Image Credit: Contributed

By Josh Hall / RedDeerNewsNow

Iceberg — A Human Story

Kamloops cross-Canada runner ‘Fast Eddy’ Dostaler pens new book

Aug 19, 2025 | 11:33 AM

RED DEER, AB. — For ‘Fast Eddy’ Dostaler, running across Canada and back was done in the hopes of making the world a better place.

In agreement that he — and whoever else who would dare attempt such a feat — is inspired by Terry Fox, his causes in 2015 and 2016 were Alzheimer’s and breast cancer, and Dostaler’s hunger to help permeated through every community he visited, Red Deer included.

A Hinton, Alberta native, ‘Fast Eddy,’ as he became known, has now written a book entitled Iceberg.

Iceberg is the story of his solo run, but it dives so much deeper than the 80 kilometres he ran each day, and the 27,000 kilometres total.

“That’s only the 10 per cent above the waterline. The other 90 per cent — the part you don’t see unless you look deeper — is where the real story lives. That’s what Iceberg uncovers,” he said, speaking this week to rdnewsNOW.

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CFJC Today and rdnewsNOW interviewed Eddy throughout his journey a decade ago. Clearly a physical specimen, his second visit even included running the Red Deer edition of the Spartan Race — a moment he used to promote causes important to his competitors on his race shirt.

“This is a book about Canada’s heart and about its history — both the parts we celebrate and the parts we avoid talking about. It’s about how we’ve dealt with hardship in the past, how we’re dealing with it now and how we can face the future,” he said.

“Along the way, I met the unsung heroes of this country — ordinary people doing extraordinary things without expecting recognition.”

Dostaler said the book matters now because it’s also about the truths we don’t always want to face, and he’s hoping his story will help heal and unite Canadians.

“Every mile I ran, every presentation I gave, every conversation at the side of the road was about making sure people knew they were seen,” he continues, referring to the countless school classrooms he visited along the way.

That’s something he’s going to continue doing as a public speaker, following the release of his book, which is slated for Oct. 29. Pre-sales, however, are available starting this week on Amazon and IngramSpark.

“When I speak in schools now, I tell students the same thing I told myself on the hardest days of the run: You are seen. You matter. Keep going,” he said.

“That message resonates because it’s not theory — it’s lived experience. I know what it feels like to keep moving forward with no crowd cheering, no finish line in sight.”

Following the run, a decade of reflection and writing a book, Dostaler said it isn’t just about Alzheimer’s and breast cancer, though those remain close to his heart for personal reasons.

Today, his motivation extends to mental health, bullying and harassment, plus perseverance and goal-setting.

Partial proceeds from Iceberg go to Alzheimer’s and breast cancer organizations, as well as the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Canadian Cancer Society, The Ocean Clean Up and Canadian Mental Health Association.

Dostaler recently spoke to Josh Hall of rdnewsNOW for an episode of The Everything Red Deer Podcast. A link to their conversation can be found here.