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Runner of mountains

Top-ranked marathoner makes Squamish home

Squamish's newest endurance athlete Jason Loutitt won't be hunkering down for the holidays.

Rather, the 35-year-old runner will be busy training for the Rock and Roll Arizona Marathon, which takes place Jan. 17.

Loutitt has lived in town for little more than a month after taking a job as team leader for Service Canada Squamish, but his mind is already made up about his new training grounds.

"I love it. There's a different trail every weekend. And as a trail runner and mountain runner there's nothing better," said Loutitt, who moved to Squamish with his wife and 14-month-old son.

Marathon Canada ranks Loutitt third in British Columbia and 10th in Canada after he set a personal best time at the Rock and Roll Seattle Marathon in June. He finished the 42-kilometre race in two hours 24 minutes 37 seconds.

Although extremely adept at pounding pavement, Loutitt prefers charging up and tearing down mountains. And he considers helping Team Canada earn two bronze medals at the Commonwealth Mountain Running Championships in September to be two of his proudest athletic accomplishments. He placed 14th overall in the ascent event and 10th overall in the ascent/descent event to help boost his team onto the podiums.

Loutitt recently started competing in ultramarathons, which are events that involve running more than the traditional 42-kilometre marathon. His most recent attempt was at the North Face World Endurance Challenge 50-Mile (80.5-kilometre) race in San Francisco on Dec. 5, which has competitors covering about 6,400 kilometres in elevation change.

Loutitt was leading through much of the race before wiping out and then taking a wrong turn. He got overly fatigued trying to regain his place and had to drop out of the race around the 42-kilometre mark.

He jokes about being zero of three in his ultramarathon attempts after failing to complete the 2008 50K Diez Vista run in Port Moody and the 2009 Diamond Ultra in Yellowknife, N.W.T. But it wasn't for lack of effort. Loutitt was in first place more than halfway through the Diez Vista race, so far ahead that marshals hadn't yet taken their positions. He ended up going the wrong way, he said.

In the Diamond Ultra, where competitors pull six days worth of food and clothing over 225 kilometres, Loutitt was in second place before he was stricken with snow blindness around the 40-kilometre mark.

But Loutitt's athletic hardships haven't dulled his passion for competition. Overcoming obstacles is what strengthens his passion for running, he said.

"I get the opportunity to go through those limits that we put on ourselves, the mental and physical limits of negative thinking," he said.

"You move through those self-imposed limits of thinking that 'maybe I'm not good enough' or 'I can't do that,' and you realize that you are able to accomplish things that perhaps you don't think you are. That sense of accomplishment just fuels more energy."

Loutitt has coached over 800 runners and is also a Pilates instructor when he's not writing poetry and practicing visual arts. A Metís, Loutitt has worked extensively with aboriginal youth and was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces for three years.

For more information about Loutitt visit www.runningthroughmountains.com.

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