After running through the gamut of rock ‘n’ roll shoes, the carbon plate—dare we even say it?—seems to have lost some of its allure. Like the Tesla when it was the only car that was electric, carbon plates—a revelation in energy return used to propel momentum, lift the heel and offer midsole support—are now somewhat ubiquitous. Most major shoe brands offer some variation of more or less the same thing.
This is what makes the SuperComp Elite v3 from New Balance a revelation. We no longer instantly feel a jolt when brandishing these once nearly-outlawed shoes. The jolt must now come from the actual sneaker and the New Balance SuperComp Elite v3 feels like the start of something new. Light and peppy and low to the ground, the men’s sized 9 sneaker weighs 229 grams and has a 4mm drop. The ride is responsive, cushioned and propulsive. It’s aerodynamic, but here’s the thing: even after 35K, the lightweight trainer still provides adequate ankle support. Far from flimsy, somehow the SuperComp Elite v3 from New Balance has achieved the running shoe holy grail: light, but substantive; fast, but cushioned enough to lend a tired marathon runner support.
The shoe retails at $299 and boasts a synthetic upper and integrated tongue construction, which means there’s no extra material on your shoe: like a slipper, the whole shoe is just a single piece. On the website runningshoesguru.com, the reviewer called the shoe “nippy,” and I agree. With its elevated toe box and energy arc extending back towards the heel, the FuelCell SuperComp Elite v3 feels like you’re actually wearing a different kind of shoe—one with wings.
Give it up to the carbon plate shoe revolution. Each new model seems to elevate the science of what competitive runners can expect in a shoe. The new elite shoe from New Balance runs kilometres away from the competition. This is the next evolution of what can be done in a carbon plate shoe.
Big Sky Run Company is an independent running store opening next month in Winnipeg that was founded in love. Owners Caroline Fisher and Josh Markham, pictured above, were both university athletes and a friend connected them fifteen years ago. “Oh, you’re a runner. How fast do you go?” Fisher remembers asking Markham at Cousins, a local bar popular with kids from the university. “We started running together and eventually running together meant ‘running and breakfast’ and ‘running and Scrabble in the park’ and, well, the rest is history—we’ve been married ten years.”
Still feeling the warm fuzzies from Valentine’s Day, and trying to connect with the heart of our sport, we reached out to readers and asked them what is it about their running shoes that connects soles to soulmates. Many of our readers met their match on a run.
“My husband and I met at a local running store that had a Thursday night run. We continued running every Thursday night until I couldn’t push our two boys in the stroller because they got too big. To this day, our favourite date includes a run. This year will be sixteen years together,” said Megan-Workman-Major, a reader in Thunder Bay.
“I met Noel Paine when we both became ambassadors for Ottawa Race Weekend. Running is what connected us, and we’ve been together ever since,” said Ottawa’s Nina Ryan, pictured above.
Marathoner Iana Kotliarova said: “My boyfriend and I met through Midnight Runners Toronto at the start of the pandemic. Still running a year later and we ran the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon together! Next stop is the Chili Half and then Boston for him this year and, next year, Boston for me!”
It makes sense that hormones should fly on the run: people are perspiring, endorphins kick in; in the summertime, you’re barely clad—plus, there’s shared lifestyles, common goals, plenty to talk about, mutual interests and friends, and all those post-race beers. Who else will empathize with your taper crazies? Holidays in Berlin or Tokyo and forgetting about all-inclusives. Runners like going somewhere far and expensive—dedicating our vacation time to eating spaghetti and bagels, pushing ourselves on a run.
“I think for any couple it’s nice to have a goal, but running gave us something we could share and provided a shorthand: whether recovering from an injury or dealing with post-marathon blues, it’s a language we have in common,” explains Big Sky’s Caroline Fisher. “I think it’s probably the same for two musicians who are partners—somehow on a deeper level, runners intuitively understand what another runner values. Between Josh and I, running is an anchor for the relationship we share.”
We’ve long since wanted to create something like a Missed Connections portal on Sportstats, taking a page from Craigslist, which was a personals section where singles described the person they saw, but couldn’t muster the courage to meet. How many times have you seen someone at a race or a run and thought: Wow, if only I was as fast as her, we could fall in love?
