Anishinaabe runner from Woodstock, Ont., prepares for her 6th world marathon

A marathon is the ultimate test of endurance, and 52-year-old Robyn Michaud is doing it with a disorder that impacts her spinal cord.

The Anishinaabe mom of five from Woodstock, Ont., is aiming for her sixth world major. The competition, in Tokyo in March, could earn her a prestigious medal in the running world. 

The Abbott Six Star Finisher is awarded to runners who complete all six of the world's major marathons: Boston, London, New York City, Chicago, Tokyo and Berlin. Ahead of the Tokyo Marathon, Michaud spoke with CBC London host Allison Devereaux. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Allison Devereaux: How are you preparing for Tokyo 2024?

Robyn Michaud: I'm doing a lot of races right now. We always do long runs on weekends to get ready for a big race like that. I'm filling my dance card right now with races on weekends, and it's just nice to get the good energy from people around you at at events.

After doing five of the world's major marathons, how would you compare them?

I just did London, England's marathon in April, and it was so amazing. It's so fun to run in a city where they love their marathon. Everybody comes out and lines the streets, and you feel just like the energy from everybody in the city. London is like nonstop dopamine hits because you're running 42 kilometres and there's always something to see.

I love the city of Berlin, but I don't remember anything about the course. I really loved visiting Berlin and going through the Brandenburg Gate at the end was really spectacular.

Boston is Boston. Like Boston's not the most exciting course visually, but because it's Boston — it's surreal. Having seen the bombings in 2013 on TV, to actually run that route was pretty amazing.

Chicago is kind of like London. There's always something to see. This will be my 10th year doing Chicago and I just love it. I know the course like the back of my hand.

There's always something to see in New York. It's spectacular running the bridges in New York, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn.  When you're running something that usually only cars go over, it's kind of a cool feeling. So yeah, there's something to be said about all of them. They're really, really amazing.

Take us back to when you decided to start to run marathons. How did you get here?

It was 2012 and I started getting some pins and needles and that was like losing my balance. It was a bunch of weird things that were happening.

They figured out it was called syringomyelia. It's basically a hole that runs through the centre of my spinal cord. It's not fatal, but basically right now it causes like pins and needles and pain, but if it progresses it can cause paralysis.

That summer, I saw a friend who was running the Chicago Marathon for thyroid cancer research, and my sister was a thyroid cancer survivor. So I decided that with only two months of training, I signed up to run this marathon. It was August and the race was in October. So I trained really hard for two months and I ran it.

It was so hard. And you know, I got it done and I said I'd never do any of that again. I thought "one and done."

But you know, at big races, you have strangers cheering you on and giving you high fives and handing out Freezies along the route. It's just such a vibe. You finish and you think, "Oh, that was really hard." But then you see pictures and think about it — then you just want to do another one.

When you talk about the impact on your future mobility, which is unknown, does this feel like a like a race against time?

In the Indigenous community, heart disease and diabetes are really big factors, even if you live really squeaky clean like myself. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I eat healthy, I run marathons, and I have borderline high cholesterol, because that's the cards I've been given genetically. So that makes it even more important for me to keep active now.