Sean Seville is bringing it to Sunday's RunWild in St. Albert as the defending half-marathon champion.
"St. Albert is not the place where I like to have a training run in a race, it's something where I really want to put my heart and soul into it," Seville said with a voice laced with passion. "St. Albert is my home. I grew up there. I've got friends there and deep roots so for me to apply a solid effort is a no brainer."
Last year's winning time of one hour, 23 minutes and 14 seconds by Seville was eclipsed by his personal best of 1:15:51 as the runner-up at the 12th annual St. Albert Fall Challenge in September.
In second place at the RunWild was Andrew Larson at 1:25:52.
Overall, 272 runners and walkers completed the 21.1-kilometre distance.
The half-marathon course record of 1:22:02 was set by Robert Brunelle in his 2013 RunWild repeat.
"I would like to run a personal best, that's been my goal since the Fall Challenge last year," Seville said. "I'm not going to share anything more than that on the time but I've never felt stronger. I've been training hard and I've never felt stronger."
A repeat finish at the fifth annual Leading Edge Physiotherapy competition would be too good to be true for Seville.
"It would mean a lot. This will be the third year now doing RunWild and the first year I had an incredible experience on the trail. I can't imagine a better route," said the 2013 second-place finisher at 1:27:16. "I had to choose between the (St. Albert) 10-miler and the RunWild this year and you can see which one I've chosen basically because I love the route. It's just a better trail."
The half-marathon is now the marquee RunWild race after the non-profit organization dropped the marathon from the event because of financial and volunteer requirements needed to meet the City of St. Albert's new event guideline policy.
Marc Meunier of St. Albert – winner of three RunWild marathons, including the first marathon in St. Albert history at the inaugural 2011 RunWild – will toe the start line in his first half-marathon in several years. Meunier's last half-marathon was in a half ironman at 1:14 off the bike for a PB. The last of about four standalone half-marathons for the Paul Kane High School athletic director was 1:18 in Phoenix.
Meunier, 42, plans to tape an Aspirin to a nagging hamstring injury for the RunWild, his tune-up race for the Mountains 2 Beach marathon May 24 in Ventura, Calif.
"I've never had the opportunity to run with Marc before and I think probably for many years prior his pace is something that I wouldn't have been able to touch," Seville said. "Anybody that can (win three marathons) on this amazing course has put their heart and soul into running and into the race so for that Marc is an inspiration."
Seville, 31, tinkered with his training this year after hooking up with Stephan Shay, a runner and coach based in Huntington Beach, Calif.
"We really had a similar passion for running and I think it's important to connect with anyone you're working with. I often train solo so for me to get engaged with a coach was a bit of a difficult find. I had to do some searching to find the right connection," said the Paul Kane alumnus. "I've been doing a lot more plyometrics and weight training, not currently because I'm tapering now but I had been since February, and I trained right through the hypothermic half, which I used as a training run and it was a great run.
"This year I only did my long runs outside. I wanted to keep my pace around 80 per cent so the idea was to do about 80 per cent at 80 per cent so 80 per cent of my time training I would run at 80-per-cent effort and to do that I had to jump on the treadmill for way too long but I did it at Servus Place. I jumped on the track a bit to do a few intervals and then I was on the treadmill keeping my pace and heart rate up around 80 per cent."
Seville estimated he's completed about 30 half-marathons, including a handful last year, and Sunday's showing will determine whether he will run the Scotiabank Vancouver half-marathon June 28 with his girlfriend, Jen McCormack.
"I haven't signed up. I've been waiting to do RunWild and then see how I'm feeling, more psychologically I guess, after the race and then I might jump on board."
Last year Seville went the distance in his first marathon and finished 28th at the United States trail national championships in November in Utah.
"I've run them in my training but I had never competed in one before," said the civil engineer with Graham Construction, who is one of the project managers of The Fox high-rise in downtown Edmonton.
"That was a fantastic experience. Running the Death Race and Sinister Sevens, different legs of them, I thought I had most of the technical running stuff down but this Utah race was extremely technical. It was also hot and dry and I actually ended up getting a little bit dehydrated at the end but I feel it was a result of not being able to tell how much I was sweating. I was consuming a lot of water and electrolytes but it wasn't quite enough," said the ninth-place male in the 30 to 39 age division at 3:55:42. "I was happy to say the least. Coming through the finish line I put everything I had on the line and afterwards I could barely walk. My girlfriend and my father were holding me up so it means I did everything I could."
The self-proclaimed free-spirited Zen runner stands out from the rest of the pack with his trademark bandana. When asked what colour he will be rocking at the RunWild, Seville replied: "I've got a bunch to choose from. I'm going through my box looking for the right one. It depends on what the climate is like because I've got colours for a few different shirts."
RunWild entries
Online registration closed Monday night with 1,821 entries processed for the half-marathon run/walk, 10-km run/walk, five-km run/walk and the WildOnes Kids MaraFun for six- to 12-year-olds.
Last year's RunWild featured a record 1,980 registered runners and walkers in five events.
The RunWild starts on St. Anne Street at 8 a.m. for the half-marathon run/walk, 8:20 a.m. for the 10-km run/walk and 8:30 a.m. for the five-km run/walk.
The Victory Lane finish area is located between the St. Albert Curling Club and Lions Park.
The awards ceremony is 11 a.m. and the Marafun goes at noon from the event village in Lions Park.
The RunWild is a fundraiser for the Edmonton's Zebra Child Protection Centre and the St. Albert 50+ Club.
