Anthony Wright is a producer, composer, musician, videographer—and Runner. In December 2019, he was in a wheelchair with a shattered ankle, and weighed 325-pounds. One year later he ran his first ultra-marathon.

An ambassador for the 2021 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Wright hopes to set the Fastest Known Time from Ajax to Toronto on the Waterfront Trail. Since he’s such an expert on music, we asked him what he listens to on his runs. His story is amazing. This is his soundtrack.

1. Hand Me Downs, Arkells: “This song will pull you through the wall. There has been no run I’ve been on where this song didn’t pick me up, and remind me of just how freeing running feels.”
2. FIND YOUR WAY BACK, Beyoncé: This is an Easy Run staple for me. As soon as it comes on I’m a kid again, running through the streets of my neighbourhood with my friends begging for the sun to stay in the sky just a little longer.
3. Gold Guns Girls, Metric: My Tempo Playlist consists of only songs at 180bpm, because I want my stride to match the music. Gold Guns Girls is a 3km of a 5km song… it’s a song that will help you make a move in the back half of a race.

1. Gaia, James Taylor: This song is Recovery Run Heaven. If you’re running by the water and this song comes on, you may never want to stop running again.
2. Cvalda, Bjork: This is the song I put on when I’m just starting an Easy Run that I don’t feel like doing. It always brings a smile to my face, and it makes me want to settle in and get to work.
3. Super Bass, Nicki Minaj: A guilty pleasure of mine that I just have to have out on a long run. Super Bass gets me just as amped at 30km as it does at 2km. A must have for me.
4. Stop This Train, John Mayer: This is a threshold staple for me. When you are trying to stay relaxed at a fast pace, this song is so vital.
5. They Don’t Care About Us, Michael Jackson: Another one from my Tempo Playlist. This one helps me settle into a pace, and the beat is so militant that its easy to find that 180spm cadence at the beginning of a track session.
6. White Ferrari, Frank Ocean: If you listen to White Ferrari during a Recovery Run, don’t be surprised if you can no longer feel the ground beneath you.
7. Here I Come, Barrington Levy: Got this one from a friend. Its simply amazing towards the beginning of an Easy Run, or put it at the end if you plan on a kick finish 🙂

1. Mushaboom, Feist: Another Threshold fav. Its a beautiful song with a relaxed feel, but at 180bpm. Cadence Bliss.
2. Nonchalant, 6lack: Sometimes you just need some swagger to make it through a Long Run. Nonchalant does it for me when there’s 5km left to go.
3. Die Alone, FINNEAS: This is the ultimate Recovery Run song. For me, it simply doesn’t get better when you have sore legs that you don’t want to focus on.
4. Gonna Get Over You, Sara Bareilles: I love when this song comes on during an Easy Run. It lifts my spirits instantly and reminds me to keep smiling, because that’s what we’re all doing out here after all. Chasing Happy.
5. Lose Yourself, Eminem: The PR Conjurer. Km 4 of a 5k, 9 of a 10k, 41 of a marathon… it doesn’t matter. This song will make you kick to the finish. A must for any racer.

Kate Van Buskirk is a 2021 Olympian and a must-follow on Instagram. Her posts are positive, thoughtful, and inspiring. She’s fit, comfortable in her own skin, outspoken, and a role model to runners from Toronto to BC. Yet she knows that every photograph she posts is a risk: will she be seen as a bragger? Is she showing off? Will her physique turn off runners who are frustratingly missing their running, not hitting goals and will never, ever look like Kate? Kate thinks about these things before posting. Even at her peak physique, she goes through periods of insecurity. She thinks about everything, but then, ultimately, does what feels true to her.   

“My number one barometer for social media is: is anything I’m posting harmful to a marginalized community? That’s my number one: intentionality,” says the Olympian Van Buskirk, who also produces and hosts The Shakeout Podcast. “Beyond that, I don’t care if someone feels like I’m bragging. There are many people I follow who are my role models who inspired me to get to where I am, and if it’s braggy, whatever. If I’m proud of something I’ve done and post about it, my hope is not only to share my joy, but inspire someone else to do the same.”

It’s a fine line between inspiring our friends and family, especially those that do not run, and pissing people off with our posts about running on our social media feeds. Lots of us have gotten static from our friends who aren’t big runners about what we post. Almost everyone says they’re supported by the running community, but catch flack from people outside of our world of bananas, vaseline and split times. Meanwhile, the narrative has broadened with the body positivity movement, which encourages all shapes and sizes to celebrate being healthy, happy and active. Still, the public sphere can be a difficult place.