“I remember running the Philly Marathon and saw this gorgeous guy running much faster than me. I tried to keep up with him,” says Joanne Merrett, “but unfortunately I didn’t catch him. I never saw him again.”
Hope springs eternal in running, and we’re always trying to find something different, whether it’s in a new training program, race, or shoe. You have to be optimistic to be a runner. Why else would you spend six months chasing a dream? In that same sense, you also need hope to embark on a relationship, to settle down with someone, to open a store like Caroline and Josh in Winnipeg, or be like Megan and her partner, and have two kids. How does running, like love, keep you hopeful? Last week, we started a contest with On, the great Swiss shoe brand, and asked readers to share how running made them feel good. We’re going to extend this contest through Friday. Tell us how running gives you hope, and On will set two lucky winners up with socks, headband and a toque.
We still have a ways to go to get through winter. Share how running makes you hopeful—and smile at the next stranger you see who just might make you want to share closet space for your sneakers for life.
With participants from over sixty countries, the Toronto Marathon, celebrating its twentieth anniversary this May, has cemented its place as Canada’s premier spring race. There are distances between 5K and the marathon, and the course is fast and a popular qualifier for the Boston Marathon. This year, in an effort to create the greatest experience for Canadian and American participants, bibs and shirts can be sent out to racers, adding to the general ease of attending the event. However, none of that truly captures the magic of this race. Because what makes it so popular both with Canadians and race participants from all over the world is the energy. There’s nothing quite like the big city racing buzz.
With their famous psyching team, which offers encouragement to runners before, during and after their race, and top-notch medical team, the Toronto Marathon comes together behind experienced leadership and top-notch volunteers. It’s incremental improvement and attention to detail that has set the team effort up for 2023 success.
Meanwhile, the pandemic has only added to the pool of potential race participants and, while the numbers are still being tallied, there’s no doubt that the sport of running is seeing another big boom. With so many new runners approaching the sport, and so many people of all abilities discovering running but who have potentially never raced before, it’s an opportunity to welcome everyone to the Toronto Marathon. There’s nothing quite like racing down one of North America’s biggest cities.
The course of the Toronto Marathon snakes through Toronto and extends along the waterfront and, thanks to a long-term partnership with Sportstats, friends and families are able to track each racer in real time. The Toronto Marathon, kicking off May 7, has eighteen water and aid stations and, given the unpredictable nature of Ontario’s spring, the finish line area is tented and heated. Meanwhile, while finishers enjoy great finish line food, they’re also entitled to a free massage. So as Canadians work their way through the winter, vibes are starting to feel good for racing in Toronto this spring.
The result is energy and the buzz across North America surrounding the Toronto event is loud and growing ever more louder. The run has already raised more than $8-million for Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and other charities and 2023 is shaping up to be the biggest, and best, year yet.
The Toronto Marathon will be held Sunday, May 7, 2023 in Toronto, Canada. For all of your information, please see TorontoMarathon.com, and follow along on Instagram, @TorontoMarathon.
Ben Flanagan isn’t only one of Canada’s best runners, he’s certainly amongst our most ambitious. The holder of Canadian records in the 10K and half marathon, he makes no bones about being greedy in his desire for even more slots in the record book.
“I was happy last year setting road records, but everything this season is about making the national team and qualifying for the World Championships this summer,” he told me, before the 28-year-old went on to set a new personal best in the 3000-metre last weekend at the New Balance Grand Prix. “All of my decisions right now are based upon accomplishing that goal.”
The one thing you probably share in common with Ben Flanagan is a desire to achieve your goal. However, there’s certainly a sweet spot between safety and going hard, taking a day off or completing one last rep and, like when the temperature drops to below negative-40 in Manitoba, running outdoors in three pairs of mittens or skipping your workout, saving your energy for another day.
Flanagan, a sponsored athlete for the buzzy new Swiss company On, has spent oodles of time thinking about glory and pain. He’s suffered stress fractures and says that, eighteen months ago: “I literally broke.” So while Flanagan continues dreaming big—including setting the 5K record, qualifying for the Olympics and, eventually, scaling up to the marathon—he’s also meticulously cautious: he’s stepped over the ledge and he’s gotten himself burned.
