‘Push Your Limits’ inspired by the Goggins Challenge
Participant Feature: Dean
Join The Maddie Project in a “Push Your Limits” challenge in support of youth mental health at North York General Hospital from March 5–7, 2021. To register, support or learn more about this event, visit nyghfoundation.ca/pushyourlimits.
My Running Journey
TMP: Tell us a little bit about you, Dean.
Dean: I am Canadian born to German parents and currently reside in Markham, Ontario. I love sports and exploring nature. I enjoy running, playing hockey, skating, cross country and downhill skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, softball, bike riding, and walking. I also thoroughly enjoy reading, relaxing and travelling.
TMP: Can you share your relationship with physical fitness and / or wellness?
Dean: Over a long period of time certain significant events occurred which moved me toward a more active lifestyle.
The first event was my dad’s massive heart attack when he was 54 years of age (I was 23 years old) one month after he retired. At this point in my life it came as a shock but it didn’t influence my lifestyle as I was still young and I didn’t smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day like my dad so why should I worry. He was told that he would likely live another 5 to 10 years. Fortunately, he was referred to the Toronto Rehab Institute where he started walking, then jogging and I remember that my brother and I would go for an occasional jog with him when we were on vacation. My brother and I introduced him to the game of golf and over the years he came to love it to the point that he was playing 4 times a week. My dad was a lousy golfer but he loved the game and playing with his friends. He ended up living for 31 more years!
The second event was being diagnosed with cancer 5 years later. I had a lump in my leg for a number of years that didn’t really bother me but one night I was playing hockey for our work hockey team and I crashed into the goal post right where the lump was. At this point it became uncomfortable for me and I asked my family doctor to refer me to someone who could remove the mass in my leg. I had the surgery to remove the tumour and the surgeon said that there was a 95% chance that it was benign. Imagine my surprise when the pathology results came back saying I had a very rare cancer that was often associated with people who have AIDS. The surgeon recommended having further surgery to take out more of the surrounding tissue including a chunk of muscle. Fortunately, my future in-laws happened to know the chief surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital and he was able to get me an appointment with a cancer specialist the following week along with an MRI. I saw the doctor and his bedside manner wasn’t very good — he told me that if the original diagnosis was correct then I may only have weeks or months to live! At this point I became lightheaded and almost fainted. The MRI showed that everything seemed fine so that was good. I was referred to a doctor at Princess Margaret Hospital and went for quarterly appointments to make sure that the tumour wasn’t coming back and eventually after 3 or 5 years (I don’t remember which) I was declared cancer free. So still this didn’t really spur any real changes in my activity.
The third event was 9 years later when I was 38. My wife and I were celebrating her grandmother’s birthday one Sunday afternoon and I had really bad stomach pains. The pain subsided a little but something didn’t feel right. I went to work Monday and felt off but I was still okay. I then got a fever which resulted in me making an appointment with my family doctor on Tuesday. He didn’t really know what could be wrong but thought it was probably a urinary or kidney infection so he prescribed me some antibiotics. The following evening my fever started to go higher and I was in so much pain I was literally crawling on the bedroom floor to go to the bathroom. My wife decided I needed to get to the hospital right away so she got the kids together and drove me to Markham Stouffville. We arrived and as soon as I got to the check-in I vomited and as a result I was brought in right away. They did an ultrasound and the technician said something like: “Something isn’t right, I’d better call someone”. She calls another doctor and he says “There’s something weird going on here”. This didn’t really give me much confidence. The next morning I was booked for surgery and I was found to have a burst appendix which had actually burst 4 days earlier and as a result gangrene had set in. My surgeon told me it was a stinky mess inside me. I ended up spending 8 days in hospital feeling the worst I have ever felt. I can remember asking my wife to stay overnight because I was afraid I was going to die. I then spent another 6 weeks at home trying to get back to normal. It took me a long time until I could again enjoy eating. This event had more of an impact on me — I didn’t like how long it took me to recover and thought I should probably do something to get into better shape. Of course, that would have to wait!
The fourth event occurred 1.5 years later. I had a hernia which required surgery so the same surgeon who did my appendix repaired my hernia. I believe I was off work for a week and the weekend before I was set to return to work I got significant pains in my stomach area. So back to Markham Stouffville — I thought it was probably due to the hernia surgery but it turns out my gall bladder needed to come out so back under the knife for an emergency gall bladder removal.
