playoffs this year, so that will be on his to-do list as well.
The Chas Allison team, from left, are John Blokker, Chas’s mom Buffy Martineau, brother Brody Pether, Kyle Edgerton, Chas Allison, brother Zack Allison, Auston
Mouck, mother-in-law Suz McKenzie and Chas’s wife Hannah McKenzie.
Photo courtesy of Chas Allison
