Category Archives: Running

Happy Mother’s Day, Momsie

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In honour of Mother’s day, I wanted to share some of my favourite moments I’ve had with my Mom.

This photo was taken in October of 2006, when my mother and I went on a backpacking trip through France and Italy. I still can’t believe she went backpacking, and neither can my Dad.

Above, we were sitting at a little restaurant on the ocean in Riomaggiore, Italy, which is part of the Cinque Terre (the five villages). These five little towns are all connected by a little trail, and there are very few, if any at all, vehicles in the towns. It’s one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We sat there and had the most wonderful meal, and drank Prosecco (I’m pretty sure I got my Mom to love it just as much as I do), staring at this beautiful view.

The next day, we hiked the Cinque Terre trail through the five villages, jumped into the ocean to celebrate, and then took a little ferry from the last village, Monterosso, back to Riomaggiore, where we were staying. We traveled to Venice, Florence, Rome, Nice, Antibes, Cannes, Monaco, Eze, and Ville Franche sur Mer as well.

So many times, I’ve wished I could go back to this moment. Oh, how I love the Mediterranean! It was the best Mother/Daughter bonding trip you could ever ask for. I would do it again in a heartbeat, Mom. Just tell me when.

Photo credit: Jordan Behan

Another one of my favourite moments was just this year. My Mom had the opportunity to carry the Olympic Torch through our hometown of Powell River, BC for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. When I watch the video that Jordan made of that early morning on Nootka Street, I still tear up, and I think I will continue to do so, every time I watch it. I am so happy I was there to witness your glorious moment in person, along with the rest of the Behan mafia. We were so proud of you, Mom! You are world class.

This Mother’s Day, we are running the Sun Run together, along with our favourite mother/daughter team, Leslie and Danica. We’ve been running the Sun Run as a foursome for the past few years, and I hope we will continue to do so for many years to come. On Thursday, May 6th, the four of us were featured in an article in the Vancouver Sun for this very reason. I am going to make a conscious effort to get a great group photo of us this year, because clearly we don’t have enough!

Ha ha. Circa 2005?

Happy Mothers Day, Momsie.

Love Big J
xoxo

Our Sun Run Interview with Erin Cebula from Global

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If you’ve been reading, you probably know that my family – my mother, my two brothers, Jordan and Wesley, and I all ran the Vancouver Sun Run on April 19, 2009. We challenged each other to the race, but also to raise the most money for charity. After completing the run, SatoCanada awarded Wes with a trophy for raising the most for his charity. Also, Erin Cebula from Global TV did a quick interview with us at the SatoCanada booth inside BC Place. You can view the YouTube video below.

The Behan Family Sun Run Results

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Well, it’s finally all over and done with. At the time of the start of the race, Wes was our leader in pledges at $770 for the Children’s Miracle Network, and still waiting for one more cheque. Jordan had about $600 for BC Cancer, and I had raised $680 for Wheels in Motion. By the end of day Sunday, though, Jordan had $885 worth of pledges on his page, because of a last-minute very generous donor. In total, we raised about $2400 for charity. Go Team Behan!

Here is a photo of us after the race with all of our prize schwag from SatoCanada. Wes is sporting his New Balance backpack and he is also holding the “Behan Challenge Cup” – his prizes for raising the most amount of money for charity.

Photo credit: SatoCanada on Flickr

Photo credit: SatoCanada on Flickr

Don’t you just love SatoCanada’s elephant mascots? I do.

I guess some of you are wondering how we finished! Well, Jordan and I both crossed the finish line at the same time, at 48:24, with a pace of 4:51/km, placing 2868th and 2869th. Not bad for a run with 50,000 people! Wesley ran most of the way with my Mom and her friend Leslie, finishing at 56:36, while my Mom and her running partner came in at 57:46. Pretty fit family, eh?

Oh and Wes, you said something about finishing in under 50 minutes next year? You better get training!

Are we ready for the Sun Run?

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This is it. Sunday, April 19, 2009 is the 25th Annual Vancouver Sun Run. I am running, along with my mother, my brothers Wesley and Jordan, and I think my friend Emily might even come out for it. I’m also hoping my sister-in-law Alex will come out to cheer us on, and maybe snap a photo or two???

If you’ve been keeping up with my blog posts, you’ll know that Jordan, Wesley, and I are also raising money for charity. You’ll see my page here, Jordan’s page here, and Wesley – well, he’s being a little bit secretive about his total.

