Peter Broadley is a musician, ultra marathon runner and community manager from Toronto, Canada.
Peter’s musical journey began at an early age and was formed by listening to his parent’s extensive vinyl collection. Drawn in by early 80’s pop music (and ‘The Reflex’), the first record he purchased was ‘Seven and the Ragged Tiger’ by Duran Duran. The obsession grew from there, and exploded in the early 90’s leading Peter to want to begin playing music. After a failed go at singing, he rented a bass guitar and amplifier to start jamming with friends in their basement. After a few years of bass lessons and stints in a few bands, Peter met the people that would eventually form the band 5th PROJEKT.
5th PROJEKT recorded a few demo EPs in the early 2000s before recording the 2006 LP, ‘CiRCADiAN‘. Mixed by Ken Andrews (Failure, BRMC), the album was critically acclaimed and was nominated for several independent music awards. Peter’s time in the band ended in 2008 prior to the recording of the second album ‘V’, but he rejoined the band in 2017 and continues to be an integral part of the band’s sound. A new EP, ‘The Labyrinth‘, is scheduled to be released in the Spring of 2021, with more music on the way.
By day, Peter is the Manager of Community Development and Engagement at CSA Group. An experienced and award-winning community manager, Peter excels at building and designing online communities, connecting people to information and creating engaging community programs.
All of Peter’s free time is usually consumed by running. His running story is an inspiring journey, starting from barely being able to run a single kilometer, to completing multiple marathons and culminating in a 3rd place finish at a 100km trail race.
My running story
My path to becoming a runner began back in 2001. I was finishing up college and had just moved into a new place. My roommate was into mountain biking, running, healthy eating and was competing in enduro-races like the EcoChallenge. I wasn’t getting much exercise at all and had little to no interest in running. One day I was asked to be a part of my roommate’s support crew for the Toronto Urban Challenge – a 24 hour race across the entire city. I reluctantly agreed but was interested to see what the race would be like. It was like nothing I had ever been a part of and is probably the reason why I never miss an episode of the Amazing Race. A few months later I volunteered to help out at another 24 hour race up in cottage country. I think that being surrounded by people running and biking all the time is what inspired me to get a proper pair of shoes and head out for my first run. I didn’t know anything about running or even how far I was going, I just went. I ran every other day on the trail and after a few months I was able to run 8km.
I was running 5k – 8km about 3 times a week totalling 15 – 20km and I thought that was pretty good. Everything was going great until I got sidelined with a knee injury. I couldn’t run more than a few minutes without my kneecap flaring up, not even on a treadmill. I was off for about a year before I decided to try running again. I went out and bought a new pair of shoes, and after a few weeks of short runs, the knee pain had totally gone away. Before I knew it I was back to my old routine of running 5k 3 times a week.
Taking it up a level
In 2009 I decided I wanted to push myself beyond the 5k runs and see how far I could go. One Sunday morning I showed up at my local Running Room for their open group run. I joined the 10k group as they had just started their clinic and were only running 5k. I kept going on Sunday morning and eventually ran 7k, then 9k, then 12k with the group. This was further than I had ever run before and I felt great. After running 14km with the half marathon group, I decided I was going to join the clinic in January and train for the Mississauga Half Marathon. A half marathon didn’t seem so out of reach. After all, I could already run 2/3 of the distance. In May 2010 I completed my first half marathon in 1hr55. In May 2011 I ran the Mississauga Half Marathon again taking 11 minutes off of my PB, placed 3rd in my age group at the Bread and Honey 5k, and ran the San Francisco Half Marathon while on vacation. Later that summer I taught the half marathon clinic at the Running Room, training a group of approximately 20 runners for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon and ran it again.
In the fall of 2011, I injured my calf while doing a tempo run in my new minimalist shoes. I was sick and tired of all these stupid injuries and I began running barefoot on the treadmill in my basement. I started alternating 5 minutes running and 5 minutes walking, then every week I would increase my barefoot running time by 2 minutes. Eventually I was able to run continuously for 30 minutes. My feet started to get stronger and I noticed my form was changing. I got a pair of Vibram FiveFingers so I could start running outside.
Going for 26.2 and beyond
My running reached new heights in the spring of 2012 when I completed the Chilly Half Marathon, Around the Bay 30k Road Race and Mississauga Marathon (my first full marathon) all within 2 months. I spent the summer of 2012 running in my FiveFingers, building up my foot strength and just having fun. With full year of VFF / barefoot running under my belt, I put my old shoes away for good and began training for my second full marathon. I followed my training program very closely, made some small changes to my diet and set PB’s at all three of my spring 2013 races: Chilly Half Marathon, Around the Bay 30k and Goodlife Toronto Marathon. I followed that up with another PB at the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon then broke that record at the 2014 Chilly Half Marathon. I ran the 2014 Around the Bay 30k where I broke last year’s record by 4 minutes and paced a friend to a sub 4 hour finish at the 2014 Mississauga Marathon. This past summer I completed my first ultra marathon – the Niagara Ultra 50k – and I’m the middle of training for my second ultra – Sulphur Springs 50k trail race.
Race Results
* PB (personal best)
2010
Mississauga Half Marathon (1:55:38)
2011
Mississauga Half Marathon (1:44:02)
*Bread and Honey 5k (21:43)
San Francisco (1st) Half Marathon (1:54:30)
Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon (1:44:15)
2012
Chilly Half Marathon (2:10:48)
Around the Bay 30k Road Race (3:18:11)
Mississauga Marathon (4:20:29)
2013
Chilly Half Marathon (1:41:34)
Around the Bay 30k Road Race (2:32:15)
*Goodlife Toronto Marathon (3:36:57)
Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon (1:38:24)
2014
*Chilly Half Marathon (1:37:05)
Around the Bay 30k Road Race (2:28:27)
Mississauga Marathon (3:55:54)
*Niagara Ultra 50k (5:23:00)
2015
*Around the Bay 30k Road Race (2:24:51)
Sulphur Springs 50k trail run (TBD)
Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon (TBD)
2016
Around the Bay 30k Road Race
Sulphur Springs 50k trail run
Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon
2017
Around the Bay 30k Road Race (2:24:51)
*Sulphur Springs 50 mile trail run
2018
*CRS Spring Run Off 8k
Conquer the Canuck 50k trail run
Haliburton 26km trail run
The Beav 50km trail run
2019
*The FoxTail 100km Trail Race
2020
The Great Virtual Run Across Tennessee (1022km)