“I have a negative relationship with the term ‘punishment,’ and prefer ‘sacrifice,’ as a framing method, and it’s good to have an understanding of what you’re putting yourself through,” continued Flanagan. “When you finish a workout that’s so challenging that you never want to do it again, that’s problematic and not sustainable—and probably does more damage than good.”
It’s interesting the concept of ‘damage,’ because working out is, by definition, tearing your muscles apart and rebuilding them to be stronger. The process, by definition, is uncomfortable. But how much discomfort is helpful, especially when trying to go further and faster and finding a new threshold for your own capabilities? Flanagan pushed himself past his breaking point, learned his lesson, and now is aware of his body, and his times improved. The question is: how should all of this relate to you?
“I’ll run solidly into the -30s, because nothing makes you feel like more of a super hero than coming home from a run in those temperatures and being able to say that you did it,” says Kirsten Parker, who, in addition to hosting the podcast Women Run Canada, works at the Manitoba Marathon, one of Canada’s best summer events. Parker, a proud middle-of-the-pack athlete, has asthma and knows that icy roads are dangerous, but says there’s a mental edge she gains when defeating the elements. She said, “Knowing that you are doing something that 90% of the population thinks is crazy feels good!”
FROZEN: Parker, on the run in Winnipeg.
Obviously the hurt we feel in practice can translate into race day success and some of the reason why we run in the first place is the feeling of accomplishment after achieving difficult things. But our hobby shouldn’t always be punishment and if your workouts leave you crippled, it will be difficult to sustain. Flanagan also brought up an interesting training phenomenon in our conversation, which could be another way of framing the conversation: momentum.
Whether it’s a long run or a training day off, as runners we strive to build consistency. And so if a hard run knocks you out for the rest of the week—and then you have to rebuild your base, and in the meantime you polished off a Dominoes Pizza—that workout wasn’t worth the long-term equation. On the other hand, if speed work in the dark and cold led to a breakthrough: if you ran into the wind, surprised yourself, and then hit your next workout refuelled, the degree of difficulty would have proved a success. Since training is a process, says Flanagan, each run, each race, should set up the goal on your journey.
Even Ben Flanagan says our sport is about the long run, not about the sprint.
“When I’m faced with challenges, the two things I emphasize are motivation and momentum, and how will each of my specific decisions affect those two things,” Flanagan says. “Every once in a while, it’s not bad to go to deep uncomfortable states, but you have to prioritize sustainability and good habits. I found out the hard way that happiness over the long-term leads to better success than that naive mentality of grind-or-die.”
Since we all know running gets tough, especially in Canada in February, On wanted to extend a helping hand (or foot) to the iRun readers. Tell us how running makes you feel good, and two lucky runners will get merino socks, headband, and a toque or running cap, courtesy of On. A perfect serum for easing your suffering as we head towards spring.Leave your comments down below.
Like many Canadians, to me Bruce Kidd is a legend. My story with Bruce dates back to 1996 when I started running with the University of Toronto’s Junior Development Track and Field Program. First as a high school student, later transitioning to my undergraduate studies in 2000 I have fond memories seeing Bruce walking the halls of the Clara Benson building, where the indoor track is housed, with Liz Hoffman. These two people were such a duo changing sport for the better across the university and internationally. Aspirationally, I want to do similar work to Bruce and Liz.
I learned so much more about Kidd reading, A Runner’s Journey. And yes, as a fellow middle distance runner I was curious about the training he did to find success on the track, but more than that I wanted to get to know him through this memoir. Kidd literally changed the world through all the advocacy work he’s done and continues to do. From women’s sport to sport for development to physical buildings I use and work out of at the University, Kidd makes the world a better place.
Post-pandemic I think we all have an appreciation for the importance of physical activity in children’s lives, and even in our own lives. We think more clearly, we sleep better, we make better eating choices, so we perform better at work and/or school. Yet, there are more and more cutbacks to physical education from the aspect of time, money and where it is in children’s lives. As people go back to the office finding the time and space in their schedules to be active, despite knowing the benefits. Kidd weaves a narrative of how he continues to manage his own physical activity to help him be the best advocate.
