Logan's Run

From death's door to extreme athlete, Logan Beaulieu has never slowed down

There are two words on the back of Logan Beaulieu's Honda CR-V: Logan's Run. It's the name of a 1976 sci-fi movie with Farrah Fawcett in which the lead character, Logan, must run to escape a certain death. And while it makes a clever tag line for a competitive long-distance runner named Logan, it also carries untold meaning. For this Logan, too, running is not merely a pastime or an athletic pursuit. For the last 15 years, Logan Beaulieu has been running for his life.

Tragic Crash

On a hot summer night in 1988 a 16-year-old Logan Beaulieu and his best friend Shaun were driving home from the Peach Festival in their hometown of Penticton, B.C. when they were sideswiped at an intersection. Shaun died on the spot. Logan was rushed to St. Paul's hospital in Vancouver.

When Logan's father, Moe, arrived from Victoria, Logan was in a coma.

"I was really in kind of a shock," says his father. "But my thought was to stay strong."

Moe stayed by Logan's side for the next 17 days, although he had to go back to Victoria some days. He sang songs he recalled from his grandmother, and he asked visitors not to cry or say "negative" things in front of Logan.

"He really believed that I could hear, and I know I could hear," recalls Logan, adding that he remembers voices, his dad's songs, and the presence of his mother, June.

After sixteen days with her son lying silent on the hospital bed, June could not hold her tears back. Upon returning to her hotel from the hospital that night, she broke down, crying on the floor, pleading for her son to come back. When she returned to the hospital in the morning, Logan was awake. Later that day Logan spoke his first words as he watched his father come in to the room: "Look mom, there's my big dad."

Healing

But waking from the coma was just the start of Logan's recovery.

The crash left Logan with broken bones in both his upper and lower body, and his left side was paralyzed. Doctors gave him a 10 percent chance of being able to walk again, Logan recalls. But for Logan, not walking was not an option.

"I never accepted that I couldn't walk. That [thought] never dawned on me."

Logan's first challenge was to sit straight in a wheelchair. His body had become weak. But, after a few weeks of practice, Logan could support himself in the chair.

Next, he tried to stand on his legs. Doctors said that if he were to ever walk again, he'd be in the chair for at least six months, but Logan and his father figured they could do better.

"I kept telling Logan, 'if you stay in that wheelchair, you're going to be in it for the rest of your life,'" recalls Moe.

"He said well how will I stand then? I said, 'I'll help you stand'."

Within a month, Logan was walking with crutches, and just two months later he was walking on his own.

Five years after the accident, Logan ran his first marathon.

Running from the Pain

Now 34, Logan Beaulieu lives in Edmonton. On almost any given day, he can be seen running the rugged trails of Edmonton's River Valley, training for some of the world's most extreme running events.

Though Logan's left side never fully recovered, he uses his vision to gain balance. Exercise has also strengthened his left side considerably.

It was Logan's father who first brought him to the sport.

"He basically introduced me to running; he paved the path," says Logan.

Moe began running in his late 30s. For the first few years, he ran marathons. Later, he found his passion - running ultramarathons.

An ultramarathon is any race longer than the standard marathon length of just over 42 kilometres. But ultramarathons can be up to four times that distance, and they are not raced on asphalt roads, but often through rugged natural terrain - through forests and valleys, over hills and mountains. They can take upwards of 24 hours to finish.

"When you're out there in the mountains running, you have a sense of freedom," says Moe, who is now 62 and still running ultras. "You don't have to punch a time clock or do anything, you're out there in the outdoors and you see eagles, hawks, and waterfalls."

For Logan, too, running brings relaxation. It helps him wake up in the morning and it calms his mind in the evening, he says.

But it also helps him escape the pain from his past.

"As only those who have had a personal experience with this type of trauma would truly understand, the road to recovery is long and arduous... physically, mentally and emotionally," Logan writes on his website, logansrun.ca .

"As the impact is life-long, my passion for running has been a beacon and has helped me deal with moments of self-doubt and despair."

His running has carried him far away from those agonizing days in a hospital bed.

Ten years ago, Moe says, Logan would run two minutes behind him. Now, he's untouchable.

Logan's ultramarathon schedule this year contained eight races, including the Canadian Death Race in August - a 125 kilometre run through the Canadian Rockies that includes a 5000-metre climb and three mountain summits. Race organizers warned runners of snow-capped mountains, a major river crossing, and bears.

Logan and his father will race together in September in Lethbridge in what will be Moe's 100th ultramarathon.

Logan says he doesn't know exactly what he'll be doing in the years ahead, but he knows running will be the focus.

"Because it has helped me in so many ways, I've made it a necessity in my life."

This article was written by Omid Ghoreishi and the text originally appeared in the Epoch Times on 31 August 2006. We would like to express our thanks to Omid and the Epoch Times for their kind permission to use the article.

All photos have been added by planetFear, and were provided courtesy of Logan Beaulieu.