When a group of friends persuaded Jen Hiebert to sign up for a half marathon in 2017, she knew she would need an accountability buddy to make it to the start line.
So Hiebert posted her goal pace for a half marathon on Facebook and asked if any of her connections would join her for runs. Adrienne Danyliw, a former colleague, reached out.
Neither can recall the details of that first run — but something must have clicked, because five years later they are close friends and run together almost every weekend.
“It actually feeds my soul to have a consistent, dependable running partner and friendship, to know that somebody’s always going to be there and I can depend on her and her support,” Danyliw says.
Hiebert’s 2017 race was the Marathon Oasis Rock ‘n’ Roll de Montreal half marathon and she persuaded Danyliw to race it with her. Despite a heat wave that forced the cancellation of the 42.2-km event, the pair had so much fun they set a goal to run a half marathon together in every province.
Danyliw and Hiebert — now aged 43 and 40 respectively — have since run five more races in four provinces: the Saskatchewan and Queen City half marathons in 2018, the Toronto Marathon half in 2019, the Calgary Harvest Half Marathon in 2019 and the BMO Vancouver Marathon half this spring.
While physically covering 21.1km and getting the participation medal is the goal of the trip, what makes the time so special is the “race-cation” experience with a friend who’s in the same mindset. While Hiebert and Danyliw don’t run together during the race, they both appreciate geeking out at race expos, obsessing over how to get to the start line and dissecting the race after.
“The race — the two hours or so of actual running — is such a small percentage of the time,” Danyliw says.
The pair brought their husbands along to the Toronto Half Marathon race weekend in 2019 and gave them one job: watch them cross the finish line. The men didn’t make it to the finish in time and Danyliw and Hiebert say it’s unlikely their spouses will be invited to another girl’s race weekend. “The husbands just, they weren’t as excited to go to the race and race expo as we were,” Hiebert recalls.
Danyliw and Hiebert say their first run together was stress-free because Hiebert made it clear what pace she wanted to run so both had the same expectations. They also had a lot of shared experiences to discuss in those early conversations; both work in health care and have kids around the same age (Danyliw’s are now 7 and 10 while Hiebert’s are 10 and 12).
“It was easy to find common ground and then, just slowly over time, our conversations definitely got more personal. And now we definitely talk about everything,” Hiebert says.
The pair motivate each other to get out the door even in nasty weather and have found what Hiebert describes as a “perfect synchrony” where, when she is having an off day, Danyliw is able to lift her spirits and vice versa.
“I doubt I would have been running for this many years without Adrienne,” she says.
The friendship has grown to be an integral part of their lives — and is inspiring their children to seek out such strong relationships for themselves.
“My oldest daughter, at one point she wanted to be a writer, and she said: ‘When I grow up I need to find a writing buddy like you have with Adrienne for running'” Hiebert recalls. “We both have stories like that … It’s one of the things I love about our friendship.”