BUY THE BOOK: Kidd waxes poetically and, prophetically, in A Runner’s Journey.
While Kidd benefited from a sports system that privileged high performance he immediately saw this program’s narrow focus shortcomings neglecting the social purpose. I’d go even further to argue that sport for development is needed alongside high performance sport, because without everyone in the system, the high performers do not have competitors to reach the pinnacle of their performance. Then layer on the social, economical, physical, emotional, and health benefits of sport for development.
Kidd took a road less travelled.
For most athletes, when they leave sport they are left confused as to what to do next. Kidd was so wrapped up in first his studies and advocacy work, and later as a leader and professor at the University of Toronto, that he had a natural place to land. And I think Kidd would also argue that his drive for excellence academically and professionally drove him for excellence on the track too.
I cannot wait to sit down with Bruce Kidd to learn more about his and your Runner’s Journey on Tuesday February 21st at 7pm EST. To sign up for the (free!) event, please click here.
Have a question for Bruce Kidd about A Runner’s Journey? To submit questions in advance of Sasha’s Stories, please use this link: https://forms.gle/K5MGYMuBcZ1ifWyr7
Founded in 1985 by Canadian Olympians and truly extraordinary people, Doug and Diane Clement, the Vancouver Sun Run is one of North America’s largest 10Ks, and was built upon being an event for us all.
“If I can get someone to walk the Sun Run one year and then walk-run it the next, we’re winning,” says Tim Hopkins, the Sun Run race director who has been at the helm of the west coast’s most popular running event since 2005. “We want to see people getting out, being active and making a physical change in their lifestyle and one thing that brings people back every year is the energy and positivity of the event—they fall in love with it, and it’s contagious.”
The Sun Run’s numbers have risen and fallen alongside running’s popularity crests and this year Hopkins has reason to be excited. With a boom happening in our sport since COVID, Hopkins delights in explaining the team aspect of his run, in which corporations and youth teams bring together groups of ten or more to participate.
“We’ve found through the years it’s a really healthy programs for schools, organizations and charities and brings people together in a fun way to challenge themselves,” says Hopkins, mentioning the Sun Run attracts close to one thousand teams and is looking to increase that number this year by offering each team their own customized race day shirts, complete with team names and numbers. “The team element of the Sun Run gives our event a particular identity of camaraderie and sportsmanship and it’s important to tell all of Canada that the program is still wide open and all are invited to join!”
Teams Work: The Vancouver Sun Run aims to attract as many as 1,000 teams.
While the Sun Run carries on an important tradition, it remains constantly iterating to attract the maximum number of Canadian athletes. According to Hopkins, we’re all athletes, and the mission of the Sun Run is to provide the largest, friendliest platform in the world.
“Doug and Diane are now in their late 80s and still participate in every Sun Run and they’re great ambassadors of the Sun Run mission—honestly, there’s nothing like it in the rest of Canada,” says Hopkins, with a smile. “Today, while we see a lot of new runners and new teams signing up, it feels like a new day for the Sun Run. I think the 2023 edition of the Vancouver Sun Sun will be a stepping stone for the next forty years.”
The Vancouver Sun Run is being held this year on April 16, 2023. For more information, please click here.
Our most popular story last year—by about the distance she beats most grown-up runners—was on Sawyer Nicholson, who, at 10-years-old, won the 5K at the Niagara Falls International Marathon. Being geniuses, we decided to check in on her again—and two days later she broke the provincial under-13 record in the indoor 2,000 metres (6:49:64) and set a PB, at the same meet, in the 1,200, running 3:57:84.
The kid is fast, and she’s only getting faster.
Little Feet: Sawyer en route to breaking the Athletics Ontario under-13 record.
“I like that I can express myself in my running and show people what I can do,” she told us, from her home in Stouffville, Ontario, a place that’s now been filmed by the CBC, who placed Sawyer at the centre of their evening news broadcast. “The number one thing I want to do is improve all my times and make them as fast as they can possibly can get this year. I really like being on the podium.”
