This Canadian Running x New Balance six-part series is following five runners to the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon. These women and men aren’t professional runners; they’re just passionate about the sport. Their stories are your stories–each runner has come to the marathon with different reasons for running, different training methods, different running communities and different goals. And each exemplifies the idea that Run Your Way can mean something different for everyone.
Toronto-based runner Sue Dujmovic started her journey as a runner back in 2012, when she needed to pass a physical fitness test for a job. She also wanted to get back into shape after having her daughter, and training for a 5K seemed like a great way to do it. She ended up switching her career goals, but the love of running stuck. By 2015, she decided to train for her first marathon, which she ran in 2016, shortly after having her second child. It’s a busy life for the mom of two, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“When I’m stressed, I go running. When I’m angry, I go running,” she adds. “It’s how I channel my my emotions, and how I kind of deal with them. And there’s also the the social aspect.”
Running became a big part of how Dujmovic found a community. “As someone who was always a solo runner and never really felt like part of the running community, something shifted during the Covid lockdowns, and I started to really want to meet other runners and run with others,” she recalls. “I found ChixRunthe6ix and started interacting with them during the lockdowns, and then when things started opening up in fall of 2022, I went out to a group run with Culture Athletics. I met some great people my first time out and kept coming back!”
“I never really had that feeling of belonging before, until I went out there and started running with people and found my crew,” she says. “When you’re out there running and you’re struggling, it’s so much easier to suffer with a group than to suffer alone. We run throughout winter, and doing it with people is a lot more fun than suffering in the freezing cold alone.”
This weekend, her primary goal is a Boston Marathon qualifying time. “I’ve been trying to BQ for a couple of years now,” she says. “So my goal is a 3:30, which should give me enough of a buffer to actually get in. My B goal is a PB, which would be anything under 3:40, and my C goal is just to have fun. It’s just so much fun with all the cheer stations and all the crowd support. So as long as I have fun, I’ve accomplished my goal.”
“To me, Run Your Way means just that: running my way, doing things how it works for me,” she says. “It means running when I can, running how I can and as fast as I can.”
