Natasha Wodak believes that enjoying the process will show up in the results.
The 40-year-old from North Vancouver, B.C., who grew to love training for the marathon, shattered the Canadian record in that distance in Berlin on Sunday.
Wodak finished 12th at the Berlin Marathon in two hours 23 minutes 12 seconds, lowering Malindi Elmore鈥檚 record of 2:24.50 set in 2020.
Wodak, who was 13th in the marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was a 10,000-metre specialist on the track for the better part of a decade, and said she didn鈥檛 enjoy her first marathon experience in 2013.
鈥淚 was kind of like 鈥業 don鈥檛 know how much I want to do this,鈥欌�� Wodak said.
鈥淏ut as I鈥檝e gotten older, and become a more disciplined runner, and I鈥檓 in a better place in my life, I really enjoy the training. And I鈥檝e had a lot of fun with every marathon build, and challenging myself. Because it鈥檚 new, right? The move to the marathon was a lot of fun, doing new training and challenging myself, and I really enjoyed it. And I think that鈥檚 a huge part of why I鈥檝e been successful, is because I really liked the training.鈥�
Ethiopia鈥檚 Tigist Assefa won Sunday鈥檚 race in 2:15.37. Two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya broke his own men鈥檚 marathon world record to win the men鈥檚 race in 2:01.09.
Wodak, who is coached by Trent Stellingwerff, said her recent training indicated she could run 2:24.
On Sunday, she ramped up the pace over the 42.195-kilometre course. Her second half was more than a minute faster than her first.
鈥淚 knew at 35K, because we had significantly dropped the pace through the last 5K, that we were well under Canadian record pace,鈥� Wodak said, moments before sitting down to a celebratory drink with her family.
鈥淚 had a pacer, and he just was like, 鈥楲et鈥檚 go, let鈥檚 go.鈥� And I just kept on him. I was tired over the last 5K, I was working really, really hard. But I knew that was just because we were running fast.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think that I could do 24.12 鈥� when I saw that time at the finish line, I was like, 鈥榦h, wow, what?鈥欌��
Wodak鈥檚 record comes amid a surge in Canadian women鈥檚 distance running.
The Canadian record has dropped five minutes in the past nine years, although Wodak noted the huge improvements in shoe technology have seen distance running times plummet across the board in recent years.
Still, Elmore was ninth in the Tokyo Olympics, and the battle between the Canadian women to make that team was fierce.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really exciting to be a part of women鈥檚 distance running right now,鈥� said Wodak. 鈥淲e just sort of are feeding off of each other. If Malindi hadn鈥檛 run 2:24.50, I don鈥檛 know if I would have set my goal to run 2:24 flat.
鈥淪o now Malindi is going to go run Toronto (Waterfront Marathon on Oct. 16), and she鈥檚 gonna be like, 鈥極K, I want to run sub-2:23.鈥� We just keep lowering the bar and it鈥檚 great when we all build each other up. She wished me good luck (Saturday) and said, 鈥業 hope you have an amazing race.鈥� That鈥檚 a really cool run community to be a part of when we all support each other.鈥�
Elmore tweeted on Sunday, 鈥淐ongrats Natasha! Huge impressive run today!鈥�
Wodak planned to vacation in Germany with her family. She doesn鈥檛 plan to race for awhile, and is considering competing in the Canadian cross-country championship Nov. 26 in Ottawa.
Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press