The podium is a place Nicholson has grown increasingly comfortable on, since storming the running world with first place wins at the Zoo Run in Toronto and the 5K in Niagara Falls. To be clear: the 11-year-old isn’t only beating other children, she’s beating grown-up athletes, including men with Boston Marathon tattoos and $350 sneakers. Nicholson, who wears her hair dyed pink at the edges and had pizza both for lunch and dinner on the day last week when we spoke, doesn’t seem to be wilting under the pressure. She laughed often, and had a teddy bear visible on her bed. Often times her race bibs cover most of her shirt. But that’s not to belie her generational talent.
The kid runs like the wind.
“I don’t really think about stuff when I’m running, I kind of just think about getting to the end and how I’ll feel when it’s over and I’ve accomplished what I want to accomplish,” she said. “A lot of people are cheering for me and I want to keep pushing and it might hurt right now, but I’ve done races a lot and I know that feeling will soon be over, and I know that I’ll feel really proud.”
Small Wonder: Sawyer Nicholson, standing out from the crowd.
Her personal best in the 5K is 18:55; 3,000 metres is 10:45, and 1,500 metres is 5:04. All of these times are faster than mine and I’m the editor of iRun and wrote a marathon training book and have done Boston twice. She doesn’t spend much time thinking about her form and often her race strategy consists of: just go! It could be that Sawyer just loves running and it could be that grace is also part of her success. I asked her how she celebrates her wins.
“I make sure to say good job to everyone in the race because I would want people to do that to me,” she said. “It’s not really about the medal; like, someone might out-race you even if you have a great race, but it’s just like, ‘Oh man, wow – that person really ran a great race, you know? Congratulations!’ You shouldn’t be upset, just motivated to try again.”
Nicholson tried again after our conversation and set an Athletics Ontario record and brought her dream of running for Canada in this summer’s Junior Olympics one step closer to being real. With each passing race, the 11-year-old gains ground on her fellow runners, becoming one of Canada’s brightest stars. Could she be the next Lanni Marchant, Gabbi Stafford, Andre de Grasse or Krista DuChene? She doesn’t know, but she’s trying. I asked her what it feels like to be Canada’s fastest 11-year-old and she smiled.
The other day I hosted Sarah Kiriliuk and Luc Zoratto for a frank conversation about Canada’s new risk guidelines regarding alcohol and the two-drink-per-week limit for safe consumption. The conversation, since the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, made their recommendation has been divisive and vocal, illustrating how large a role alcohol plays in our lives.
“Good times we celebrate with alcohol, tough times we mourn with alcohol, it’s been ingrained with us for so long,” said Zoratto, a Boston Marathon finisher who has been six years alcohol free. His daughter is 3 years old and he posts often about drinking and running on his Instagram handle, @marathon2sobriety. “Alcohol is pervasive in society, but I’ve also seen a huge change in the perception of alcohol around the new guidelines and I don’t think it’s about ‘sober vs. not sober,’ but rather just being mindful: why do we drink? This week has been good for paying attention.”
Sarah Kiriliuk is the founder of SomeGoodCleanFun and a runner who once held a benefit jog called #DanforthStrong two days after the 2018 shooting in her neighbourhood. Luc calls her a celebrity in the alcohol-free world, and Sarah has strong views. When I mentioned that some runners, including Olympians, have defended their drinking, she said: “That says something about the pervasiveness of alcohol that an Olympian would defend a carcinogen.”
She has begun a campaign that she calls Rethinking Drinking.
“When you stop and think about it, it’s not necessarily that what you crave is wine, but rather you want someone to rub your feet,” she says. “We’ve normalized alcohol through ingrained messaging: ‘have some wine, it will solve all your problems.’ But we know that’s not true and it’s important to remember that and find healthy solutions to our problems. The idea is to eliminate involuntary actions.”
Kiriliuk, who stopped running two years ago though vows to return—she says her running became punitive, and she associated it with punishing herself and looks to explore that relationship—says runners doing Dry January may want to extend their streak into February, and beyond. (As a runner currently practicing Dry January, I found her words rang true).
