In the course of the peak of the pandemic, everybody was trying to find methods to remain busy and grounded. Ottawa’s David Merino used Pokémon Go. The app, impressed by the nostalgic Nintendo sequence, encourages customers to discover their native environment to catch digital Pokémon.
However for Merino, strolling round to catch Pokémon wasn’t sufficient—he wanted to get to them quicker than different trainers. With gyms closed, operating turned the proper answer for him to remain match whereas indulging in his “gotta catch ’em all” pastime. “A number of months in, I made a decision to place the cellphone away and simply run,” he laughs. “My runs slowly turned extra severe.”
In three years, Merino has progressed from informal runs to finishing a number of marathons and half-marathons. However now, he’s taking his ardour for operating one step additional. Merino was lately recruited by Run Ottawa to be a part of the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend’s Ottawa energy crew, and on Might 25, he will probably be a tempo bunny for the three:35 marathon group on the 2025 Tartan Ottawa Worldwide Marathon.
Merino says he has spent the previous two years connecting with a whole bunch of runners, attempting to study as a lot as attainable to enhance his efficiency from one race to the following. “It’s one factor to chase private objectives,” he says, “however I feel giving again to the group brings a completely completely different type of vitality.”
From grief to development: a Newfoundland lady’s journey again to Ottawa Race Weekend
Discovering function
Merino’s need to present again stems from his expertise on the 2024 Ottawa Marathon. He shares that he needed to drop out at kilometre 39 because of dehydration. “All I bear in mind is how grateful I used to be for the volunteers and race officers who went the additional mile to assist me,” he remembers.
As an alternative of dwelling on the frustration of a DNF, Merino used the expertise as inspiration to make a distinction. When the race organizers reached out to ask him if he’d wish to volunteer for 2025, he didn’t hesitate to boost his hand. “I wished to assist different runners go the additional mile and hit their objectives,” he says.
Giving again to Ottawa
As a mission supervisor for an Ottawa-based development administration firm, Merino is not any stranger to giving again to the town—albeit another way. “I’ve labored on tasks throughout Ottawa,” he says, “however this mission feels completely different. That is giving again in a extra private and lively method.”
Final fall, Merino attended an Arc’teryx Run Membership occasion, the place he had the chance to fulfill Jason Dunkerley, a five-time Paralympic T11 medallist and Ottawa native. Dunkerley, who’s visually impaired, runs with the assistance of guides. “I used to be in awe of him,” Merino says. “The concept of operating with out with the ability to see—it’s simply unbelievable.”
Impressed by Dunkerley and his information, Merino lately accomplished his first Achilles information coaching session, and by the top of 2025, he hopes to develop into a licensed information for visually impaired athletes.
Merino additionally considers himself a run membership nomad, recurrently attending completely different teams throughout the town. “I’ve met so many superb individuals by operating and volunteering,” he says. “What I like about Ottawa is that it appears like one huge group—nobody is certain to only one membership.”
You possibly can be a part of Merino at first line of the 10K and marathon occasions at Canada’s largest spring race weekend, Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend, on Might 24–25, 2025. Yow will discover extra details about the race or join, right here.