Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon a family affair for former Olympic skier

When Perianne Jones retired from cross-country skiing in March this year, she said she wanted to give her body a bit of a break.

But what’s a casual marathon to an Olympic athlete, right?

Despite being a world-class skier who represented Canada at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, Jones said she’s a bit nervous a week out from her first marathon.

“Running is one of those things where sometimes it doesn’t necessarily matter how fit you are, it just matters how often you get out and actually run,” she said.

“And I’ve been pretty good at being retired.”

The Almonte, Ont.-native said that she’s done a lot of running on trails as part of her training in Canmore, Alta., but taking on 42 km of running on cement is a bit of a different animal.

But thankfully, she’ll have some help along the way; she’ll be running alongside her brother and her dad, both experienced marathon runners.

Her brother Kieren has run the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon several times before, while her father Brad will be running it for the 35th consecutive year.

Jones said she remembers growing up and watching her dad compete and that the race weekend has changed so much since those days.

“The Ottawa Marathon was such a small event back then compared to what it is now,” she said. “We could bike alongside the course and cheer my dad on.”

The nice thing about coming back to Ottawa and running with her dad and brother is that they’ve both given her a lot of training advice, most of which has been rather simple.

“Basically they just told me that I should get out and run,” she said.

Jones said she isn’t looking to complete the marathon in a certain time, but she does have one goal for the race.

“Ideally, I would just like to keep up with my dad.”

 

Photo by Nordic Focus