He’s been running across Western Canada, getting closer to home every day.
He’s Dryden’s Carter Armstrong.
Carter has been running a marathon distance almost every day for over two months.
It’s a run with a purpose, both personally and for others. I caught up with Carter on the phone on Friday.
Watch and listen to our conversation below through the YouTube link and/or read the dialogue below.
To support Armstrong’s fundraiser visit this link: https://gofund.me/917ab40c9
I was telling you off-air that every time I see one of your videos where you’re walking, running during your trek across Canada, I watch for 10-15 seconds and I get tired. How are you not tired yet?
“Oh, I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t tired.”
Let’s start from the beginning and your journey with mental health. You being 24 years old and taking this adventure on, running across Canada. The journey started in Vancouver, but even before Vancouver, your life journey with mental health, if you can share some of that with us.
“I’ve struggled with my mental health my whole life. I’ve seen family members struggle. I’ve lost family members to it. I lost a good buddy two years ago to suicide. It’s something that touches really home to me and I think everyone else. If you haven’t struggled with it, you know someone who is or someone who has. That’s why I decided to lace up the running shoes and fly out to Vancouver. Just try to make an impact, not only for myself, to show you can overcome hard things and change your mindset, but inspire people and try to help someone in the same position I was.”
You put some thought into this before the journey began in Vancouver. Was it just one of those things where you said, you know, I really want to do something. How about I run across Canada? How did this idea happen?
“I’m not going to lie to you. It was about a spur of the moment decision. I was going through a hard time. I actually attempted suicide a month and a half before I left on this journey. I went out for a run the next day. It was minus 20. You know, good old Dryden winter. And I just had the thought of, you know, like I wanted to do something big and decided on running because last year on this date, I ran a marathon without training. And I remembered just the feeling of accomplishment afterwards. And so I figured, well, if I can do a marathon without training, I can do probably 70 of them, you know.”
My gosh. Well, you’re over two months into this journey that started in Vancouver. And you’re over, as of Friday, June the 12th, over $27,500 raised for the CMHA. We’ll get to how people can support, how people can donate but I’m thinking as you’re going along, where does your mind go? What do you think about when you’re on the road?
“Just about everything you could think of. But a lot of the times, like, my mind’s pretty clear while I’m on the road. I have a lot of messages to respond to and people, you know, reaching out and telling their stories and stuff like that. So I’m never really bored on the road or, you know, planning my next stops because there’s no support vehicle. It’s a lot of planning every day. There’s a lot of that. And then just working on my own mental health, right. You know, doing exercises and things like that. I guess I’m always exercising the body, but the mind as well.”
Carter, the people that are reaching out to you along your journey across Western Canada – talk about the kindness of people reaching out to you, the people you’ve met along the way.
“It’s been pretty special, to say the least. It’s restored my faith in humanity and shows how much good there is because there’s been so many kind people reaching out, driving my bag from spot to spot or giving me a place to crash or just stopping. People who follow me on social media, you know, just coming up to me and telling me their story or thanking me for, you know, trying to make an impact. I’ve met a lot of genuine humans and I’ve had a lot of great times along this journey.”
And along the journey, as you’ve already alluded to, you’re thinking about your own physical health. And I saw at one point during your journey, you had posted the video and let everybody know that you were having trouble with your achilles. Everything okay in that way now?
“It’s an ongoing battle, but luckily there’s some good physiotherapists and athletic therapists that I’ve met along the way. And so I reach out to them for help. And really all they say is, well, you got to rest. And I’m not really good at that.”
Obviously not! You keep going! A marathon every day and then some. How many pairs of shoes? Hey, everybody wants to know, how many pairs of shoes has Carter Armstrong gone through so far during this journey from Vancouver to Dryden? You’re already in Manitoba. We should mention that. But how many pairs of shoes? Have you kept track?
“Yeah. Well, I send them all home. I write on them from where to where they’ve made it just for a keepsake after. This is my fourth pair. And the bottoms are pretty burnt off already.”
Oh my gosh. I thought maybe it would be a lot more than that. But wow. And you’re keeping them all. Are you going to get them bronzed? What are you going to do with them?
“I definitely got to febreze them!! (LAUGHING) I don’t know. We’ll see what I end up doing with them.“
Hey, maybe you can auction them off. You never know. Raise more funds!
“(LAUGHING) No, I don’t think anybody wants to buy them!”
You know what, Carter? You never know. You just never know. Your message is loud and clear. Getting to those who want to support and getting to those that maybe are enduring their own struggles with mental health. What do you say to people who are listening, who are struggling out there with their own mental health?
“You’re never alone. I started this journey doing it solo. You’d be amazed how many people are her to lend a helping hand, lend an ear and just to talk. And I might not know what you’re going through, but I know the feeling. And so does a lot of people. So the first step is acknowledging it and talking about it. Because the more you talk about it, the more I’ve talked about it on this journey the easier it’s become for me. And you can do hard things. And just day by day, step by step, just like on the run.”
Well, you’ve become a shining example of what people can do, for sure. Carter. I wanted to ask you about your opinion on mental health services in northwestern Ontario. Adequate? Or is there more to be done? Can it be better?
“I think it can always be better. I think the wait times can be better. But we need more service workers and stuff like that. I remember one time I was in the hospital and it took me three months to be able to see a therapist. I think the wait times can be definitely shortened up and get the people the help they need. But it’s also just building a better community. More openness. I think that’s everywhere, though. It’s slowly getting better. And that’s why I’m doing my part to try to make that a more open world, a more kind world.”
Now, once you complete the run to Dryden, have you thought about maybe what’s going to be next?
“Yeah, so originally I was only planning to Dryden, but I’ve been really wanting to do all of Canada. So I’ll stay maybe a week at home and visit family. There’s some stuff I’ve got to do in Dryden first. But if everything lines up – I do need sponsors because it’s quite expensive on the road nowadays – but I would love to do all of Canada.”
Is there an easy way to find you on social media? Carter, how do we tag along on your journey on social media?
“You can find my Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, all under my name. I’ve got my face up there, a picture of me running.”
Wishing you the best and a safe journey the rest of the way to Dryden. And looking forward to having you back home and supporting you how we can, your mental health run across Canada. We’ve been chatting with Dryden’s Carter Armstrong, a 24-year-old who began in Vancouver, BC with his across Canada journey and headed to Dryden very, very soon. Carter Armstrong, anything else before I let you go and you get back on the road, Carter?
“I just want to say thanks for your time and thanks for all the support. It will be fun to be back in Dryden and see everyone who’s been cheering me along. So yeah, be kind and stay classy!“
I reached and had that conversation with Dryden’s Carter Armstrong while on his cross Canada run for mental health this past Friday in Manitoba. He’s expected to arrive in Dryden towards the end of June.
Support Carter’s efforts by visiting his GoFundMe page here:
https://listen.streamon.fm/ckdr
