After reaching their goal years early, Chestermere couple Bobbi and Craig Skrynyk have increased their goal from completing 50 half marathons before Craig turns 50 to completing 100 by 50.
“Our original goal was 50 before we were 50 and well we kind of blew past that,” said Bobbi Skrynyk, “We’re actually at 70 now.”
The plan is to run their 100th half marathon at the 2021 Calgary half marathon, before Craig, who is 45 now, turns 50.
The couple decided to increase their goal after they ran their milestone 50th half-marathon with their kids in Winnipeg in June 2015.
“We thought it was pretty unique having it as…what was going to be our last or 50th and their first,” said Craig.
“We thought that would be pretty neat he said,” he said.
Running, especially long distance running hasn’t always been something that the couple did.
When they first met, Craig was a runner while Bobbi was out of shape.
As life got busier, the couple spent less and less time on fitness activities.
Eventually, the couple ended up storing a friends treadmill at their home while the friends were in the process of moving.
“It kind of piqued our interest into running,” said Bobbi.
After they moved to Chestermere, Bobbi and Craig decided to purchase their own treadmill.
“We got some Christmas money and decided that we we’re gonna invest in a treadmill,” she said.
“It was either going to be lifechanging or be an expense clothes hanger,” said Bobbi.
It only took a month of owning a treadmill before they decided to try running a half-marathon.
They completed their first one on Father’s Day in 2006.
“We went back home to Winnipeg where all of our family is and we ran our first half-marathon there,” she said.
After that first race they were hooked.
“It just became an addiction,” said Bobbi.
After some discussion, they decided to set a goal of completing 50 half marathons before they turned 50 years-old.
Once they came to that decision, they counted the half-marathon in Winnipeg as number one and slowly started working towards their goal.
“That first year that was the only one we did, and the next year I think we did two,” said Bobbi.
“We started off pretty slow,” said Craig.
In 2014 they got more aggressive about making sure they would meet their goal.
They decided to try and run on half-marathon every month.
“To run a half-marathon once a month…is a challenge not just for running but it’s a challenge to find a race every month,” said Craig.
“Especially when we live here,” he said, “we had to do a bit of travelling that particular year.”
Some of the places they’ve travelled to for half marathons include Montreal, Toronto, and several different places in the United States.
“We did the coast to coast in Disney,” said Bobbi.
“So if you do Disney Land and Disney World in the same calendar year they give you a special medal,” she said.
The most unique half-marathon that they ran was unofficial on a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico.
“We were supposed to run a race in Galveston, Texas,” said Craig.
They went on a cruise with their kids and Bobbi’s parents and were supposed to dock in time to run the race.
“There was issues with fog and the ship couldn’t come in to dock and so we got stuck out in the gulf,” he explained.
Since they weren’t going to make it to the race, Craig suggested that they run their own half-marathon on the ship’s track.
“So we did 141 laps on the ship, which was pretty cool,” he said.
Bobbi’s parents’ counted the laps for them and their kids had a makeshift water station set up for them.
“It was pretty neat,” she said.
Although not an officially sanctioned half-marathon, the pair were given medallions by the ship’s crew after the completed their run.
While the experience of running in the fog on a ship was unique, it also had one challenge that neither Bobbi nor Craig expected.
“The one mistake we made was going 141 laps the same direction,” she said, “we ended up with blisters.”
“The same blisters, same spots on the same foot,” laughed Craig.
Bobbi said that in hindsight they should have varied the direction.
Even after all the marathons they have run together they still have very different opinions on running.
“I like finishing a race and I like food,” laughed Bobbi.
“I run so that I can be a little more lenient in my diet,” she said.
Whereas, “Craig loves running and loves the challenge,” she said.
Although it has been a while since he set his personal best time, one hour 38 minutes 40 seconds, he is still pushing to beat it with every race.
“I still push myself, I still, every time I go to run…I think I can do it again,” he said.
Each race they run presents its own challenges but for Bobbi the hardest race was last August in Edmonton.
She said that they hadn’t prepared enough for the race and it ended up being on a very hot day.
Craig tends to struggle more whenever they run somewhere with high humidity. He has found Vancouver to be particularly difficult.
They’ve had some many varied and exciting experiences that it can be hard to choose a favourite.
Both Bobbi and Craig agree that the best experience was probably when they ran their 50th half-marathon with their kids in Winnipeg.
Both the training and the actual race were great experiences.
“It really was a great opportunity to bond as a family,” said Craig.
Now that they have extended their goal to 100 half-marathons they have decided to add another goal for their final race.
“Our goal for when we run our hundredth is we want to have 100 friends run the half with us,” she said.
