Run Canada Podcast

There are a lot of people in the world who see the change that is needed, but not a lot who become the change they need to see. Anita Cardinal is that change. Anita is a Nêhiyaw (Cree) runner who became a young mother, worked hard to support her family as a paralegal, and then attended school as a mature student to obtain her law degree. She is the founder of both the run group Indigenous Runner i...

This panel discussion on Adaptive Racing was recorded live on the 2023 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon Speaker Stage. The session was moderated by Fannie Smith, Manager of Para Development for Athletics Canada. The panel included three para-athletes from a variety of backgrounds. Mike Greer has been participating in road races as an adaptive athlete for more than a decade and works with races to h...

It's time to hang out with three-time Olympian, coach, and all around cool human Malindi Elmore! Malindi is our female representative in the marathon for the upcoming Paris Olympics and she is ready to fly. We catch up on the races and the training over the past two years that have not only let her best the Paris standard, but gave her two shiny new PBs in both the half and full marathon. Malindi...

Today on the show I welcome back Olympian Jess O'Connell. Our last chat was what feels like a lifetime ago, so we talked about her post-COVID run at a spot in Tokyo and how healing from a longstanding injury made her discover how much running is a part of her soul. Jess coaches both independently, as the co-owner of Grit Coaching, and also as an Assistant Coach at the University of Calgary, workin...

For our next installment of recordings from the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon Speaker stage, welcome to Sustainability in Sport. This topic is huge: with more and more runners finding their first start line, ensuring that race events can be around for years to come is more vital than ever. Canada Running Series's guru of green, Jen Cerullo, introduces Tina Muir, author of  Becoming a Sustainable...

For our 200th episode together, we are going to love all over our run community. I was joined for my birthday party by Mofope Oyekunle from TeamUltra Black and Kayla Hunt and Emma Ferguson from OCRC (Ottawa City Run Club). What an amazing group of community leaders: these three humans care deeply about our sport and encourage all the people to join them. We talked about what it takes to make a tru...

Eric Chéné has loved sports, both playing them and watching them, basically forever. He has spent his adult years working his way through various sports logistics jobs, which grew his skill set to land him in the job he's had for the last decade: Race Director of the Vancouver International Marathon Society, host of the BMO Vancouver Marathon. Eric is at the epicentre of Canada's largest running b...

Many things make our local run communities amazing, but one of those things that has the power to take it up a notch is a fantastic local run shop. Caroline Fisher, co-owner of Big Sky Running Company in Winnipeg, was hooked on running as a teenager when she first logged miles with her mother and her run group at Running Room. It inspired her to reach for big goals early on, running her first mara...

Sawyer Nicholson is a pretty special human being. This twelve-year-old runs fast. Crazy fast. Like world-record-in-her-age-category fast. But her real superpower is the amazingly balanced perspective and joy she brings to her sports (she is also an amazing soccer player). Sawyer has big goals and wants to continue improving her skills as she grows, but she also recognizes that if it isn't fun, it'...

Samantha Jory is ridiculously humble for a runner who started running during COVID, started racing in 2022, and is now one of Athletics Canada's top-ranking women in the half marathon for 2024. Sam has always loved team sports and had active parents who were role models for her growing up in British Columbia; now she delights in trail running with friends and road racing in this beautiful province...

Chix Run the 6ix may have been born when the world was telling us to stay apart, but the heart of what they do is all about community. From the speaker stage at the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, moderator and co-founder Amanda Richardson and her panel talk about how (as genuinely busy people) they find time and space to prioritize their own goals and how being part of the Chix helps to make it...

Cheryl Zealand is smart, funny, kind, and one of the biggest boss ladies I know. If you live in Manitoba and are active, you probably already know her as the owner of Cranked Energy, producers of freshly made high protein energy bars that she spent years perfecting the recipe of. Since Cranked is celebrating its tenth anniversary this week, we talk all about business, fitness, and running and how...

