The Ottawa Citizen
Published: 11/14/07

In 2005, Linda Wagar had a dream.

That year she was running the Ottawa marathon, her fourth marathon, and celebrating five years of running. She never thought she would ever run a marathon, but had been inspired in 2002 to run New York City.

The following year – “as my way of giving back to the running community” – she started a website called www.canadianmarathonstories.ca. It was meant to be a site for runners to write about their experience with the 42.2K journey, she said. “One can simply become inspired by reading some of the incredible stories from runners across Canada.”

She hoped to publish the best dozen or so stories, and donate proceeds from the sale of the Canadian Marathon Stories book to charity.
Now her dream has become reality, and the book has been printed. The dozen turned into an inspiring collection of 31 stories, from across Canada, all unique, all different from one another. “Much like the runners you see during a race,” she says, “in all shapes and sizes.”

Proceeds from its sale will go to the Canadian Athletes Now Fund for Canadian athletes in training. “It seemed to be the perfect fit,” she says. “Athletes representing Canada have a chance to bring home medals. Know that by purchasing the book you are helping Canadian athletes cover basic costs, like coaching, travel expenses, nutrition.”

The 138-page colour book retailsfor $20. It’s available from Running Room stores, online at www.CanadianAthletesNow.ca   and www.canadianmarathonstories.ca.

Linda Wagar will be holding a special book signing at Chapters Southgate, on Nov 17th, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

 Click here to download the Book Order Form.

 Original Article Can Be Found Here