Local woman beats the odds and turns personal tragedy into passion for helping others

She’s swum with sharks; climbed The Pinnacles - the highest peaks in Borneo; marathoned in Germany; triathaloned all over the world; she SCUBAs, snorkels, skis, mountain bikes on cliffs and swims in open sea water… but there’s no way she’s going to bungee jump, says Allyson Johnson, owner of Choose Energy in Calgary. “Never ever. I’m not an adrenaline junkie,” she says, despite the endless list of sports she pursues being high octane.

Johnson was an olympic level field hockey player until she was injured in a car accident. She said the accident changed the direction of her life.

Photo: Julie-Carole Vincent/ Calgary Journal

“She had such a passion for teaching and I had such a passion for learning at the time.”

Johnson went from having not skied in over 20 years to hitting the slopes no fewer than 17 times in April. Her friends, who know her well, commented that only Johnson could turn learning a sport into a competitive event.

Johnson has been a determined contender from the get go. An active kid from early age, she has played almost every sport and excelled at most.

“I was an Olympic level field hockey player and had a softball scholarship when I was hit by a car driven by a drunk, two weeks prior to the Barcelona Olympics. That transformed my whole direction and path of my life.”

The accident, which ended her medical school ambitions and, she was told, would end the active part of her life, didn’t stop her from pushing through. She describes a job at a health food store as the turning point.

“The medical profession had said to me that I wasn’t going to walk normally again, that I wasn’t going to be physically active.” With that dire advice, Johnson went back to university depressed and out of shape but took on what she calls an experiment of reading about food and nutrition and how those affect health and strength. “I became my own little experiment,” she says.

Her personal determination and success are the basis for how she coaches. Her own ability to overcome what then seemed a dead end is, she says, the foundation of her enthusiasm. “That is why I have such a passion for fitness and all the ambitions of fitness, whether it be weight loss or endurance or being a better athlete.”

Johnson’s unstoppable delight plays out in a big way in Johnson’s own approach to teaching, her coaching philosophy and in the contribution she makes both to the individuals she trains and the organisations she races for. Joints in Motion’s Marathon of Peace in 2005 was her first marathon. Since then, she has run over 12 marathons, raising over $40,000 and she has run more half marathons than she can count.

In addition to the nearly endless stream of events she already participates in, Johnson recently learned to swim so that she could add triathlons to the long list of her achievements. And next year, in keeping with her dedication to learning and her determination to benefit others, Johnson will participate in the cross-Canada Sears Kids Cancer Ride: a 7000 kilometre, 12 day odyssey from Vancouver to Halifax. “I’ve seen a lot of the world but I’ve never been east of Ontario.”

“I’ve had runs where I’m bawling in success and in sadness. It’s where you go to just hammer it out.”

—Allyson Johnson

Never one to waste an opportunity, Johnson says the boredom of winter training, which will necessitate many hours on a stationary bike, will be greatly lessened by learning about Canada through videos and books on tape.

Like a lot of people, being physical is how Johnson works though the heavy parts of life.

“As much as you’re moving through a physical state, [in a race] it’s very emotional. I’ve had runs where I’m bawling in success and in sadness. It’s where you go to just hammer it out. Then again,” she laughs, “You can’t do that during a swim or you drown.”

Through her company, Choose Energy, Johnson provides personal training, group coaching and good old fashioned backbone building. She is a force of nature, but, she says, “After all, I only profess to inspire by being inspired by others.

After all the time spent travelling, the kilometres run, shoes trashed, miles swum and finish lines crossed, what’s the next big thing?

“To be a mom,” she says, grinning. “Scary hey?”