We have a very rich and diverse running community in the Lowcountry and the Coastal Empire. The fabric of our running community makes it so rich, alluring and beautiful. And, I believe running in general tends to bring out the very best in all of us. Running is challenging and fulfilling. It tends to broaden our horizons. Running, like my very good friend, John Durant says, “running is the great equalizer”. I whole-heartedly agree with that. Running is a sport that doesn’t judge your status in the community, your educational background, how much money you make. Running is an umbrella that is welcoming to all.
Running brings people into our lives that we may not get the chance to meet otherwise. That is one of the beautiful things about running! Having said that I am so very proud and astounded by our latest Rough Runners Spotlight Runner, Anne De Lottinville.
Anne is a French Canadian runner living in Richmond Hill with her husband, Brian and their two kids. She spent 18 years living the circus life as an bicycle acrobat and clown, nine of those years, she was in Cirque de Soleil. Anne came to running during the Covid era and, aside from a knee injury that required surgery, she keeps keeps cranking out the miles and pushing her endurance and distance horizons.
In her words…
- Where are you from? Tell us about yourself. I am from Montréal, Québec, Canada. My first language is French. I am married to Brian whom I met on tour with Cirque du Soleil. He was a rigger/carpenter. We have 2 kids, a bunny, a fish, a snail, a hamster and some chickens.
- How long have you lived in the US? Even though I have spent a lot of time working in the US before that, I moved to The States permanently in 2012. We lived/worked in Las Vegas for 3+ years before squeezing in another 2 years of traveling work and then moved to Richmond Hill which is where Brian is from. I love the climate and nature around here. Moving here meant moving away from the entertainment industry and creating a new life for ourselves.
- How long were a part of the Cirque de Soleil? How did you start in that? I was with Cirque du Soleil for about 9 years. I took part of 2 circus show creations and spent a few years with each. Zaia in Macau, China got me to spend almost 2.5 years in Asia. I was the understudy for the main character named Zaia who was everywhere throughout the show and performing an aerial straps duet at the end. I was performing a quarter of the shows/week as Zaia and all others as house troup doing various appearances throughout. Following that, I was part of creating Zarkana as one of the 12 clownesque characters/acrobats linking the show called Movers. We got to be all over the place as supporting characters, comical relief, animation pre-show and also part of a big acrobatic act (aerial hoop + Cyr wheel act). My character was the Mad Scientist’s Apprentice. Zarkana started off as a touring show of all the biggest theaters in the world but mostly created to be at the Radio City Musical in New York a few months/year. We played at the Kremlin in Moscow that is the only theater in the world nearly as big as Radio City. Turns out there aren’t many other theaters this big in the world so we constantly had to adapt the show for other venues. It was also quite costly to tour a show of this scale, so Cirque turned Zarkana into a resident show and moved us to Las Vegas. I graduated from the National Circus School in Montréal in 2001 after auditioning in 1997. I have a college degree in circus arts. Acrobatic Bicycle was my specialty initially and my minor was in clown. Bicycle was my main thing for a few years after graduating yet I kept getting character work offers too. I toured with a Canadian circus named EOS for a couple of years, then briefly worked with a clown theater company, then a year of traditional circus (caravan living and big top) tour in Switzerland. I then toured with an equestrian show for a couple of years as an aerialist acrobat (bungee, rope, etc). All in all, I spent 18 years of circus life. It’s been a truly rich experience on every possible level. From personal growth, friendships, physical work, artistic development, traveling. I have learned so much. There is so much real life going on outside de box.
- How did you get drawn to circus life and acrobatics? Watching the Olympics at 5yo or so, I saw gymnastics on TV and thought it was mind blowing amazing. If you’re gonna live all your life in your body, might as well know how to flip and fly with it! I was confused why no one was doing that! My mom said I was too short and too young. Fast forward many years, a friend asked me to sign up for gymnastics because she was scared to go alone. I didn’t even know there was a ‘real’ club within reach. So, here I am starting gymnastics at 13. We were like a movie misfit group of girls in the club. We were a mix match of girls different ages (I was the oldest) who train recreationally but really care. Eventually, the club asked us to go competitive because we would access workshops and get more training hours for our money. None of us were competition driven plus we knew we had no future in gymnastics, we just enjoyed it. We did go competitive but I have no history there. In my last year of high school I had to quit because my parents couldn’t afford the extra expense. That year for Christmas I asked for tickets for a small Circus company. They weren’t famous so I ended up with seats in the 4th row. The acrobats were truly great but what really interested me was to witness the complicite eye contacts between them. They didn’t have much makeup. Just real people with a really fun life. I thought it was great that this was their real life. The program included a little background on each performer and most of them had just graduated from the circus school in Montreal. I had never heard of it. This was right around when I had to apply to College. My first class back from the Christmas break was Carreer Orientation. I ask the teacher if she’d ever hear of the circus school. She said: ‘oh I just got their pamphlet this morning, take it, nobody’s gonna want that.’ The last day to sign up for auditions was that Friday. I didn’t have much time to think so I filled up the application and took it in person on the last day. The next week, my old gymnastics coach called to offer me a teaching job and that gave me free access to the gym to train. 3 months later I auditioned. They were taking 10 in Canada and I was 11th. They called me back in August and said someone dropped out, they had a spot for me. 2 weeks later I was in, 17 yo. I didn’t know anything about anything and was in awe watching everyone around me being so great.