Photo credit: Wesley Behan on Flickr

My brothers seem to think that I am going to kick their butts (we had a very funny conversation about it before Easter dinner on Monday), but I’m not sure. I know that these guys can push it when they want to. They say they are out of shape and haven’t had enough time to prepare, but I’ve seen Jordan pull a 10ker and even a triathalon out of his hat, with little to no training beforehand, so we’ll see. Wes has been training, but hasn’t quite made to the 10km mark yet.

meandmomMy Mom… well, I’m not worried about her. She can do a 10km run in her sleep, and come in at a decent time of 55 minutes. Look at her, isn’t she cute? She’s twice my age, too. She is my inspiration. She never even use to exercise when she was a teenager, or even when she was in her twenties! But after having 3 kids, she wanted to start doing something, so she slowly started running and walking a few laps around the track (we lived literally steps away from one at the time), and now look at her! 17 Vancouver Sun Runs under her belt! That’s dedication.

As for me, I normally keep up with my running and I have been training quite hard, except the last 2 weeks have seen a bit of a lag. I’m still running, just not as consistently. I’m not sure if it has been appropriate timing to slow down with the training or not. We’ll see on Sunday, I guess. Good luck, everyone!

Photo credit: Jordan Behan on Flickr

Photo credit: Jordan Behan on Flickr

The Behan’s are making the Newspaper

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On Saturday, Jordan, Wes, and I met at Wes’ place in Burnaby near Metrotown, so a photographer from the Burnaby Newsleader could take our photo. It was horrible rainy weather and we had to take the photos outside, decked out in our running gear. I hope that they turn out!

The week previous, each of us were interviewed by reporter Heather Gardiner, because she was interested in our Behan Family Vancouver Sun Run challenge. Something that started out as a friendly challenge (because I thought both Jord and Wes were going to say no to me!), has snowballed into something greater and even more interesting than I ever imagined. We are not only running the Vancouver Sun Run, but also competing in raising money for charity. You can view my previous post about our charities here and donate to my charity if you wish. We have until the day of the Sun Run, April 19, 2009, to raise money for our respective charities.

Sato Canada has offered a prize to the winner of our challenge, and also to donate to each of the three charities we are supporting. I just love that so many people have shown interest in our little competition, and that these three charities will benefit from our sibling challenge.

Stay tuned for the article on the Behan’s in next Saturday’s Burnaby Newsleader!

Support the Charities in our Challenge

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The charities for the “Behan Sibling Sun Run Challenge” have been chosen. If you look at  two of my previous posts, you’ll understand what I am talking about. In short, my brothers and I are competing in the Vancouver Sun Run, but we are also competing to see who can raise the most amount of money for charity before the day of the race (April 19, 2009). We have all chosen a favourite charity, and without further adieu, here are your competitors and their charities:

untitled
I have chosen Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion (@WheelsInMotion on Twitter), firstly because my cousin, roommate, and friend Carly, works there as an Event Coordinator. They organize smaller, local community fundraisers, and are constantly looking for new ways to raise funds. Although they are a very established foundation, they struggle with fundraising because not as many lives have been touched by spinal cord injuries, as say, breast cancer, so they need all the help they can get! Their main goal is to succeed in helping people with disabilities in your community, and well, I happen to think that’s pretty darn cool.

wim1
“Wheels In Motion has touched thousands of lives with entire communities benefiting from the funds raised. By removing barriers and creating more accessible neighbourhoods, we are helping individuals with disabilities live life to its full potential and making our community stronger, richer and more vibrant.”

Click here for my handy dandy little DONATION PAGE.
All you have to do is click on “Donate Now” and fill out the required information to donate by MasterCard or Visa. Also, you do not have to tell me who you are or how much you are donating (but I’ve made a suggested minimum dollar amount of $5). And in case you were wondering, you will automatically receive an e-mail with your electronic tax receipt if you provide an e-mail address.

wesWesley has chosen the Children’s Miracle Network. Wes is a real estate agent for the Blum Real Estate Team of Re/Max Central, and they are proud sponsors of the Children’s Miracle Network, which is why he chose this charity.

miracle
“Children’s Miracle Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping kids by raising funds for 170 children’s hospitals across North America. Each year these non-profit hospitals provide the finest care, research and community outreach to help millions of children with diseases and injuries of every kind. In Canada, Children’s Miracle Network raises funds for 14 children’s hospitals, and has helped millions of Canadian children.”

You can contact Wes through his website or his twitter, or visit his office to sponsor his charity.

