BRACKLEY, P.E.I. — Isaac Mazer set a goal and is committed to seeing it through to the finish line.
The 34-year-old son of Don and Anne Mazer of Suffolk decided this spring to run the P.E.I. Marathon on Oct. 18 for the first time. When marathon organizers were forced in late July to cancel this year’s run due to the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) pandemic, Mazer was left wondering what to do.
Having already invested weeks of training, he has decided to run the route anyway.
“I just want to be able to run it and really enjoy having all the training that I put into it come to a climax in some sort of fashion,” he said. “Finishing it, having the whole event come to a close, will be really enjoyable.”
His plan is to mimic the marathon as originally planned, starting from the Brackley Beach Complex in the Prince Edward Island National Park at 8 a.m. on Sunday.
Midway through the marathon, Mazer will be within a few kilometres of home.
“I’ve run these trails for as long as I can remember,” he said.
In January, Mazer started training for his first ultramarathon, which was supposed to take place in early August as part of the Brookvale Ultra Trail Races. It was also cancelled due to the pandemic.
“It feels like unfinished business,” Mazer said.
At a glance
- Who: Isaac Mazer, a 34-year-old Suffolk native, is finishing his music education degree at Memorial University by working alongside Kirsten MacLaine at Gulf Shore Consolidated School in North Rustico until the end of 2020.
- The latest: Mazer is planning on running the P.E.I. Marathon route on Sunday despite the official marathon being cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) pandemic.
- Running family: Mazer said his father, Don, has run a half a dozen marathons, including the P.E.I. Marathon four times. His sister, Katie, ran her first marathon in Connecticut a couple of years ago.
- Mazer said: “There’s going to be some self-fulfilling accomplishment.”
- Did you know? The 2019 edition of the P.E.I. Marathon attracted 2,822 participants with those people coming from all 10 Canadian provinces and one territory, 12 United States and four other countries (Nigeria, United Kingdom, Japan and Australia).
He started running in Grade 4 and continued through elementary, junior and high school. He took a few years off but caught the bug again a couple of years ago. He enjoys the fitness aspect of running and finds it is beneficial to his mental health.
“Ultimately, what I get out of it is a chance to kind of turn my brain off from the day-to-day,” he said. “It allows me to really focus myself, my mind, on the tasks ahead.”
He has run the P.E.I. half marathon in 2016 and 2018.
“I felt really comfortable with that,” he said. “I didn't know if I could physically, nor mentally, do anything longer. So, I was like, ‘Why not try for this’?”
He has run marathon distances through the years as part of his training and has been running between 50 and 80 kilometres per week in preparation for Sunday. He also ran the Dunk River Run and the Desmond Baglole Memorial Run this year.
“The idea of pushing myself physically and mentally to see if I can do something like this is pretty nice,” he said. “It will feel complete. I will be able to say, ‘yes I’ve done this’.”
Mazer posted his plan in the P.E.I. RoadRunners Facebook page and some people told him they would like to run it with him but had made other plans. One has a run planned for Sunday on a different route while others are running from Charlottetown to Summerside on Saturday and another person ran the marathon route earlier this month.
“People are making their own adaptations,” said Mazer.
Mazer’s parents will see their son off on Sunday and meet him at the finish line near Province House in downtown Charlottetown while also being his crew team with water and supplies.
While the big run is only days away, Mazer is already thinking about 2021.
“If all goes well, and the marathon happens again next year, I will be right here for the marathon starting time.”