We have reached the third installment of our chat with Emelyn Jade and we find her ten weeks out from her race. Things are heating up: she's swimming three days a week, getting in some brick sessions and long runs, and learning how to fuel herself properly through all of it to have successful outcomes. We also discuss what she's eating. Are eggs a good pairing with honey and/or peanut butter? What...

If you don't already know Gaby Estrada, get ready to meet your new favourite boss. Gaby and I last spoke a year and a half ago when she had just officially taken on her new role as Executive Director of one of my favourite not-for-profit organizations, Fast & Female. Gaby and I caught up on what it's been like taking on this challenging role and all of the work she and her team have been busy doin...

In the third installment of recordings from the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon stage: Women in the Marathon. This event was the second live discussion held by Canada Running Series to examine women's challenges in getting to the start line, this time focusing on the marathon. Moderated by Michelle Kay with Sasha Gollish and Melanie Murzeau, the panel was a beautiful cross-section of female runner...

Lauren Mantha is deep in the midst of figuring out her path in life and trying a bunch of new things along the way. This is how running came to her: she likes to be active and fit and is open to new experiences. You will notice we talk a lot more about her career than usual on the show: she is shifting gears from working as a Registered Nurse to completing a Graduate Certificate in Public Relation...

Ailsa MacDonald has already had an incredible athletic career, but in so many ways, she's just getting started. As someone who has been sporty since birth, Ailsa has done it all: cycling, road running, triathlon, Ironman, and now she focuses her talents on ultra distances and trail running. She has had such a myriad of accomplishments it was impossible to talk about all of them. But what makes Ail...

This week was Valentine's Day, so to keep it on brand, I asked my SOLE mate, founder of Black Runners of the GTA & the Scarborough 5K Melanie Murzeau to spend some quality time with me.  Melanie and I both came up with a list of four runners that we love and came back together to discuss our picks and why and see if we had any of the same answers. This would also not be an episode of the pod witho...

This episode is for all of my runner friends who love the science behind the sport as much as I do. Megan Kuikman is a Registered Dietician, sports nutrition specialist and is currently completing her PhD at the Australian Catholic University in Sydney. Megan is passionate about addressing the gender gaps in sports nutrition information, so she is diving deep into female-driven studies. Megan talk...

In the second in our series of recordings from the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, we join Miguel Pink and Quinton Jacobs on the Emergence of New Run Crews.  Migz founded Me vs Me, a run crew he started during the pandemic to help himself and others improve their mental and physical health. Running helped him transform himself and at the same time, create a community space where people connect an...

Katie Rylance is a teacher and a mother of four. During COVID, she felt deeply dissatisfied with her health and physical fitness, so she decided to take the first steps. She bought herself a treadmill and started walking and then running. She learned to run; and she learned to treat her body well with proper fueling. In time, she ran her first 5K, which led to more races, which led her to the star...

At the end of November 2023, we lost a Canadian women's Masters icon, Helly Visser. At 89 years old, she left us still holding twelve Canadian Masters records and three world masters records. She was inducted into the Canadian Masters Hall of Fame in 2010 and twice honoured as Alberta's Masters Athlete of the Year.  Helly was a mainstay of the Calgary running community. She was always there encour...

Running in January is hard. Finding inspiration in January is hard. So this one is for all of you on the struggle bus because this is going to light your fire. Recorded live at the 2023 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, this session was hosted by the incredible Allison Hill and the beautiful women of Hill Run Club. Allison shares the core of what HRC is all about; Class of 2023 Coach Nadia Clarke C...

Do you want to talk about new goals for the new year? Me too! Founder and Head Coach of Skyline Run Coaching Lynsey Romano and I dig deep into setting ourselves up for success in 2024. We start with the basics of why goal setting is so important,  then talk about what goals can do for us as runners and people. We also talk about the feelings that come with working hard towards a goal and dealing w...

Welcome back to installment two of this series! Emelyn Jade has been hard at work training, and we talk all about the challenges of getting motivated in the off season, working through the weather, and dragging ourselves out of bed on hard days. We also go off on a tangent about pineapple, and I look forward to hearing your feedback after you listen... the divide is real. Emelyn also shares what h...