Jamie Komadina is a Prince Rupert marathon runner with a secret dream — to one day run in the Boston Marathon, the world’s most prestigious race.
But it won’t be an easy goal, because the marathon is tough to qualify for. The qualifying time for Komadina’s category is three hours and 35 minutes, which is a ways off from where she is today, but she is determined.
“I’m getting there and I think I may be able to reassess myself after this next one. That’s my goal, to run the Boston Marathon. I don’t care if it takes me 10 years to do it,” Komadina said.
Until then, the 32-year-old will continue rounding into form while running in other marathons. On May 28, she will run the Calgary Marathon along with a couple of other Rupert runners. Komadina has a two-year goal to run the race in under four hours, but regardless of the outcome, the Rupert native has a deep love for running marathons.
“Running a marathon is the most exhilarating thing in the whole world,” she said.
It hasn’t been too long since Komadina ran a marathon for the first time. She only started running in spring 2013 when she met a couple runners while at yoga school in Los Angeles. Her first race was the Nike Women’s Half in San Fransisco and she has been hooked ever since then.
After that first race, she moved back to Prince Rupert after 10 years living in Vancouver. Here, she trained and went to the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon, where she saw a lot of improvement. Following that, she ran a race in Victoria and then upped her level of involvement with running. Over Thanksgiving, she ran the Victoria Marathon but topped all of that in January.
Komadina did the Dopey Challenge at the Disney Marathon Weekend in Orlando. That means she ran a 5K on Thursday, a 10K on Friday, a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday. She crossed the finish line with an encouraging high-five from Minnie Mouse.
But her favourite highlight involves crying during a marathon in Vancouver a year ago — her first full marathon. She had been training for the event for four months.
“I was looking around at the thousands of people all around me, realizing I was about to run 42.2 kilometres and I started crying. I was just running down the hill crying with thousands of other people, overwhelmed that I was about to reach a goal,” Komadina said.
Marathons are addicting, as any committed runner will tell you. Every time she finishes a race, her mind jumps ahead to the next one, wondering if maybe she can do better.
“It’s really addicting and it’s really satisfying, that runners high that everybody always talks about. There’s always a new goal to set so you never run out of new challenges,” Komadina said.
For her, running provides many benefits including releasing stress, spending time alone, it’s good for your health and gives you a feeling of productivity. It’s a different kind of life being a runner. On this particular Saturday morning, she got up at 4:30 a.m. and went running for over three hours with her friends — that’s her idea of fun.
Komadina has also taken to the power of the written word to help other runners. Her blog can be found at jammiekomadina.com, and you can like it on Facebook: JammieKomadina Blog.
“I blog about running, what I learn from it and I tie it all into a confidence thing because I think running and confidence have a lot to do with each other. I also write about sober living,” she said.
Komadina makes sure the blog is accessible to the Learn to Run participants, as she often writes about what to know about running different race distances. She also is the registrar for Rupert Runners, and is co-directing Saturday’s Glory Days race with Crystal Sawatzky.
All that Komadina has learned through running isn’t just for her, and she knows that. That’s why she blogs, and that’s why she is a part of Rupert Runners. It’s a community and it’s a shared passion.
“I’m passionate about being a runner because it teaches me something new almost every single run. It’s a passion I can share with other people,” she said.