This season U of T’s Megan Brown—one of Canada’s most prominent distance runners—has added a lot to her resume: a win over Olympian Joan Benoit Samuelson at the Scotiabank half marathon, a first-place finish at both the OUA and CIS cross-country championships, and a breathtaking battle for the laurels at the AGSI Canadian XC championships. But these are hardly indicative of Brown’s tumultuous past year.
Brown, who is wrapping up her final year at U of T, is no stranger to adversity in the running world.
When she started running in the summer before Grade 11, she wanted to be a triathlete. After being coerced into running in a 10K road race by a friend’s father, she garnered the attention of a coach at her local high school, who was just as baffled as she was when she won OFSAA cross-country later that year.
Faced with the decision of whether or not to run for a college in the United States, Megan opted to stay at home in Guelph. Unfortunately, it proved to be a negative environment for the up-and-coming athlete, and she gradually let her fitness slip away.
Not long after, Brown was approached by renowned running coach Hugh Cameron, who had heard about her talent. He helped her remember what it was that she’d loved about running, and she quickly climbed the ranks, bursting onto the collegiate scene with multiple titles in 2006.
By early 2008, Brown had reached a peak in her fitness and a pivotal point in her training. She was even looking ahead to the trials for the Beijing Olympics. It was at that crucial moment that her health began to unravel, and she discovered she had Lyme disease. In a drastic turn of events, the rising star began to question whether on not she’d even run again.
The Varsity: How did you contract Lyme disease?
Megan Brown: The whole health puzzle was crazy because I ended up going undiagnosed for about eight weeks. I came back from a training camp and I ran a couple of races in Toronto—my fitness was so good! But I woke up one day and I felt like I’d been hit by a truck. It got really bad really quickly, and my dad was worried, so he got me into the Cleveland Clinic in Toronto. I saw a lot of doctors, but nobody could piece it all together. Finally a cardiac doctor looked at my ECG and he tested me for Lyme disease, which turned out positive. The diagnosis took from the beginning of February until April.
TV: You had been one of the top prospects to make the 2008 Canadian Olympic team. How did you deal with losing out on the opportunity to compete in the Olympics?
MB: Do you know what comforted me? By that time I was so sick, the reality had changed so much that I just wanted to [get better]. I think I knew that [the Olympics were] a long shot in a lot of ways and because it wasn’t my prime year—I was only 22—it wasn’t the end of me. It was more a question of “Will I run again?” I came back to things slowly and then I decided to run collegiately in fall 2008. I was making it through, but I wasn’t my normal self. I was about 70 per cent capacity. I wasn’t able to get to morning classes, but I was somehow getting the training in, and it was just exhausting. I ended up somehow running really well, but then it unravelled. I kept getting illness after illness, flu after flu. I just couldn’t stay well. I got really sick and then finally this April, I thought to myself, “I can’t do this anymore. I think I’m quitting.”
TV: What happened next?
MB: I went back to my Lyme disease doctor and we finally got to the bottom of it. It ends up that as a result of the Lyme disease, a lot of damage was caused to my digestive tract that was keeping me sick. I saw a gastroenterologist who started treating me. My health turned around. I started back training in July and I came into this fall thinking, “Okay, I’m starting over. I may have a few lingering things to sort out but for the majority, I’m really healthy.” When I came into the 2009 cross-country season, the only goal I had was consistency. Before, I was a vicious trainer—I liked to push the envelope a lot. But this fall, I kind of stepped back and trained a lot more cautiously. I ran more volume but did less intensity to keep my body healthier […] But all season long I’ve just been thinking I’m not that fit.
TV: So you weren’t expecting to win the OUA or the CIS?
MB: I was expecting to be competitive, but I wasn’t expecting to be my razor-sharp self. So I’d kind of gone into the OUA with the goal of a running a good, consistent race, but I ended up feeling strong. And then going into CIS, I just went out there and did my thing from the start. I’m really strong right now and when I finished I felt like the race hadn’t taken a lot out of me. I knew that my best race was still to come.
TV: Let’s talk about the nationals this weekend.
MB: I really envisioned it being a close battle between Kendra Schaaf, Megan Metcalfe, and myself. I ended up taking it out aggressively because that’s just how I think races should always be. I like that the fittest person wins. So I took it out and Megan Metcalfe just dropped off out of nowhere. It was just Kendra and me. Then Kendra just made a slight gap on me within about 500 metres and it never lengthened—it was starting to get shorter. I just wasn’t on top of my game.
TV: So when someone steps out in front of you, the fact that you would even hold back is quite unusual?
MB: The one thing that I took from the race that I questioned was why didn’t I react there? But at the other end of it, my coach pointed out it’s been over two years since I’ve been in a really competitive race. I’m really under-raced and I have so much to learn and to develop in terms of race instincts. So I’m fit and I’m strong, and I go into 2010 with the goal in mind to race and race a lot.
TV: What are your plans for 2010? Will you be graduating?
MB: Yeah, I’m graduating. I’m going to sit down and talk about it, but the next two months I’m going to work on some speed. I’m going to work on my form. I’m going to get in the weight room a little bit more. I’m going to try to work on a bit of turnover and run a few really fast indoor races. This summer I’m going to race, and I want to race fast. I’ll work as a miler and 5K runner because it will give me more race experience and that’s what I need. Then I’ll do the world cross or world FISU Games and extend my year to October where I’ll hopefully represent Canada at the Commonwealth Games in the 5000.
TV: Is the 5000 what you’re looking towards for the 2012 Olympics?
MB: Yeah. I think I have enough speed.
TV: Is the 5000, the 5K distance, your proudest personal record?
MB: I don’t really feel like I have any proud PRs at this point. I honestly feel like if I can just be consistent for one year, I’m going to rewrite every single one of my PRs. I’m healthy now […] That’s my goal. I’m rewriting every one of my PRs from 800 to 5K.
