Run Canada Podcast

 Have you ever imagined yourself coming up to the finish chute of a race, seeing the tape held out in front of you, running up and breaking it? Ana Fray did. And then she went out and made it happen. Ana is a masters elite marathoner who ran their 24 th marathon at the 2023 P'tit Train du Nord in Quebec and broke that beautiful tape as the first female. Ana and I talk about how the lack of ellipti...

Gaby Alcala was born in Oaxaca, Mexico and came to live in the United States when she was just 19 years old. And she had a six-month-old baby. And she didn't speak English. If this all sounds ridiculously brave to you, buckle up. Gaby is an ultra runner and a Running with Purpose Advocate for Rising Hearts: an indigenous-led grassroots organization that works to elevate indigenous voices and suppo...

We are keeping the fourth-anniversary party going a wee bit longer so that we can relisten to one of the most downloaded and one of my favourite episodes to date. This episode was originally recorded in 2020 during lockdown when Gabriela DeBues Stafford and her younger sister Lucia Stafford were quaratined with their family in Ontario. I was so lucky to catch them together at the same time and ref...

I let the fourth anniversary of the show slip by unnoticed in October, but it's time to get up and celebrate! In this episode, I look back at just a handful of this year's amazing guests and think about what it has meant to make change in the running industry in 2023. Many things are happening, and it's a great time for us to take a beat and celebrate the fantastic people standing up and making th...

EPISODE ONE: "I'm so delulu" When I saw that friend of the show, Emelyn Jade, was planning to take on her first Half Ironman in Victoria in May 2024, I couldn't think of anything more fun than following her journey to the start line. In the first episode of this series, Emelyn and I chat about her why, first emotions, and how the first couple of weeks of training are going.   Follow Emelyn's train...

Nadia Clarke Cordick is a powerhouse: she is a fitness, nutritional and wellness coach through her company Repetitions Fitness, but also an educator who is committed to continuing her own studies as well. I met Nadia at the Speaker Series of the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, where she talked about her work with Hill Run Club's Class of 2023. Nadia is constantly learning more about the things sh...

Nattalyee Randall started running (as many of us do) in an effort to lose weight. She did just that, but what she gained was a love for the sport. And more than that, she found a way to use running as activism: her movements became protests. Nattalyee who is a talented singer, actor, director and writer, created the 50 Mile Protest Run for Justice. The run, and the documentary she made to share it...

What do running partnerships look like, and how can they make us better runners? We dug deep into these questions live from the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon Expo. Olympian Dayna Pidhoresky and her coach and husband Josh Seifarth discussed mixing business with home life and how they make it work. Twin sisters April and Melanie Boultbee talk about living and running together and how that choice h...

In this week's episode, we are talking about mental health and running with journalist Stacey Munro. Trigger warning: this episode deals with the pandemic and the feelings and emotions of the lockdown, and the coping mechanisms it took all of us to get through it. As a journalist with no choice but to confront the news of every day but to meet it head-on, Stacey used running as her main outlet and...

Flagstaff, AZ, resident Emily Durgin is heading to the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon to join the elite field on Sunday, October 15, 2023! Emily has had her ups and downs with running: from a thrilling school debut to some challenges and then successes in college, to amazing races that put her in the spotlight as a professional athlete, to injuries and more. But here's the lesson: throughout all...

It's another chat with my favourite coconut bun loving steeplechaser, Regan Yee! Since we last talked, she's earned two National titles in the 3000m Steeplechase, taken two trips to Worlds, a trip to NACAC, and even run a Diamond League in Eugene. Oh, did I forget to mention she went to the Olympics? Silly me. Now based in Flagstaff, Arizona and running with Under Armour's elite training team Miss...

I have been thinking a lot lately about the message I shared with all of you last year as I was in peak of training for the Chicago Marathon. This year, I have no fall races in the books, and I am kinda full of FOMO. I thought I would share with you how things feel for me right now and how the feelings I had this time last year are strangely still true. So enjoy the Ghost of Races Past and the Gho...

