Written by Mark Sutcliffe nd published in The Ottawa Citizen, Sunday, December 23, 2007

A runner looks for inspiration wherever it’s available. Here’s where I found it in 2007.

Paula Radcliffe: The women’s world-record holder in the marathon, Radcliffe led the New York City Marathon for more than 41 kilometres, then was passed by Gete Wami with a few hundred metres to go, then surged past Wami with an incredible finishing kick to win by 23 seconds. That would have been impressive enough if she wasn’t handed a baby at the finish line that she had delivered just 10 months earlier. Radcliffe has only lost one marathon race in her life — at the 2004 Olympics. She doesn’t appear to be on the verge of repeating that disappointment in Beijing next summer.

Ray Zahab: In February, he finished a historic 111-day run across the Sahara Desert, running the equivalent of two marathons a day in sand and wind. A few months later, he ran three of Canada’s toughest coastal trails in 11 days. Zahab never stops moving, so you know he’s planning something new and equally impossible for 2008. Stay tuned.

Alberto Salazar: Just over a year ago, the legendary runner had completed the New York City Marathon as a pace runner for Lance Armstrong. Then in June, while coaching a team of elite runners in Oregon, he suffered a heart attack and had no pulse for 14 minutes. “Runners need to know that it can happen to anyone, even if you’re in great shape,” he told Runner’s World. “They need to check their blood pressure and cholesterol, and to know their family history.” Known for his intensity as an athlete and coach, Salazar also says he has a new perspective and some unfinished business to resolve with family and friends. “It makes you think: You know what? I’m going to take care of all this stuff now. I’m going to start crossing things off my list. I feel so lucky that this happened, because now I see things much more clearly.”

Anyone who finished the Chicago marathon: The conditions were terrible: 30C heat and a shortage of water. So anyone who completed this year’s Chicago Marathon, including dozens from Ottawa, earned more than their medal. They deserved an apology from race organizers.

Oscar Pistorius: Born in South Africa, Pistorius had both legs amputated below the knee before he was a year old. Now he can run 100 metres in under 11 seconds and wants to be the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympics. International track officials are debating whether his prosthetic legs give him an unfair advantage and his chances of making it to Beijing are remote, especially after the findings last week of a German scientist asked to study his prosthetics. But the fact that his disability would be considered an unfair advantage says a lot about how far athletes with disabilities have raised the bar.

Tracey Clark, Jennifer North and Cindy Scott: In 2005, the three runners decided that rather than discard their old running shoes, they would put them to good use. They started a program called Sole Responsibility. Two years later, they’ve sent thousands of shoes to camps in Chad, making life easier for thousands of refugees from Darfur.

John Stanton: The founder of the Running Room spends more time travelling than your average pilot. He finds a way to show up at almost every major event across Canada, sometimes running as a pace bunny, sometimes announcing at the finish line for hours and hours. I’ll always remember the first time I heard him refer to a group of us crossing the finish line at the Ottawa Marathon as “athletes.” I’d never thought of myself that way before.

Amy Palmiero-Winters: After losing part of her leg in a car accident, Palmiero-Winters ran a personal best in the 2006 Chicago Marathon. This year, she became the first athlete with a disability to compete in the elite field at the New York City Triathlon. Now she wants to do a sub-three-hour marathon, run a 100-mile ultramarathon and earn a spot in the World Ironman Championships by meeting the able-bodied qualifying standard. “You can get in as an amputee,” she says. “I don’t want to. I want to get in on my own.”