“You don’t need alcohol to enjoy an engagement and it’s just about ingrained re-programming about how we live and behave,” she says. “To be clear: the new Canadian guidelines say that zero drinks is the best for you, and two drink-per-week is low risk—there is still a risk of cancer with alcohol consumption, it’s only that the risk goes down with the less you consume.”
Luc says that it makes sense for the running community to pay special attention to the new study.
“In the running community, I think we all want to be healthy. We’re all in the same family,” he says, “At the very least the new guidelines are positive because it tells us all to take a second, pause, and think about our relationship with alcohol.”
With many races now offering a free beer at the finish line and run crews famously enjoying post-long run brews at brunch—one of the most famous and largest global run clubs is the Harriers, who bills itself as a drinking club with a running problem—it could be time for runners to examine their relationship with booze. “You work hard and you need to reward yourself, I get that culture,” says Luc, “but why do you need that drink and what’s the going to do for you? I think it’s just about asking yourself questions, which is always something healthy to do.”
Runners are health conscious by nature and we train, and abstain and work hard, because we have goals that we’re trying to achieve. We all want to feel good and enjoy success, both in and out of our running shoes. The attention around the new alcohol guidelines help highlight the alcohol conversation for our community. People love drinking. Runners included. Everyone needs to make their own decisions, but all we’re trying to do is promote the conversation. Be conscious of your choices. Celebrate your free will.
“When it comes to drinking, just like sugar or anything else, it’s all about making healthy choices,” says Sarah of SomeGoodCleanFun. “This is not a conversation about sobriety, this is a conversation about wellness and health and that’s important for everyone—whether or not you run.”
I’ve always said that I will know it’s time to make a change based on how I feel. And now more than ever is the perfect time to finish writing this marathon chapter of my life.
I’m not saying I’m finished running; I know I will always want to run. In fact, next on my bucket list is a jump down to a cross country race and up to a 50 miler. And there will always be another marathon. But while we will have our three kids at home for only one more school year, I want to have more time and energy for other things. I want to cook more decent meals again with less thrown together. I want to return to baking cookies instead of buying them. And amongst other things, I want to stay up later at night and be able to get our boys from the gym while not hiding in my pyjamas.
JUST KIDS: Krista on her way to 2:39:07 at the 2010 Tamarack Ottawa Marathon, her first National Championship.
The best part about this marathon journey is that I wanted it simply because I enjoyed running and setting goals. Although we never needed it as a source of income for our family, it and the other paths I earned along with it, became one. While we were able to upgrade my van with some of the prize money I earned from unexpectedly placing third at the Boston Marathon, we were content with the one I had.
I could train and compete locally and at an international level for the pure joy of it.
Recently, while at my daughter’s hockey practice, I was asked how my training was going for my next marathon. I explained that this one was different, much like how I felt when I knew it was my last pregnancy or some other “last” life event. It would likely be the final time I’d invest this much in the event I had done for the past 21 years. The dads nodded their heads and we continued to chat. And then, one commented that I was fortunate to do it on my terms, which resonated with me; I most definitely am.
JUST DID IT: After completing her Olympic marathon in 2016 in Brazil, Krista DuChene finds her husband for a kiss.
My first marathon was something I wanted to try for fun, after retiring from hockey and returning to running. It led me to become the (then) second fastest Canadian with a time one hour faster than my first. It also gave me the opportunity to later compete for Canada at the 2013 World Championships and 2016 Olympic Games. In more recent years I was able to compete in the professional field at the 2017 London, 2018 Boston, 2019 Berlin, 2021 New York City, and 2022 Chicago World Marathon Majors, placing first three times, fifth, and third respectively in the masters (40+) category.
Knowing I was accepted into the professional field at this year’s 2023 Tokyo Marathon—the sixth and final World Marathon Major—would make for a perfect finale.
OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO: DuChene in Iten, Kenya, a profound experience along her marathon of life.
