{"id":124316,"date":"2020-04-17T12:28:54","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T16:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/old.cieleathletics.com\/journal\/?p=124316"},"modified":"2020-04-17T12:28:59","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T16:28:59","slug":"like-the-wind-feature-the-cheer-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journal.cieleathletics.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/17\/like-the-wind-feature-the-cheer-squad\/","title":{"rendered":"like the wind feature | the cheer squad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Words by Pierre-Alexandre Cardinal<\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Images by Yamajo Run Crew<\/a> and Cid Merisier<\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Generously provided by: Like the Wind magazine<\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Eight degrees. Midtown. The air is filled\nwith that fresh morning dew. Shy sunrays start beaming through the early\nmorning sky; hardly a cloud in sight. It\u2019s one of those cool, refreshing\nmornings. Perfect for running. Not for me. Today, it\u2019s about the others, about\nthe runners from the crew. But also about all the others, those strangers who\nwe don\u2019t know but who are still out there, putting one foot in front of the\nother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I lace up my shoes, jog a couple of hundred\nmetres to the nearby Timmy\u2019s and meet the runners from the crew who are running\ntoday. There\u2019s tension, excitement, a little chatter, a little\u2026 stress, even.\nFor now, it\u2019s about getting into the right mindset: for some it\u2019s about finding\nthat happy place, for others, it\u2019s an exercise in visualising. They will be\nrunning this morning: some on the marathon, others on the half. All of them\nwill be crushing it, though. But they don\u2019t know that yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Outside at the start\/finish line, high knees,\nstretches, muscles warming up, other runners getting ready for the race. Some\nfind comfort in that exasperating pre-race \u201cthis year\u2019s achievements\u201d chat.\nHey, I guess that warms your ego up. Others find their solace in silence,\nbathed in a beaming golden sun and cool morning air. Feeling gratitude. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all have our routine before or during our\nrun. We all have things we do or say, our mantras that keep us going. Sometimes\nthey are expressed not vocally, but through actions. Meeting up with the crew,\ngetting together, for me, is one such mantra. Running, then, is all about crew\nlove. That\u2019s my mantra. It\u2019s about care for one another, passion for the sport\nand determination to go forward, always. That\u2019s why I was out early that\nmorning. That\u2019s why I was out all day running, yes, but mostly supporting,\nreaching out, not only to the crew, but to all who ran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alone \/ Together<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some running is lonely. But whatever running culture you\u2019re\nfrom, we can only acknowledge that running with or alongside others is a daily\nthing. It happens with hundreds or thousands of others on race day, when\nnodding to a couple of other runners on those cool early morning tempo runs, or\nsupporting another lonely runner on a long trail. Whether we want it or not,\nrunning brings us together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the crew, we know for a fact that running is not lonely. It\nis something we do together. When you join, you connect with others merely by\nstepping one foot in front of the other, fast. And we know how that stepping\nfaster feels, especially after 30 minutes, three hours or for some even 30 hours.\nAnd that\u2019s what makes us believe that running is not a lonely sport, it\u2019s an\nempathic sport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We want to let people know that we not only understand what they\ndo when they run that 5km, 10km, half or marathon, but also that we\nwholeheartedly support what they do. Why? Because we know how it feels. And\nsince others are so omnipresent, on race day we believe that if you are a\nrunner, there is one rule: you run or you cheer. That\u2019s not an imposed rule,\nbut it comes from our heart, from the gratitude we feel for one another when we\nget support on those training or recovery run, on the track or hill repeats, on\nthe trails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything and everyone\ncongregates to the cheer squad on that race day: Sunday 23 September, downtown\nMontreal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cheer squad<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cheer squad is one of those\ntime\/space junctions where everything comes together. From the best friend or\nthe lover, to the rival or the complete stranger, we cheer. No discrimination.\nWhy do we do this? Very seriously, it\u2019s selfish. It feels good to pay forward,\nto help out folks out there, whatever their level, from the elite to the\nrun\/walker, to those amazing souls going through a marathon with a blind person\nor someone with a disability in a wheelchair. It feels good to care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The cheer squad is that time, our opportunity to show that we\ncare. It is when we give back to the neighbourhood, to the city, to those\nrandom strangers whose paths we cross on race day, only to go our own way again\nat the finish line. The cheer squad is when we go out of our way and help\npeople who strive for their goals. It is where we recognise the struggle that\nsome folks are going through and say: \u201cHey, we got you.