“I once had someone tell me that my running posts made them feel bad about themselves. Oy! I hated hearing that and it still bothers me,” wrote one reader, a race clinic leader. “Those that are bothered by my social feed are free to scroll on by, but I’m encouraged and inspired by others in the running community. May we continue to build each other up and celebrate the victories together.”

Another reader said: “I had someone ask me if I actually worked as it must be nice to just run/race. I told this person nothing was stopping them from doing the same and yes, I do have a full-time job and work my arse off on a family farm.”

“It’s always in the back of my mind that I may get a negative comment,” said one reader.

Another reader said, “I get teased occasionally, but not nearly as often as people tell me they appreciate my posts as a nudge to do their own thing. I do get concerned sometimes that people think I do way more running than I actually do because of posts.”

Runners use social media to inspire one another and keep us connected to a broader community, especially now during COVID with in-person races and run meet-ups increasingly difficult to pursue. It’s also helpful when chasing a goal to telegraph it, the science saying that once a goal is spoken out loud or shared with a group it becomes more real.

In that sense, posting about running on social media can be a tool, just like new shoes, speed work and carb-loading. Virginia Lee is famous in the running community as the face of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, her image used in the STWM marketing campaign. Lee, who is 48 and has run 48 marathons—including every Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront marathon—posts often on her popular Instagram channel. 

“The negative part comes from people not in running or fitness, likely my own age and their thing is: how can you spend that much time on yourself, that must be such a luxury,” says Lee, “but any runners knows that we make time for it, and maybe that’s why runners are more accepting of our social media feeds—the only way to get to our goals is with training and sometimes, posting helps.” 

Some people post lots of pictures of their children, or of their animals. People post photos of their sourdough bread loaves or their political views about vaccinations and Maxime Bernier. Obviously everyone is free, within limits, to post what they want, and just as easily, people are free to stop following the feeds of a runner if our posts aren’t eliciting their joy.

Kate Van Buskirk understands all these things. She also understands anxiety and imposter syndrome and has been injured to the point, during the run-up to the 2016 Olympics, after moving to BC for the express purposes of making the team, where she thought she’d never run again. She couldn’t get out of bed without help and returned home to Toronto unsure about what she’d do next.

“Mentally and physically,” she says, “I felt broken.” 

Eventually, she got back out on the roads, fell back in love with the sport, and trained herself, in 2021, to the Olympic fighting form she had in 2015. It hasn’t been an easy ride. But it’s been rewarding. And one she feels proud, haters be damned, to share. 

“Humble is something we put on a pedestal, why? I don’t think it should be and if you post about something you worked hard at and other people can relate to it, it’s a beautiful thing,” she says. “I am continually inspired by and grateful for the folks in our community who challenge me, educate me, and offer an honest lens into their struggles and joys. This is what I strive to do as well. Sometimes, good or bad, on social media or anywhere else: you just have to own your own shit.”

The Scotiabank Charity Challenge has helped raise money from runners, walkers and their networks to help people in need. From raising funds and awareness about poverty and disease to creating actionable steps to help those less fortunate, the initiative has raised more than $87-million across the country. Some of the races involved with the challenge include the Ottawa Marathon, Calgary Marathon and the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, which recently announced (and sold-out) an in-person 10K to go along with their virtual run. For charities like Future Possibilities for Kids (FPK), the races, and the people who participate in them, are natural incubators for people to lend a helping hand.

“We take our lead from our children,” says Tammy Ebuen, of Future Possibilities for Kids, who works with kids between the ages of nine and 12 to provide coaching and individualized goal-setting that helps their young people form healthy habits. Ebuen says that the pandemic put stress on many Canadian children, especially the ones who wouldn’t normally have access to the type of programming FPK provides, like nurturing a kid to spearhead a project, such as cleaning a park or creating an environmentally-themed website. Runners, she says, are naturally inclined to be sympathetic to the FPK mission, because goal setting, discipline and organization are inherent skills each runner needs to employ. 

“We ask kids to use ‘possibility thinking,’ to stretch themselves and think outside the box,” says Ebuen, adding that her charity helps to provide children with the type of individual coaching that can change a life. “I think many of our themes are stories that resonate well with runners.” 

