Losing your stride? Race weekend pep squad aims to help

Erin Beasley knows what it's like to hit the wall.

She was running her first full marathon in 2009 during Ottawa Race Weekend, when, while crossing the Heron Bridge, she couldn't spot a family member she expected to see.

• Ottawa Race Weekend road closures

"It was a big letdown. And that's where your thoughts spiral downward and you are not sure if you can do this," Beasley told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning Friday.

Beasley's solution? She played Abba's Voulez-Vous("Voulez-vous ...") over ("... ah-ha ...") and over ("... Take it now or leave it ...") and over again("... ah-ha") until she hit the finish line.

"I knew every time that song ended I was that much closer," Beasley said.

Now, sheand a team of 70 runners are bringing that same relentlessly peppy attitudeto Ottawa runners who don't have ready access to Swedish pop tunes.

The Xtra Mile Crew sporting neon-green T-shirts (and in Beasley's case, a matching tutu) will be encouraging, cheering and running alongside racers in both big Tamarack Ottawa Race WeekendracesSunday.

They'll hit the road for the last four kilometres of the half-marathon and the last 10 kilometres of the full marathon.

Different runners, different needs

Tony Machado, another member of the crew, saiddifferent runners need different kinds of help when they start to struggle. Some need a pep talk. Others need advice on how to focus. Some just want someone to run beside them.

Beasley and Machado said they've learned to read body language to find out if people even want the help at all.

"You could always ask them, do you want me to run with you for a kilometre or two?" Machado told Ottawa Morning. "It kindof builds from there."

Like Beasley, Machado came to running later in lifeand knows what it's like to struggle through a run. Machado didn't run his first marathon until three years ago, buthas run 26 since then.

"There have been events where your brain kind of shuts down for that last 10 to 12K and you are just not very mentally acute and you kind of start focusing on the pain and the bad parts," he said.

"So having someone there from the Xtra Mile crew to help turn things around and kind of shape that positive mental attitude goes a long way."

• Jonathan Pitre's mother to race in his memory this weekend

Beasley said many runnershave stories about struggles they've overcome, and thatshe just wants to help make that happen.

"We are there to make sure the last third of runners have an awesome experience on the course and finish, and are happy with their experience," Beasley said.

Sunday's marathon begins at 7 a.m. ET, andthe half-marathon gets underway at 9 a.m. ET.