view . summer 2012
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In 2007, Wes Harding BEd ’11 turned 40. He realized that he
was happy yet unfulfilled.
“I asked myself, ‘What do you want to do with the second half
of your life?’”
Harding was a respected grade 7 instructor at a private school
in Sarnia, Ont., but his U.S. qualifications weren’t recognized by
the Ontario Teachers College. His goal was to earn a Bachelor of
Education degree from the University of Windsor.
He applied to UWindsor but once accepted, his initial elation
faded. Worried he would not be able to support his family while
away at school, he reluctantly turned down the offer.
Instead, Harding set his sights on his second goal – to run the
Boston Marathon. After a shoe store manager mocked his marathon
dream, he began to doubt his chances but found inspiration in a
motivational video that his pastor played during a Sunday service.
It was about Team Hoyt – the Boston Marathon Team of Charity
and Qualified Runners. It raises funds for the Hoyt Foundation
that aspires to build character, self-confidence and self-esteem in
disabled young people.
“One of the first images that appeared in the video were the
letters CAN being typed on a computer screen,” recounts Harding.
“That message really rang true in my ears.”
That Sunday night, he stepped outside into -15 C, snow and
wind, and ran five miles.
By 2010, Harding had lost more than 70 pounds and had
begun to compete in races. While running a 10-km race in Sarnia,
he collapsed unconscious 400 metres from the finish. It took four
minutes for paramedics to revive him. He insisted on finishing the
race after which the paramedics rushed him to the hospital where
he learned he had been born with heart valve disease.
“The doctors told me that I was lucky. Most people don’t find
out until it’s too late.”
Running was encouraged to strengthen his heart. Just six
months later in Toronto, he ran his first marathon with a time only
22 minutes off what he would need to qualify for Boston.
Harding felt it was time to fight for his dream of earning his
education degree. In 2010, he once again applied to the University
of Windsor and was accepted.
“I thought all the students would be half my age,” he says. “But
the first three students I met were all my age. Going back made
me feel like a 20-year-old again. Some of the staff and faculty have
become my close friends.”
While studying at the university library in January 2011,
he received a call from Team Hoyt letting him know that it had
accepted his application to run in the 2012 Boston Marathon as
its first-ever Canadian runner. Only a handful of individuals from
around the world are chosen from among thousands who apply
each year.
Six months later, in June 2011, Harding walked on stage at the
University’s St. Denis Centre to accept his diploma, “a life-long
dream come true.”
Having fulfilled one dream, Harding was eager to realize his
other. On race day, he donned his bib and joined the 22,500 other
runners who had also decided to ignore the heat and chase their
own personal measure of success.
As he ran past a Boston bank, sweat dripped down his face,
burning his eyes and drenching his clothes. He squinted at the
temperature reading on its sign: 94 degrees. It was 11:15 in the
morning. Sixteen miles to go.
Harding commanded his muscles to continue, putting one foot
in front of the other, fighting heat, exhaustion and the odds even the
best runners face to persevere.
A few blocks from the end of the race, Harding’s daughters
stood waiting for him, carrying a large Canadian flag. They passed it
to him as he charged by, the finish line almost in sight.
Boston’s streets brimmed with 50,000 race fans. Harding’s ears
rang with their cheers, “Go Canada!” and “Go Team Hoyt!” during
that final stretch. “It was so unreal. I literally had to pinch myself.”
Harding finished with a time of three hours, 36 minutes and 10
seconds. He crossed the finish line, the Canadian flag held high. “I
felt on top of the world!”
When he signed on for the challenge of the Boston Marathon,
Wes Harding had another goal.
For the race, each runner is assigned a bib number that is the
place the runner is expected to finish, based on qualifying times.
Harding’s goal was to finish better than his bib number of 6,287.
Just over three sweaty, painful hours later, he crossed the line
carried on a wave of adrenaline, cheers and triumph.
Number 3,906.
Anything is possible.
n
v
Wes Harding will compete in the Lake Placid Iron
Man Competition on July 22, 2012 where he will swim
3.8 kilometres, bike 180 kilometres and run 42.2
kilometres, both through the mountains.
Best of luck, Wes!
LIVING HIS DREAMS
Wes Harding chased his dreams of earning a UWindsor education degree and running the Boston Marathon.
Wes Harding BEd ’11
ALUMNI PROFILE
BY JENNIFER AMMOCSCATO
