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Death Cab singer back for Squamish 50

Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard decided to give up drinking several years ago. He also started to run, another major change that lead him to eventually take on the challenge of competing as a trail runner over long distances.
Squamish 50 Ben Gibbard
Death Cab for Cutie singer-songwriter Ben Gibbard celebrates after his latest Squamish 50 race.

Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard decided to give up drinking several years ago.

He also started to run, another major change that lead him to eventually take on the challenge of competing as a trail runner over long distances.

“I just kind of fell in love,” he says. “I guess you’ve got to trade one addiction for another.”

This weekend, the singer-songwriter was in town to tackle the 23-kilometre event at the latest installment of the Squamish 50.

Often, during summer, he is on tour with his band. Death Cab for Cutie (For the record, the band’s name references the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour movie) started in Bellingham, Wash., in 1997, and after several popular independent releases, signed to Atlantic Records for their fifth album, Plans, in 2005.

Over their career, they have played on Saturday Night Live and have been nominated for Grammies and MTV Video Music Awards several times.

Generally, Gibbard tries to run regularly throughout the week, which at home is not usually hard to arrange.

“I run five, six days a week,” he says. “I live in Seattle, so it’s fairly easy to get in the mountains.”

As a touring musician, there are some logistical issues that cause making time for running a little harder. Still, even while the band is touring, he does manage to find the time to get out, often getting in touch with running friends in different towns.

For the band’s latest record, Kintsugi, Death Cab for Cutie has been playing more festival gigs, which means shorter sets and a slightly less gruelling schedule – and a little more time for training. Usually, he tries to set aside days in the early part of the week to run.

The band has a few more shows left next month, including a home gig at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Fest over the Labour Day long weekend.

“We’re kind of winding things down now,” he said.

Even with touring in the summer, he still manages to register for four or five races a year. He loves the community of trailer runners, comparing it to the same kind of community he seeks from his fellow musicians.

“Everybody’s doing it for the love of it,” he says.

Gibbard has actually competed in the Squamish 50 twice before. In 2013, he ran the 50-kilometre event and did the 50-mile race last year.

He describes himself as a mid-pack runner and not someone people will expect to see on the podium at the race’s end. In Squamish, he finished the 23-kilometre event in 3:22:39, good enough to put him in the top half of the 237 people who finished the event.

While Gibbard says he is not a “competitive” runner, he is aiming for bigger things, or at least longer, because this weekend he will set a new personal goal of competing in his first 100-mile event when he takes part in the Cascade Crest back home in Washington this weekend. Then it’s back to business the following weekend for the Bumbershoot show.

(This story has been edited since first posted.)

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