- How long have you been running? I started running at the beginning of the lockdown in 2020. I wanted the kids to get outside a lot and since I figured going for a walk wouldn’t get them so excited, I told them we’d go for a run as far as we can and see what we discover there. We live a little tucked away where there are a lot of trees. They enjoyed it for a few days until we did a 2.5 mile run/walk that burned them out
. After that, they said, you go mom, we’re good. They were 4 and 6yo then. Every time they wanted to stop running, something in me wanted to continue. I started going out alone to see how far I could run without stopping and kept going back curious to see if I could do better. I didn’t have a watch so I’d check the time before stepping out and I’d memorize the address of where I’d turn around. I’d come home and check with the gps to find out the distance and then calculate pace. At the time, it was also a big confirmation that my health was in a strong place. I struggled with some autoimmune condition that did a number on me. It was a good 3 year working to find how to turn it around.
- What brought you to running? I ran alone for several months and then found out I had one running friend. We started running together and he pushed me to get decent shoes and made me believe I could do more than I could imagine and answered my many questions. When lockdown loosened up and a few races started happening, I went to a couple of low key 5Ks and one 10K. That’s right around when Nicole Sloan got in the picture . I knew her from a different circle and just found out she had a lot of running experience: my first running friend who’d gladly run more than 10K. I convinced her to run Tour de Ford with me. She was out of shape then so I had to twist her arm a little, but the next thing I knew, she was dragging me to all these other events and introducing me to so many awesome people who became friends.
- What was your first race? My first race was the Leftovers race. My first ‘real’ race was Tour de Ford in 2021. I had never run 10 miles but really wanted to do this one. It was an ohhhh moment realizing that longer races were possible.
- What is the longest distance you’ve run in a race? 26.2 miles at the Daufuskie Marathon
- What is your favorite distance to run? I don’t know that I have a favorite. Anything beyond 10miles feels like a little adventure. Bigger/new challenges and Interesting locations have a special appeal. I am always just curious to know what it will feel like…to run for 4+ hours, or up some stairs. Curiosity is the driver and now I wonder what it might feel like to run for 12 hours or overnight. Events feel like going on little adventures where you meet the world from a new angle and yourself from a new angle. I like the journey of the mind in all this. I like that I don’t owe results to anyone.
- Please list your running milestones. Shortly after the 10miler, Nicole convinced me to pace the RocknRoll Half Marathon. I didn’t understand what pacing meant until after we had agreed to volunteer. So my first Half was as a pacer in the cold pouring rain in 2021. Quite memorable. My first trail run (Sultry) was so fun/hard. Discovering a race immersed in nature and a different vibe/crowd was great. At that time, qualifying wasn’t on my radar because it just seemed impossible. I placed 3rd female at that race (10k) and that was a true surprise. Recently I was able to check off my goal of running a half under 2hours and it happened in my hometown in Canada. My first full, of course, was a great moment.
- How often do you run per week, per month? 2-5 times/week, 20-30 miles a week, depending on how well the family task juggling is going.
- How do you make time to train, run? That’s the hardest part of running for me: carving time and not spreading myself too thin juggling all the things. Running brings me joy and I want to keep it that way. I am mindful to let training flow rather than schedule it like it’s a chore. I do structure it some, yet I prefer not having training plans or really specific goals. I have plans and goals, yes, but I try not to be rigid about them and enjoy the journey more. I really enjoy alone runs and I love getting together with friends to run. It makes it twice as rich of a moment with friendly time and talks. I don’t get ‘me’ time so much so seeing friends AND run is like a super combo treat to recharge my soul. It’s also easier to get up early when meeting with a friend. I have definitely learned to love running slower after the surgery so I’m happy to run at any pace and enjoy company.
- What is your running shoe of choice and why? Altra and Topo are my favorites so far. I love 0-4 mm drop, less cushioning and large toe box. All the characteristics that give me a more ‘bare foot’ feel with the ground. I have had to add more cushioning since the knee reconstruction. The altra fwd is what I currently wear.
- What is your profession? My circus performer days are over I think. I am now a full time mom and homeschool teacher to my kids. I teach 2 classes of acro/week at a dance studio.
- The dance studio you work part time at, is that the one on Ford avenue here in RH? yes, Life Moves.
- Aside from running, what are other pastimes? Yoga is an old love I don’t have much time for lately(since running took over all my free time), reading, kayak when I get a chance. I love plants. I have pulled back on gardening in the past year. I couldn’t find the time or perhaps got a little tired of the trials and tribulations. I still have some things growing outside and many plants inside. I started fermentation and making a lot from scratch because of my health. That’s something that feels like food craft.
- Please list three of your upcoming running goals and/or races. I am signed up for the Women’s marathon in Savannah in November, I’ll use Wormsloe Half in September and Rails to Trails 25K as part of my training for it…although I might be more excited about the last two. I like trail and nature surroundings more than road and big crowds. I am really looking forward to see Rails to Trails. I have discovered and visited so much through running. I love it.
- Anything else that you would like to share? Thank you guys for what you do. I love Rough Runners for so many reasons. I appreciate the community, the giving back/social care, the challenges and variety of races, the artistry and detail you guys put into everything, the tough love (I haven’t needed it yet, but I know it’s there) 🙂
As you can see, Anne is an amazing human being and an integral part of what makes our running community unique and special. I look forward to seeing Anne at more local races and see how she continues growing as a runner and human being.
Anne, thank you for sharing your story with Rough Runners and for being such an invaluable part of our Lowcountry/Coastal Empire running community!
Take care, stay strong and keep running happy!