The pandemic has revealed a very disturbing theme, and that’s the glaring food crisis in this country. Second Harvest Canada is another Charity Challenge partner, and one that works closely with the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (STWM). Any Ontarian athlete has probably seen the Second Harvest crew handing out bananas and bagels at the STWM finish line. Second Harvest works with donors across the food supply chain, from farm to retail, recovering and redistributing unsold healthy food, keeping it on plates and out of landfills. They pivoted early in the pandemic and expanded their work across Canada to help meet the growing need for food—last year alone they provided 4,300+ non-profit food programs from coast to coast with access to rescued surplus food, helping feed 1.3 million Canadians. Second Harvest is hoping that this year’s runners will help them reach their goal of raising $25,000, which will allow them to rescue enough fresh, healthy food for over 50,000 meals.

Peter Kentie, director of finance for UrbanPromise Toronto, has equally lofty goals for his charity this fall. He says the Olympics, and the ongoing Paralympics that are taking place right now, could serve as an additional launchpad to help spur more runners to charitable action. 

“I read that Damian Warner—Canada’s Gold Medal Decathlon champion—grew up in a so-called ‘bad neighbourhood’ in London, Ontario. He stated he had no path in high school until two basketball coaches recognized his potential and took him under their wings,” says Kentie, whose group helps kids with athletics, but also literacy and experiential learning. “There are many ‘Damians’ around us. This year, how can we engage and invest in youth to become more actively involved in making positive contributions to their communities?”

It’s safe to say that all of us runners want to contribute to our communities. We want to support local businesses and races and pay back the network we lean into and take so much from. A great part of the racing experience is the charity component, and as many of us know, the running takes on a heightened significance when we can run not only for ourselves, but for somebody else. 

This year, the Scotiabank Charity Challenge is operating under continued stressed conditions. With the mix of virtual and in-person racing, it’s a transitional period for us all. But there are people out there, perhaps more now than ever in our age of COVID, in dire need of assistance. As Tammy Ebuen with Future Possibilities for Kids puts it, athletes setting a goal are the perfect demographic to help raise funds for her group. 

“The greatest outcome we’ve seen in our children is rising confidence and self assuredness, which is a direct result of setting goals and following through,” Ebuen says. “These are universal ideas and concepts—themes that resonate with runners, for sure.”

To support one of these or hundreds of other charities by fundraising for or making a one-time donation in one of the Fall Scotiabank Charity Challenges, please go to: Scotiabank Calgary Marathon; Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon; Scotiabank Blue Nose Marathon.

Bernard Abarquez is a man on a mission: to run 42 marathons to celebrate his forty-second birthday in 365 days. Begun February 21, 2021, smack dab in the middle of COVID, Arbaquez, an artist who calls his running, Project 42, is knocking off marathons to raise money for Hospice Toronto, which provides support for the terminally ill. He’s run 28 marathons to date and will attempt number 29 on Sunday. With all that running, what’s he learned so far? Here, Abarquez dishes out 42 tips from a quest to run 42 marathons.

1. Make the first step, and start.

2. Envision the journey.

3. Believe in yourself.

4. Give yourself purpose.

5. Make a plan.

6. Take action.

7. Run with intention.

8. Rest, and sleep, and eat. And stay positive.

9. Breath.

10. Share and inspire. You are not alone.

11. Adapt.

12. Evolve. A year-long pursuit will involve tweaks to best-laid plans. Don’t be afraid of that.

13. Allow for growth.

14. Which means: allow yourself to make mistakes.

15. Learn. Learn always.

16. Listen to your body.

17- Listen to your mind.

18. Surround yourself with good people.

19. Have fun.

20. Be present.

21. Focus.

22. Be mindful. Stay in the moment and connect with the world.

23. Access your emotions.

24. Adjust your schedule. Things happen. Be prepared.

25. Stay positive.  

26. Be consistent. It’s consistency over the long run that gets you across any finish line.

27. Be grateful.

28. Look forward.

29. And see the horizon.

30. Be changed.

31. Be emotional.

32. Prepare to fight.

33. Stay in the fight.

34. Prepare for the countdown.

35. Picture the finish.Visualize.

36. Allow yourself to be moved.

37. Recognize your evolution.

38. Reflect on how you want to be changed.  

39. Recognize your achievements.

40. Celebrate every—EVERY—little win.

41. Approach the end with joy.

42. Do what I’m doing now: tell your story.

Photographs by Andre Morgan.