My one and only DNF (Did Not Finish), in the countless races I’ve done, at the World Championships, will cost me bragging rights to say I am one of only a handful of people in the world to complete all six World Marathon Majors, the Olympic Games, and World Championships. I believe the ones who have completed all eight marathons are four women: Edna Kiplagat (Kenya), Nuta Olaru (Romania), Aly Dixon (U.K.), Deena Kastor (USA) and one man, Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya).
Here’s a brief Q&A I’ve held with myself recently, based upon what others have asked me.
What are some of your career highlights?
Running into the arms of my family after becoming an Olympian in 2016.
Learning I placed third overall—not third master—after finishing the Boston Marathon in 2018.
Being the first woman in 20 years to qualify for the Olympic Games Marathon—less than twelve months after fracturing my femur in 2014.
Racing for Canada in the Chiba Ekiden Relay in Japan in 2012.
Training in Kenya for a month in 2017.
Setting the Canadian 50K record in 2021.
Having a top eight Canadian marathon time ten times between 2009 to 2021.
Winning my first National Marathon Championship in my first Saucony race kit in 2010.
MARATHON MOM: DuChene at the 2019 Berlin Marathon. Tokyo will complete her quest to run all the world’s majors.
What are some career highlights that you earned along with running?
Broadcasting the 2020 Olympic Games.
Sharing my story at public speaking engagements, giving hope to a child who “thought you had to be from a big city to make it to the Olympics.”
LEGENDS OF THE FALL: DuChene, with Lanni Marchant and Sylvia Ruegger, at the 2013 Waterfront Marathon in Toronto when both Lanni and Krista broke the 28 year marathon record.
What’s next? What else might you like to try?
Cross Country and 50 miler races.
Running in Australia and Antarctica, the only two remaining continents I haven’t run in.
Continuing to coach with Coolsaet GO as well as volunteer coach with our high school track athletes, pacing the occasional workout—as well as beating our two sons in a fun race while I can (distance to be determined).
I am currently very much looking forward to setting other exciting and appropriate running goals for my stage in life, or not, and just running—for the pure joy of it.
I am tired of Dry January. I’m beginning to wonder what the point even is. Is it effective? Who knows.
I do know it’s a bad feeling when you feel like you’re working too hard with too little break time and deprivation—much like along the lines of dieting or trying to save money—becomes a way of life. If you cut yourself too close to the bone there’s no way that anything can possibly last.
And so: do I carry on or throw in the towel? Give myself a break or, is the desire for a break (from a break from alcohol), proof positive that I should wait out the month? Again: no one knows.
This week, of course, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction updated their guidelines for low-risk drinking for the first time since 2011. More than two drinks at any one time increases health risks, read the report, and more than six drinks-per-week, especially for women, goes beyond “moderate” risk into something more scary: premature death, and cancer, are just some of the side effects for seemingly low intake of booze. More than ever the research around alcohol seems to say that, if you can avoid beer, wine and spirits, then do so. Water, seemingly always, is the more healthy choice.
However, carrots are also the healthier choice over McDonald’s french fries and it’s probably better for you to read Margaret Atwood than watch the Maple Leafs game. But the question remains about unintended consequences. I remember my first Dry January I posted a photo of my survival tools and there was chocolate milk and a case of Perrier and, given the calories in Hershey’s syrup and all those bottles to recycle, someone commented: is the cure not worse than the disease?
Plus, when you go through life white-knuckled, are you a grumpier human being? Less tolerant of your children at homework time and more obsessive about every bit of information you can gleam on your run from your watch? In short: are you not squeezing the fun out of life? Or am I asking the wrong questions?
It’s certainly a conversation worth having and a discussion that only gets better from the more voices that can be heard. And so iRun will host an Instagram Live Monday, January 23, 2023, 10:30AM EST with @marathon2sobriety, pictured above, six years sober and a recent veteran of the Boston Marathon, and our old friend Sarah Kiriliuk, pictured at the top, Canada’s leading non-alcoholic drinks expert, who runs the SomeGoodCleanFun.com, and is a long-time runner and vocal member of the running community.
What do you think of running and alcohol and Dry January and the new liquor recommendations? In your life, should booze stay or should it go? Let us know in the comments and join us at @IRunNation Monday, January 23, at 10:30AM EST. We want to hear from you all.
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