'The one thing I never gave up': Running brings Sask. Marathon-winning couple through addictions battle

It took Celeste Cross Child just under three hours and 19 minutes to win the women's division of the Saskatchewan Marathon on Sunday. But the 39-year-old mother of four has won much bigger battles along the way to becoming one half of the first-ever couple to win the marathon — with race victories 21 years apart.

"When I saw her run on Sunday, she really inspired me, because she's awesome," said her daughter, Jaira, as she competed at Saskatoon's high school track championships on Thursday.

"Her hard work, everything she does, it just really inspires me."

For nearly a decade, Cross Child held her family together through her husband's battle with gambling and alcohol addictions.

"He was more of a runner than I was," Cross Child recalled. Her husband, Tarrant Cross Child, won the Saskatchewan Marathon in 1998.

"Then to watch him turn away from it, and turn away from all the healthy choices that he had made into these unhealthy choices, slowly — everything was so destructive."

Through it all, Cross Child stuck with her husband — and with her running.

"It was one thing that I never gave up. I had to sacrifice a lot of things, but I made sure I had that for myself," she said.

Tarrant Cross Child has since battled back from his addictions, and competed in the half-marathon on Sunday. 

As much as running has been a part of their lives, they now try to share their love of the sport with others. The couple hold running clinics and encourage kids to run, showing them it can be a force to not only keep active, but also to stay positive.  

Their own children have picked up the message, with Jaira winning the 1,500-metre race and coming second in the 800-metre at her last-ever high school track meet.

She has miles to go before she's ready to rest, chasing her mother's inspiration.

"I want to follow in her footsteps and hopefully run a marathon one day."