The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2010 35 Running through the pain By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR L egs and lungs might burn at the end of a marathon. Head might pound, feet might ache. But that kind of pain is nothing to Lynn Keane. She's overcome a lot more than that to keep running. The 52-year-old local resident, who will line up in the Muskoka Sprint tomorrow (Saturday) in Bracebridge, used to take competing in events like this for granted. Not anymore. Not after inflammation in her spine essentially left Keane bedridden a few years ago. And certainly not after the tragic death of her son Daniel last spring. "I think every runner, once they have run a marathon, there's a built-in expectation for the next one. Your time is important... but time is not everything," says Keane. "The finish line means a lot more than it used to." Got hooked quickly Keane ran her first-ever marathon 10 years ago, completing the Chicago Marathon in 4:43. It was a good time for a first-timer, she felt, but she could do better. Keane trimmed an hour off that time the following year at a marathon in Toronto. She was hooked. Over the next five years, Keane would run in a number of prestigious races. She qualified for her first Boston Marathon in 2001, an event that she's participated in three times. She also competed in many local events like the Around the Bay Road Race, Mississauga Marathon, Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Hamilton Half Marathon, and Bread and Honey Road Race. It wasn't all enjoyable, however. Keane had chronic pain and stiffness in her back, but figured staying active was the best way to deal with it. She fought through it for several years. Finally, in 2005, the pain became too much. Inflammation became unbearable "I was training to do the Mississauga Marathon in anticipation of qualifying for Boston and the pain was so significant, I was in the middle of a run and basically had to bail," Keane recalls. "The inflammation was so great in all my joints. "I didn't understand what was going on. I thought it was something that would go away. But through massage, through supplements, everything, nothing worked." The pain wasn't just affecting her running. It was affecting her life. "I couldn't get out of bed. My two daughters (Aimee and Emily) were at home and required their mom to get up and make breakfast, but I couldn't get up and do a lot of things," Keane says. The cause of her discomfort was finally diagnosed. Keane had Ankylosing Spondylitis, a chronic and inflammatory arthritis and autoimmune disease that affects joints in the spine. The disease was actually one of the leading causes of disability in Canada, Keane was told. But inactivity wasn't an option. "I was incredibly healthy and then in one year's time, I lost so much of myself personally. I lost some self-esteem because I think so much of it was tied into being physical," Keane says. "Something I felt very comfortable doing had been taken away." She underwent months of biological treatment and other therapy. Finally, in 2007, Keane felt well enough to resume training. "You really feel, when you have those See Running page 36 NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER Lynn Keane has overcome both physical and emotional pain to continue competing in long-distance running events.