It was finally at this point that I realized that if I wanted to see my kids grow up that I needed to get my life in better order. So a month after this surgery I signed up to run the Unionville 5K with my wife. The only training I did was the day before when I ran/walked 2km. I was able to finish the 5k which was a huge accomplishment in my mind. This was the start of my running.
I was still quite lazy at this point and figured that on the 2 mornings during the week that I walked my dog that I could reduce the time spent taking him for a walk by jogging. So I started jogging 1.5 to 2 kms twice a week. Gradually over time I added in a “long” run on the weekend of 3 to 5 km. Eventually, I did more 5 and 10 km races and loved the fact that I didn’t have to compete against anyone other than myself. Seven years later I pushed myself even further and did my first half marathon.
When I turned 50, I decided I needed to do something even more difficult — to run my first marathon. By this time my kids were pretty independent and I had a fair bit of free time on my hands so I signed up for the marathon clinic at the Markham Running Room. I had only anticipated that I would ever run 1 marathon, however, I really enjoyed the clinic and the other participants and for this reason I ran my second the next year. After the second marathon I was cramping so badly after the race that I told my wife that when we got home I was going to write down that I would never run another marathon. I forgot to do this when I got home and within a week I was back thinking of signing up for my next marathon. Pain is only temporary! When I ran my first couple of marathons qualifying for Boston was not even on my radar, however, as I became a stronger runner it became my goal.
In 2014, 3 years after I started seriously running, I posted my first qualifying time for Boston, unfortunately I didn’t make the cut-off. I then qualified again in 2015 and missed the cut-off by less than a minute. In 2016 I ran 3 marathons and all 3 of them were over 4 minutes under the qualifying time so I easily made it in for the 2017 Boston Marathon. Once I qualified for Boston, I thought it would be great to give back to the running community so I signed up to be a pace bunny and also to help out at the Markham Running Room as a pacer in their marathon clinic. I have acted as a pace bunny in 8 races at varying distances from half marathons all the way up to the marathon distance.
The logical next step was to do my first 50 km. I then signed up for some trail races and absolutely loved them so decided that a 50 miler trail race was my next step. To date I have run 16 marathons and 3 ultras and had signed up to run two 100 km trail races last year which were both cancelled due to COVID. Last year I ran a marathon on my Birthday for fun and 2 ultras — one a 50 km run on the trail at our cottage in Meaford and the second a 46 km run to celebrate the 46th President of the United States.
TMP: What inspired you to participate in The Maddie Project “Push Your Limits” Goggins Challenge?
Dean: This challenge really resonated with me as first of all it raises funds for a cause that is near and dear to my heart. I have had some mental health issues over the years and I know many others who have had mental health struggles. I have found that running and being active outdoors is extremely beneficial to my mental health. My children had a number of friends commit suicide while in their teens and with COVID I know it is even more difficult for youth to deal with mental health issues. I am always eager to try and push myself further and this challenge will, I believe, be more of a mental challenge than a physical one. I know I can run 77 km in a weekend as I have twice done it in under 11 hours on the same day, however, I know it will be more challenging to run it in segments over the course of 48 hours!!
TMP: How have you been staying healthy (physically and mentally) during these times of the COVID pandemic?
Dean: Since COVID I have done a lot of running and walking. I signed up for a number of virtual races including the Virtual Race Across Tennessee and was able to do a total of 2056 km running and walking to go across Tennessee and back from May 1 to August 31. I ended 2020 running a total of 3,123 km which is over 1,000km more than I had ever run in a year. Last year I ran a marathon on my Birthday for fun and 2 ultras — one a 50 km run on the trail at our cottage in Meaford and the second a 46 km run to celebrate the 46thPresident of the United States.
TMP: Any tips or advice you will be considering as you take on the Push your limits challenge?
Dean: For this challenge it will be critical to be able to sleep when given the opportunity and that is something I will need to figure out. I rarely sleep the night before a race as I am too keyed up but in this challenge it will be absolutely critical to get some sleep over the 2 days/nights. Eating will also be something I need to work out a plan for.
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The Maddie Project is a community effort in support of youth struggling with depression and other mental health related concerns. Driven by community collaboration and events, the project’s goals are to raise awareness by sparking conversations about youth depression and mental health concerns as well as to help provide uninhibited access to support for youth and their families.
The Maddie Project was founded in April 2015 in memory of Madeline Grace German Coulter. To date the project has engaged millions in active conversations around youth mental health and has raised over $2 million dollars towards the development of Maddie’s Healing Garden and support of other child and adolescent mental health services in our community.
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