Brent Diaz

Team Running Free Markham

Member Since: 2014

Occupation: Trauma Therapist, Part-Time University Faculty

About Me: I love running! I love exploring new places, the challenge of a hard effort, gliding along on a flat road, and trudging up a steep hill. I love running in the summer sun, stepping on crunchy fall leaves, running through the crisp winter air, and reveling in the new smells and sights of spring. I want to share my passion of running and inspire people to go outdoors and experience the beautiful rhythms awaiting them there. I also want to help people believe that they can get out there and achieve their fitness goals! I am honoured to be a Team Running Free athlete! As a high school athlete I was active in cross country and middle distance track and field. Upon graduation from high school I focused on road racing. After seeing an ad for a (now defunct) Running Free-sponsored local trail running series in 2012, I began trail running and loved it! I now mix trail running into my training whenever I can, in addition to my road running. I have competed in track (800m - 5000m), road races (5km - marathon), trail races (3km - 25km), and a bit of adventure running/orienteering (Raid the Hammer, Snowshoe Raid, Newmarket Trail Running Raid). I decided in my 40th year to try and so a Spartan Race, just for fun, and I ended up qualifying for the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships, which competed in 2016 and 2017. I also competed in the Canadian Mountain Running Championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and recently have taking up Snowshoe Running too! You never know where running will take you! '...Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us...'

Sports: Running (road, trail, track, cross-country, snowshoe...etc), adventure races, orienteering, obstacle course racing.

Athletic Goals: Continue to improve my mountain running skills and fitness, and have fun running generally!

My most catastrophic racing experience was: My claim to fame is coming in 2cd-last in a high school Cross-Country Ski Meet: Central OFSSA: the Central Ontario championships! However, it was my first race of the season, and I was a beginner in terms of technique! Another high school moment was slamming into a Steeplechase hurdle and being knocked to the ground while leading the Regional Championship race...ouch. Got up and finished 2cd, but was left with a nasty knee injury for the rest of the meet. And more recently, my one and only full marathon to date ended up with me jogging/walking the last 10km: yes, I hit the wall hard, but did finish the race running for what was one of my greatest running triumphs, but also one of my humblest race experiences.

My most memorable racing experience was: SO MANY!! Beautiful sights on the trails, seeing wildlife (even a bear out on a camping run one time), running in places like Guatemala, Lithuania, Rwanda, Zambia, the country of Georgia, and Kenya, and just the every day challenge of working hard to meet goals. It's all wonderful! Some great racing experiences I have had include: competing with my son in the Don't Get Lost Snowshoe Raid, competing in the Canadian National 5km Road Race Championships 2015-2017, running in the Canadian Mountain Running Championships in 2017, 2018, and 2019, competing in the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships 2016-2017, being on 3 championship cross-country teams in high school, OCR Beast Enduro in Puerto Rico in 2018, running a 5km race in Dominican Republic in 2018, wins and other podium finishes in local 5km races (including on my 40th birthday), running my first and so far only full marathon, orienteering races in Lithuania, my half-marathon PB on a country road course in Orillia, my first trail race at Sulphur Springs in 2002, Canadian Snowshoe Championships in 2019, NCCWMA Track (5000M) and Cross Country races in 2019, winning the Newmarket Trail Running Series in 2012: really and truly I have a hard time picking one memorable moment in running!

Favourite Race: Canadian 5km Championships, Chase the Coyote, Snowshoe Raid, OCRWC