A week and a half ago, on Sunday morning October 15, I crowded into Amsterdam’s historic 1928 Olympic Stadium along with more than 16,000 other runners in preparation for the Amsterdam Marathon.  The contestants came from all over the world, all with personal goals and aspirations for the event. My “A Goal” was simple: complete a marathon on the continent of Europe, as the first stage in my “Going the Distance: Seven Continents, Seven Marathons” challenge.  Beyond that, my “B Goal” was to enjoy the experience and my “C Goal” was to get as close to 4 hours as possible.

And for the first 30 kilometres, everything went according to plan.  We ran through Vondelpark, the 45-hectare park in the heart of the city with its footbridges, winding paths and ponds with swans.  We ran through The Passage, the tunnel through the centre of the Rijksmuseum that allows cyclists to pass through the building.  We ran along the Boerenwetering, a canal in the centre of old Amsterdam that dates back to the 12th century.  And for more than 10 kilometres, we ran along the Amstel River to the south of the city, passing by palatial residences, windmills, and cows and sheep grazing in the lush, green fields on either side of the river.  In the bright sunshine of the morning and with a warm breeze blowing from the south, it was the most serene and pastoral setting for a marathon I’ve ever encountered.

As we ran along the Amstel, we were entertained by water-powered flyboarders pivoting above the river, and by musicians performing Dutch pop songs from boats. Back in the city, a band or DJ supplied motivation (or distraction) to the runners every kilometre or so along the course. Most memorable was the Party Crasher, a DJ booth mounted on a converted airport crash tender!  Because of the number of runners and the narrow streets, it was difficult to set and maintain a steady pace, so I mostly ran by “feel”—trying to maintain a consistent level of effort.  At the half-way mark I was averaging 5.39 min/km—right on target to achieve my “C Goal”.

But by the time I reached 30 km, my sporadic training over the past six weeks, jet lag and the rising temperatures combined to significantly deteriorate my ability to maintain my pace.  I felt like I was still exerting the same amount of effort as I had at the beginning, but my GPS told me I was only doing 6.15 or 6:30 min/km.  To stave off heat exhaustion, I started taking two cups of water at every aid station—one to drink and one to pour over my head. For the last 10 km, I allowed myself a 150 m walk break every 2 km, to allow time to recoup.  I was scarcely able to muster a sprint over the last 100 m to the finish.

So, no, it wasn’t a triumphant finish.  My final time of 4:19 was 19 minutes slower than my best marathon time in 2017—and an hour better than my worst!  But I finished, and I had fun (for most of the race). I achieved my “A Goal” and my “B Goal”. I never contemplated quitting, but maybe what made the difference was the encouragement offered around kilometer 37 by an unknown female runner who touched me on the shoulder as she ran by and said “You can do it”.

If it’s important to you to avoid pain and discomfort, don’t ever attempt to run a marathon because both are inevitable.

You don’t get the medal in a marathon or a race of any distance unless you run all the way to the end.  There are no awards given out for running your goal pace for the first 30 km of a marathon. If it’s important to you to avoid pain and discomfort, don’t ever attempt to run a marathon because both are inevitable.  But if perseverance, single-mindedness and goal orientation are qualities you possess in some measure, then long-distance running might be a good fit for you.

IJM has been involved in many marathons in the pursuit of justice—from individual cases, like that of Helen and Emilia from Bolivia, where IJM pursued the conviction of their abuser for nearly eight years—to the 12 year long fight to transform an entire country by ending the rampant exploitation of children in the commercial sex industry in Cambodia’s major cities.  We can celebrate these victories today because IJM’s dedicated workers and their national partners refused to give up, didn’t consider as acceptable anything other than getting to the finish line.

There are many marathons still to be completed in the pursuit of justice for the poor—like the eradication of forced labour, human trafficking and child labour— but IJM and its partner organizations are “Going the Distance”.  My campaign to raise $10,000 for IJM is my small contribution to this challenge.  Will you help me cross the finish line?  You can make a charitable donation until October 31 at https://support.ijm.ca/going-the-distance.