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Other resources include: Canada Suicide Prevention Service at Toll free: 1-833-456-4566, the Crisis Line at 310-6789 or 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433): For suicide prevention and intervention.You can also text 45645 or visit the online chat service at crisisservicescanada.ca.
Carter Armstrong orders all five meat tacos on the menu at Cantina Del Centro.
The 23-year-old from Dryden, Ont., is taking a break in Revelstoke until Saturday, May 2, on his more than 50-day jog along the Trans-Canada Highway between the West Coast and Eastern Canada.
Fundraising a goal of $100,000 for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Armstrong is already three weeks into his multi-province marathon that started April 10, off the weedy shores of the Fraser River south of Vancouver International Airport. His final destination is Dryden, and he hopes to be pulling into Grand Trunk Avenue by mid-June.
Mental health struggles have impacted various people in his family. His older brother attempted suicide, his uncle took his own life, and two years ago, Armstrong’s good friend Taylor Carrier did the same.
“It was a shock,” he told Black Press Media at Cantina on Thursday, April 30, recounting going to work with Carrier at a mine in the Yukon. “The funniest guy you would ever meet — would give you his shirt off his back.”
But it’s not just those close to Armstrong who battled mental health; the Ontario runner tried to take his own life at age 11, and attempted again this winter. However, he said that’s when a switch flipped in his mind.
“Just realized I had so much more to give,” he reflected. “I had the thought, ‘I need to help somebody who’s in the same position.’”
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Though very sporty and a casual runner, Armstrong had only run one (unofficial) marathon before embarking on his on-foot fundraiser across Canada this spring. He recalled stepping out into a frigid -20 C back in Dryden one day with the urge to start running, even though he hadn’t trained much.
After his latest bout with suicide two or three months ago, Armstrong quickly resolved to organize a fundraiser run by himself. He initially considered just sticking to Ontario, but baffled his parents with the prospect of running 3,000 kilometres from B.C.
“They were like, ‘When is this going to happen?’ I was like, ‘Next month.’”
To train for a marathon a day, he spent February and March running 70 km weekly with a weighted vest, which added about 20 pounds. Since his plan was to go solo, without any support or personal vehicle, Armstrong needed to prepare to haul his gear.
Often camping off the highway, he carries a coffin-sized tent, sleeping bag, inflatable mattress (after growing tired of lying on bare ground) and hiking poles for steeper descents that he’ll ditch after the Rockies. He’s also lugging food and between 6.5 and seven litres of water he refills daily, including from streams and, once, a murky goose pond.
He eats hourly during his runs and estimates he should be consuming 7,000 calories per day. His favourite grub is “nerd clusters”: Dried fruit, beef jerky and peanut butter.
By this point in the journey, “I’m so sick of protein bars,” he joked.
As far as Armstrong knows, he’s the first person to try running from B.C. to Ontario with just a backpack and no support crew.
“I haven’t been training for two years,” he emphasized. “I just want to make some change. I’m just a regular person.”
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Armstrong considered running different routes through B.C., including farther north toward Jasper and Edmonton, Alta., but settled on the country-connecting Highway 1. He sticks to the left side of the road to stay vigilant about the thousands of vehicles zooming by.
“I’ve had some close calls,” he described, though many drivers have thought him a hitchhiker and stopped to offer rides. “I’m more worried about a bear mauling me.”
Armstrong arrived in Revelstoke from Sicamous around 5 p.m. Thursday, April 30, and is staying in town Friday to recharge while looking ahead to crossing Rogers Pass this Saturday. He’s only taken a couple of rest days so far, but mentally preparing for the slow and exhausting elevation gain through the Selkirk Mountains of roughly 800 metres, before a steep and prolonged descent toward Golden.
“It’s going to be the hardest stretch,” he anticipated. “It makes or breaks you, but I don’t break. I think there’s beauty in pain and suffering.”
Separating himself from the physical pain of running 40 to 50 km daily on concrete and asphalt has proven key. Acknowledging that pain and listening to your body during this kind of endeavour is important, Armstrong said, but dwelling on it does no good. U.S. athlete and motivational speaker David Goggins is someone, he said, who exemplifies this best mindset.
When Armstrong left the shores of Vancouver on April 10, no one nearby had a clue what he was attempting. Twenty days later, countless people had reached out in person or on social media to offer support where they could.
His childhood Dryden buddy, Micah Pilipishen of Micah’s Plumbing, Heating & Cooling in Nelson, covered Armstrong’s tab at Cantina in Revelstoke. Someone else paid for him to spend two nights at the Fairfield Inn & Suites, and a Shuswap woman drove his burdensome bag ahead and baked him banana bread.
“It’s really restored my faith in humanity, if I can be completely honest,” he said. “If you’re (running across Canada), you should never feel alone. My journey, it just shows that people will always reach out.”
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His GoFundMe for CMHA had reached $11,300 by Friday. His intent by supporting the national organization is not only to raise awareness for and counter stigma around mental health, but also to reduce wait times for Canadians seeking counselling.
“A lot of the time, people reach out once, and if they don’t hear back right away, it’s too late,” he said. “Counselling should be more accessible. Faster to get.”
Armstrong remembers previously passing through Revelstoke on a road trip with his parents when he was 11, and hopes to eventually move out to B.C.
Thinking about what’s next after his run to Dryden, “I don’t want to go back to mining,” he said. “I want to pursue something that will continue to help people.”
To donate to Armstrong’s fundraiser, visit gofundme.com/f/mental-health-awareness-and-education-run. Daily updates on his run are posted to Facebook at facebook.com/carter.armstrong.111005.