Re/Max Central (South Burnaby Office)
#1-5050 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC
V5H 4C2
Toll free: 1-866-433-2211
Fax: 1-866-358-8347
jord1Jordan has chosen the BC Cancer Foundation. We recently found out that someone very close to us was diagnosed with bladder cancer, so this one really hits close to home, as I’m sure it does for a lot of people. Here is his donation page.

bccancer

The BC Cancer Foundation is an independent charitable organization that raises funds to support breakthrough research and care at the BC Cancer Agency. The BC Cancer Agency is responsible for cancer care and control for everyone in British Columbia.

Since Jordan and I are most likely going to use the power of social media to get most of our donations, and Wes is going to try to do this the old fashioned way by personally collecting pledges, this is kind of an experiment to see who, or which method, will be the most successful. We would love to hear what you think of our little “challenge” and I encourage your comments below. Thanks for your support, and happy running. ;) Oh yeah, and don’t forget to donate to my charity.

The Challenge has Changed..

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In reponse to the positive feedback we’ve been receiving, we’ve decided to up the stakes a little in our Behan Sibling Sun Run challenge. Sato Canada (@SatoCanada on Twitter) has offered to award a prize package to the “winner” of our challenge, but now the “winner” will be the person who raises the most money toward the charity of their choice! This way, everyone wins – we all get fit, we do the Sun Run (which will also make my Mom unbelievably happy!), and 3 charities get a bunch of dough$$$. Sato Canada has also offered to give a prize package to our respective charities:

@SatoCanada: “Time for us to raise the stakes. Win or lose we will pledge to donate products to those 3 charities as well! This is exciting”

We will still, of course, keep our little sibling rivalry going, and come April, you will see much more smack talk happening over the the Twitter tubes between @jordanbehan, @wesleybehan, and myself (@janismary) -  but now, we’ve got a lot more work to do before the race!

Updates coming soon on which charities we will be sponsoring. Thanks for reading!

The Behan Siblings Sun Run Challenge

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Well, it was easier than I thought. All I had to do was publicly challenge my brothers on Twitter to do the Vancouver Sun Run with me (and my Mom, who will be doing her 17th Sun Run or something ridiculous), and, well.. it was just THAT easy!

This is the only pic I could find of the 3 of us on Flickr.

This is the only pic I could find of the 3 of us on Flickr. June 2005

Here’s a look at our Twitter conversation yesterday (February 11, 2009) in chronological order:

janismary: I just signed up for the @vancouversunrun and I think @jordanbehan should, too. He he.

jordanbehan: @janismary Sign up for the @vancouversunrun you say, eh? Come out of retirement and try to break my record? Maybe, sis. Maybe.

jordanbehan: @janismary @tylerwilman There will be much training, followed by a good old fashioned sibling ass kicking. I’m in, @vancouversunrun.

janismary: @jordanbehan Now if only I can convince @wesleybehan to do the @vancouversunrun. He might be a tough sell.

jordanbehan @janismary I needed the motivation. @alexleebehan will be thrilled to know I’m running again, esp since it’s just 10k.

janismary: @wesleybehan So, I’ve somehow convinced @jordanbehan to do the @vancouversunrun with me, and we think you should too.

wesleybehan: @janismary What’s the date?

janismary: @wesleybehan April 19. DO IT.

DM from Wes: I better start training. yikes

My DM to Wes: Yaaaay!!!!!! It will be fun, I swear!

janismary: Ahh, the power of persuasion! Just received confirmation that @wesleybehan will be joining @jordanbehan and myself in the @vancouversunrun.

wesleybehan: @janismary off to the gym..

Now, that last one was was the hardest to believe, but it’s true.. he DM’d me later to tell me he ran the treadmill for 15 minutes, which I replied was “a good start.”

So there you have it folks… the challenge is on!

Vegas, January 2009

Update: Found another sibling photo. Vegas, January 2009

Now, to give you a little more background information:

Jordan ran the Sun Run back in 2006 with my Mom and I, and I think he clocked in at around 46:00 minutes or so (help me out, Jord), and I think I was around 48:00 or 49:00. Jordan and I also trained and ran the Vancouver International Marathon together in May of 2007, finishing in a little under 4 hours. (A pretty stellar accomplishment, if I do say so myself! You can read our marathon story here.)

Now, as for Wes, I’m not really sure when the last time he ran was – other than a few laps around the track as captain of the RE/MAX Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay Team in the last couple of years – but he used to be quite the runner back in the day.

And me, well, I try to regularly run 6-10 km, 3 or 4 times a week, but I’m not always consistent. On Saturday I ran 11km at Burnaby Lake in an hour, and the trail was still half covered in snow!

So… what will our times be? Any bets? Who will collapse before they reach the finish line (*cough*Wesley*cough*)?? Let’s hear it in the comments below!

Jord's Marathon running shoes