How would you feel about running more than 42 kilometres at mid-day under the hot August sun?
How about doing it with just two months of training?
That’s exactly what Owen Ostler did on Saturday, raising more than $10,000 for the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation.
The North Vancouver 15-year-old had initially hoped to raise $1,000.
“We blew it out of the water,” he said after completing the solo marathon at North Vancouver’s Mahon Park.
The money will be directed to help build a new critical care unit at the hospital, Ostler said.
“I never know if someone I know is going to need the help one day. And it’s always good to help out.”
Ostler’s mother Collette said the teen came up with the idea during the COVID-19 lockdown as a way to challenge himself while helping the community.
He only started training on June 1.
“It’s a huge personal challenge to get from zero to a marathon in two months,” she said.
“We were pretty excited, we wanted to encourage him, but a little cautious as parents too — to try and hope it all turns out well. I’m really excited how it’s all turned out.”
While many people might have tuned in to some high tempo music while laying down those training kilometres, Ostler took a different approach.
His listening choice was the audiobook version of You Can’t Hurt Me, a book by former Navy SEAL and ultra-marathoner David Goggins.
“If you want to make a change you have to think big and you have to commit fully,” he said.
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