VANCOUVER – Jamie McDonald, the British man who is running across Canada for charity, only has three more marathons to complete before he finishes his journey.
On Friday, McDonald is just outside Chilliwack, and having run about 187 marathons so far, the remaining distance seems to be an easily achievable goal. “A blip in the ocean,” said McDonald Friday morning.
After starting on the east coast of Canada last March and with only one weekend to go, he said it’s starting to dawn on him that he’s actually going to finish his journey.
“It’s quite scary,” he said. “It’s all coming to a head, I can feel the emotion already.”
McDonald said since he reached the Coquihalla Summit and ran down towards the Lower Mainland, his attitude has shifted as he can see the end is in sight.
His foot is not faring so well, however. He developed chronic tendonitis in one of his feet, and because he hasn’t rested it, the bone in his foot has started to calcify. After running downhill on the Coquihalla and trying to control his buggy full of items in front of him, McDonald said his foot “is in a bad way.”
“There’s a huge bone sticking out at the top of my foot,” he said. It hasn’t broken the skin but it makes running very uncomfortable and painful, he added.
But now that his dad and friend have come over from England to watch him finish, he says he feels like he can do anything.
“When I started this journey, no one had any clue who I was,” he said. “It’s incredible how Canada has gotten behind my journey.”
McDonald will finish his almost 11-month journey in Vancouver on Monday, Feb. 3.
At 1 p.m. he plans on being at BC Children’s Hospital where he will meet the staff and children.
Next, he plans to run to the statue of Terry Fox outside BC Place, and from there he will continue to English Bay, where he will dip his hand into the Pacific Ocean. Anyone is welcome to join him.
When he started, McDonald had a fundraising goal of $100,000. So far, in Canada he has raised more than $119,000.
In B.C. he is raising money for BC Children’s Hospital. Donation information can be found on his website.
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