\u201d That\u2019s when we go out,\nwe see that spark in people, and fan it to set it ablaze. Merely by screaming\nour heart out, blasting loud tunes and filling the air with confetti. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caring is cool. We are in an age of quarrel and hypocrisy. What\nmakes the news is unfortunately not random acts of greatness and compassion,\nbut haters, naysayers, back-channel talk and all the bullshit. The cheer squad\nis where we say: \u201cNo, Imma go my own way.\u201d It is where we rev it up, live the\npassion for running from our heart and show we care. It is where we express our\ngratitude that, hey, we can run, and folks have helped us along the way. And\ndamn that\u2019s cool. Whatever the haters are going to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The crew makes us recognise that every day. And that crew is not\nonly Yamajo (for me), or the local running store\u2019s club, or your lunchtime\nwork-run group. The crew is all those who feel it\u2019s important to show that we\ncare, and express gratitude for that. The cheer squad makes us express support\nfor our crew(s), it makes us express our passion to the world, and show how\ncaring for something as simple as people running can make a difference. How a smile\nand a handful of confetti can make someone\u2019s day brighter, how it can make a\nstruggle more enjoyable, and how, when we crew up together, crushing goals, and\nhelping others to, feels amazing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rar\u00e1muri of Tarahumara tribe say: \u201cWhen you run on the earth\nand with earth, you can run forever.\u201d I can\u2019t disagree with that. However, I\u2019d\nadd a different formulation to it. When you run together in and with your\ncommunity, you can run forever. That\u2019s the essence of the crew; that\u2019s the\nessence of the cheer squad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pierre-Alexandre Cardinal<\/a> a trail runner and forest-lover. Local plants based. Wordsmith. Traveller. Lifequester. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Words by Pierre-Alexandre Cardinal Images by Yamajo Run Crew and Cid Merisier Generously provided by: Like the Wind magazine Eight degrees.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2960,"featured_media":124325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[333],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nlike the wind feature | the cheer squad - Ciele Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The cheer squad is where we say: \u201cNo, Imma go my own way.\u201d It is where we rev it up, live the passion for running from our heart and show we care.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/journal.cieleathletics.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/17\/like-the-wind-feature-the-cheer-squad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"like the wind feature | the cheer squad\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The cheer squad is where we say: \u201cNo, Imma go my own way.\u201d It is where we rev it up, live the passion for running from our heart and show we care.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/journal.cieleathletics.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/17\/like-the-wind-feature-the-cheer-squad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ciele Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-17T16:28:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-17T16:28:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/old.cieleathletics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/cheersquad4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"aj\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"aj\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/journal.cieleathletics.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/17\/like-the-wind-feature-the-cheer-squad\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/journal.cieleathletics.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/17\/like-the-wind-feature-the-cheer-squad\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"aj\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/journal.cieleathletics.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f93c39044dd4cc092d7826e8aaf420df\"},\"headline\":\"like the wind feature | the cheer squad\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-17T16:28:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-17T16:28:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/journal.cieleathletics.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/17\/like-the-wind-feature-the-cheer-squad\/\"},\"wordCount\":1140,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/journal.cieleathletics.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/journal.cieleathletics.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/17\/like-the-wind-feature-the-cheer-squad\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/journal.cieleathletics.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/17\/like-the-wind-feature-the-cheer-squad\/\",\"name\":\"like the wind feature | the cheer squad - 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