| Life in Transition |
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Photography by Claudia Katz at Talisman Centre, Calgary 
Ironman Canada's 2008 Female Amateur Champ Janelle Morrison. / photograph by Claudia Katz
Morrison has long roots in recreational athletics. Born and raised in Fort St. John, British Columbia, she started modestly at Grand Prairie College running cross-country without distinguishing herself. She joined a bike club and moved on to road racing and felt the soft brush of what it would be like to be an endurance junkie, but she gave that up because she was a student and it was financially challenging and she didn’t want to get stuck in that “isolated, single-minded lifestyle,” a decision she later regretted. Then she became an avid rock climber, all while earning degrees in psychology and education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. She always dreamed of doing something great—as many people do—but for Morrison, unlike the rest of us, it was more than just a dream. It was a possibility. The spark of that possibility was ignited when she was living in Taiwan in 2005, teaching English, and her friend Christina challenged her to run a marathon. Morrison had never run further than twenty kilometres at one time, but she started running on a treadmill and ultimately entered the Taipei International Marathon, along with 30,000 other participants, and won her age group in a time of 3:26. She had dehydration issues, forcing her to walk off the cramps in her calves, and she swore she’d never run another one. When she returned to Canada, she entered the 2006 Edmonton Centennial Marathon, where she won the women’s overall race in a time of 3:03. In 2007, Morrison entered the Canadian National Marathon Championships in Ottawa, where she finished as the fifth Canadian in a time of 2:54. Later that year, Morrison was named to the four-person Team Canada to compete in the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon in Toronto, where she ran a PR with a time of 2:49. She was the second Canadian female overall, finishing less than a minute behind 10,000-metre Olympian and former World Champion Lisa Harvey. After the race, Morrison said, “I knew I was doing well when I passed a couple of the women guest runners from Ethiopia.” Then she injured her hip. A friend suggested triathlon, where she could draw on her background in road racing on the bike and where her training would not be so one-dimensional. But switching sports while clearly ascending the heights in marathon was risky. “I looked at the Olympic qualifying times for the marathon,” Morrison explained. “That standard for women has only been met by, I think, three women in Canada—it’s a sub-2:30—and I asked myself, ‘Is it possible?’” Morrison concluded that while a 2:40 marathon time was within reach, a 2:30 was a gamble, one that came with the risk of serious injury. So, in early winter, 2008, without any background in swimming, Morrison switched to triathlon. “I’m very fortunate,” said Morrison. “I really feel that I’ve been given a second chance.... I always felt that I had never seen what my potential was as an athlete.” Her first triathlon was an utter disaster. She entered the Cultus Lake Triathlon in Abbotsford, B.C. The temperature of the water was less than eleven degrees Celsius. Morrison forgot to dunk her head before the start and immediately hyperventilated. She and lots of other competitors had to be rescued a hundred metres from shore. She never wanted to do another triathlon again. A few weeks later, she completed the Fifth Annual Persona Oliver Half Iron Triathlon in Oliver, British Columbia, in 4:53, as second amateur female and sixth among the pro women, thirty-eighth overall. A month later, she won first amateur and second overall female in the professional field in the half Iron distance at the Canadian Long Distance Triathlon Championships in Osoyoos, B.C. at the Persona Desert Half Ironman, in a time of 4:56 on a very challenging course. In the wee hours of Thursday morning, late last August, three days before Subaru Ironman Canada, Morrison awoke suddenly with a severe stomach flu. Luckily, it turned out to be a twenty-four-hour bug, which she medicated with sleep, Gravol, and lots of water before driving to Penticton from Calgary. By Sunday, she felt good, she felt calm, and she discovered something: the longer the race, the more confident she feels. It turns out, distance is her thing. She turned in a solid 1:10 in the swim—not fast, but not bad for a first Ironman. She described it in the same terms everyone else does: “It’s a battle. Sometimes you’re getting kicked and punched, and you don’t know what’s going on.” The bike offered an even bigger challenge. Following a good climb up Richter—Morrison likes climbing—she got a flat eight kilometres from the bike/run transition. “Blue, one of the mechanics at Bow Cycle [in Calgary], had put an extra bit of glue in my tubular, which allowed the air to not fully go out. I mean, it was flat, but there was just enough so that I wasn’t riding on the rims,” she said. She rode the flat the full eight kilometres and completed the bike with a time of 5:25 and then changed her shoes. “I just threw my bike in, got my running shoes on, and then, once I had my running shoes on, it was like going to a dream state,” she said. Morrison finished top amateur female in a time of 9:59 with the fastest amateur run split (3:17) and second among professional women. She was eight overall among women with twenty-two professional women entered in the race that day. Six weeks later, Morrison entered the 2008 Ford Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, where she was disappointed with her time, a respectable 10:19. She was the eighth amateur female and thirty-third overall among the women that day. She posted the fastest amateur run split of the day with a 3:12 marathon in 38 degree temperatures. Morrison said she went for the experience, to see what that course was like, but she won’t go to Kona again until Kona is the focus of her training. What’s next for Morrison? She has taken the leap. She will chase the dream of becoming one of the world’s best triathletes. Morrison will enter her first race in 2009 as a pro. She started training with Scott McMillan, her coach, in the midst of the 2008 season. She picked up sponsors Timex, Newton Shoes, Tri It Multisport, and Factor9. She gave notice at the Calgary elementary school where she teaches a grade five class known as 5Mo—she’s known as Miss Mo to her inspirational students—and she will pack up her belongings in Calgary at the end of the school year to live like a student again in Vernon, British Columbia, in pursuit of the dream. Morrison and her coach have worked out a flexible five-year plan to put her on top, subject to reevaluation, but McMillan admits, “I do what I can to coach her, but in the end, her race results are primarily a reflection of her hard work and will to compete.... She is a very gifted and determined person.” Morrison said, ”The only way to truly do well at anything is to follow your passion. You can’t do well at anything unless there’s passion involved.” About the PhotographerClaudia Katz has photographed ultra-marathoners in the Yukon and bodybuilding champions in Calgary, Alberta. Visit her work at www.claudiakatzphotography.com. |