Julie-Anne Staehli has had a heck of a year: World Cross Country Championships in Australia, top three at Nationals in the 5000, and just recently returned from World Championships in Budapest. Now she's also been named to her eighth national team and will run the 5K at the World Road Racing Championships in Latvia. While I invited Julie-Anne to the show to talk about Budapest, our conversation ve...

When I saw that the fantastic Robyn Mildren had won the Squamish 50K, I immediately wanted to have her back on the show. But I also know how swamped she is with work and training. So I asked her if she would do a half-hour, rapid-fire episode and she graciously offered to squish it into her day. But I should have known better: Robyn is extremely smart and thoughtful, and our rapid fire was not so...

Join me for the most fun you are going to have all day: it's Kim and Michelle Krezonoski! These Thunder Bay, Ontario-born twins have been running together since they attended Midwestern State University in Texas. In 2022, they took on their first marathon (the California International Marathon) and became the year's 11 th and 12 th fastest Canadian women. These two are full of wisdom  (how good is...

Lauren Andrews is the kind of runner who has always felt a passion for the sport deep in her soul. She's pushed and driven and explored to find where her limits might be as a runner and just kept going. When she and her husband decided that they wanted to try to start a family, she had no idea how much she was going to need the mental and physical strength that she had learned in her years so far....

Keri Wong is a dedicated member of her run community in Toronto, particularly with her home crew Kardia. While this girl always looks like she's having a good time (that's because she is), she also has a lot of big goals in mind for her running. Amongst her accomplishments, she can list completing five marathons and two triathlons with more for both on the horizon. As part of the TCS Toronto Water...

Last week, the Toronto Waterfront Marathon held a run and panel discussion to talk about the fact that   last year only 28% of their marathon registrants were women. These conversations, along with some survey data they had collected ahead of the event were the beginning of a fire lit in panellist Sasha Gollish: elite runner and community superhero. I chatted with Sasha about the panel discussion,...

Denoja Uthayakumar has had her share of challenges in life, but she made the choice never to let them keep her down. After being diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age five, she has continued to deal with the physical and mental health concerns related to it as an adult. But Denoja has taken those challenges and made sunshine with them. She has an indelible presence in the running community: in pers...

Maggie Dunlop came to the marathon a bit later in life, but she is making up for lost time with a major drive to succeed. Maggie has worked as an Athletic Therapist with various sports disciplines and then added Doctor of Chiropractic to her tool belt. She now works with athletes and patients in Burlington, ON. Maggie has had a quick succession of great races, thanks in part to her training with c...

If you are a listener who lives in Toronto and love running and beer, you may already know my guest. Chef Tara Lee and her brewmaster husband, Dave, own Eastbound Brewing Company: a brewer and farm-to-table kitchen in Leslieville. She is also a half, full and ultra-marathon runner, which I'm still unsure how she finds time for! Tara and I chat about run crews: the Eastbound Brewery Run Crew and Th...

Last week, I was working to help put on the Manitoba Marathon. As the week went, I put a few videos on social to give you a bit of a peek behind the curtain. I wanted to extend that with a bit of a week's recap with our staff team: Executive Director Rachel Munday and Programs Manager Sarah Carroll. I hope you get a little bit of an understanding of what goes into race week, and I hope that what y...

I want you to imagine a race so steeped in history in time it is the oldest road race in North America. A race so epic it runs at the tail end of the winter and challenges runners to 30 kilometres of roads, hills and water. A race so supported by its community that nothing stops them from celebrating the runners and the traditions of its beautiful city every year. Who could possibly manage all of...

 Jenny Tough is the ultimate adventurer. Originally from Calgary, but now living in the UK, Jenny is a writer, filmmaker, and ultra bike racer. Oh, did I forget to mention that in 2021 she became the first person to run unsupported across mountain ranges on six continents? No biggie. Jenny is the author of the amazing book SOLO: What running across mountains taught me about life  as well as the ed...

Shake and Bake! It's 76 questions with my sole mate, Melanie Murzeau. Founder of Black Runners of the GTA and creator of the Scarborough 5K, Melanie and I get to what's important: how early does one human need to get up before a race to feel prepared? How much can she love water? Why is it that the grosser comfort food looks, the more delicious it becomes? All this and more on this week's show......