Parrot-Migas ready for races to return

A top distance runner in London, Phil Parrot-Migas is eyeing personal bests in 2021 — and a spot competing for Canada on the international stage.

Parrot-Migas plans to compete in four Athletics Canada competitions — in three different provinces — this June. (Photo courtesy Phil Parrot-Migas).

Phil Parrot-Migas sees a long road ahead – ­and he couldn’t be more excited about starting down it.

Emergency brakes. Stay-at-home orders. Sluggish vaccine rollouts. Despite it all, a long road towards returning to endurance competition is emerging, with group training returning, elite meets scheduled, and large-scale, in-person events on a not-to-distant horizon.

For one of the area’s top distance runners, it is a welcomed sight after a year of uncertainty.

“I am a lot more optimistic today. We’re moving in the direction of a more positive 2021,” Parrot-Migas said. “This time last year, we weren’t even allowed to train as a group. I trained alone for months. It’s still not normal right now, but it’s better than last year. It seems like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Signaling a further return to normal, Athletics Canada recently announced its Tokyo Olympics Qualifier Series, a slate of nine sanctioned meets that will take place in 10 cities across four provinces, starting May 21 in Ottawa and running through June 29 in Montreal.

Ontario will host four of those meets: HP Weekend in Ottawa (May 21-22); Johnny Loaring Classic (May 29) in Windsor; Ontario High Performance Series (June 2) in Toronto; and Royal City Inferno Track and Field Festival (June 5) in Guelph.

Canada’s national teams should emerge from those competitions.

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Parrot-Migas is more than ready to return to official competition. He refused to let the pandemic stop him in his tracks, using the time instead to build toward the highest levels of his sport.

“I kind of took it all in a positive way,” the 28-year-old Londoner said. “We weren’t allowed to control anything, whereas running was the one thing I got to control. How much I ran, what I did when I ran … I was in the driver’s seat. So, I got to really kind of test my body and see what I can and cannot do.”

That attitude might surprise people who knew Parrot-Migas three years ago – when he quit running completely for three months. It wasn’t an easy decision, mind you, but it was necessary. He was exhausted. He was finishing his undergraduate degree, then working on a masters, all while still trying to compete at the highest levels of his sport. He felt he was training just to “get it done and not get better.”

He got to the point where he hated it all.

But as hard as it was to exit the sport, the return was that much sweeter – and Parrot-Migas has been building up ever since.

In January 2020 in Houston, he ran a 1:03:53 half marathon, among the fastest by a Canadian.

In March of that year, as the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, he started logging more kilometres. He ran the country roads in North London, either solo or accompanied by buddies on bikes. He went virtual for a few events, and even constructed his own personal marathon time trial in July 2020. He ran it in 2:19. It was his first attempt at that distance.

The pandemic has meant logging many miles alone for Parrot-Migas, who has enjoyed reconnecting — when allowed — with his teammates for workouts. (Photo courtesy Phil Parrot-Migas).

In October 2020, Parrot-Migas was selected to the national team. Despite its competition cancelations, it was a huge win for him. “It opened my eyes,” he said. “I was battling with these big hot shots in the sport that I never thought I would.”

Flash forward to the spring of 2021, and a path to representing the country seems more like a reality now that he’s back on the road – long roads – training again with Bandits Elite and London Western Track Club teammates at his side.

He missed the group. A lot. After all, it was a long run – without long runs – away from each other. The end of group training last spring meant not only a loss of activity, but a loss of important connections with his fellow elite athletes, many of whom are his best friends.

While thought of as a solo sport, many runners depend on their groups for connectedness, companionship, and competition.

In place of in-person group training, Parrot-Migas found community in social media, where friends and followers joined him for runs via Instagram or Strava. He drew strength from people reaching out via social media or simply through texting encouragement.

A proud plant-based runner, he is in a good headspace today. He doesn’t view 2020 as a lost year in his efforts to compete at the highest levels. In fact, he plans to carry forward a few habits picked up during the pandemic.

“I don’t mind running on my own for the easy runs. It’s kind of nice going for one of my runs on my own, and I would have never experienced that if COVID didn’t happen,” he said. “It’s a nice time to meditate, to be on your own. I used to never listen to music and now I always listen to music if I’m running solo. I do prefer the group aspect, the socializing aspect, but here and there.”

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In 2021, Parrot-Migas is eyeing a handful of the Athletics Canada competitions, including the Royal City Inferno Track and Field Festival in Guelph (June 5), the Victoria (BC) Track Classic (June 9), the Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Track Classic (June 12), and the World Athletics Continental Tour in Montreal (June 29).

Not worried about the Tokyo Games (his push will be for Paris 2024), his personal goals centre around the 5K and 10K this summer, where he’d like to see improvement to his times in the 13:40s and 28:30s, respectively. He ran a 29:07 10K on the roads in the fall and felt smooth doing so. On a track, that number should improve.

In the fall, he’ll explore marathon and half marathon training.

There’s also the matter of a stretch goal out there in the much shorter mile distance.

“I’ve never actually raced the mile outdoors,” Parrot-Migas said. Our coach really wants one of us to break the four-minute barrier in the mile, and I think between our group, one of us can do it. I'll give it a shot. It would be a huge PB (personal best).”

The four-minute mile remains one of the sports elite marks (and, for trivia’s sake, the only non-metric distance recognized by governing bodies). Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco holds the current men’s world record at 3:43.13; Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) holds the women’s mark at 4:12.33.

Those numbers are as wild as they sound.

Parrot-Migas says he has a personal best around 4:10. Shaving off 10 seconds? It’s not as close as it might seem.

“It’s not that close. Ten seconds is actually pretty far away when you’re talking about a four-minute mile,” he said.

Overall, though, goals remain an important part of his routine. Some of those goals would place him at the highest levels, representing Canada in competitions around the world.

“It’s crazy to think,” Parrot-Migas said. “I’m just on the edge of almost making it. As a runner, it’s the greatest honour to represent your country. Only very few people get the opportunity; the standards are that tough. There are maybe 10 athletes who can hit that standard. When people say you could be one of those 10, it’s a crazy feeling.”

Those goals come at the end of a long road. Until then, Parrot-Migas’ plans are much simpler for the short run.

“For this summer, I want to PB, have fun with my friends, and run real fast. Then we’ll see what comes from that.”