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 they are so deeply connected in her life that you can't separate them. We also talk about how her running has evolved over the years. She may still run marathons on the reg, but her goals for what con ..read more

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 doing to ensure that the charity is moving in the best direction possible. We also discussed Fast & Female's March initiative: Play Today, Lead Tomorrow. This campaign aims to raise $15,000 to sup ..read more

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 runners: Gaby Alcala, Cory Freedman, Allison Hill, Nattalyee Randall and Lauren Roberts. These amazing humans have both experienced their own challenges in getting to the start line AND helped others overco ..read more

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 Relations. This seemed to be the common thread in her story: whatever Lauren does, she wants to feel passionately inspired by it. So when running became part of her lifestyle, she was motivated to try attendi ..read more

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 Ailsa such a truly exceptional athlete? Her resilience, her mental strength and her ability to thrive in the unknown stood out to me. She grabs ambitious goals by the ears and wrestles them to the ground ..read more

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 without me veering dangerously off-topic, so we also talk a fair bit about books we love.  SPOILER ALERT: Skip the show notes if you want to be surprised by our picks as you listen.  &nb ..read more

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 talks about some of her most recent research and what the next steps on what she's learned could be. She also shares her thoughts on what she thinks it's going to take to keep girls and women in sport lon ..read more

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 and do great things together. Q is a community organizer and connector who is passionate about the running community. He wants everyone to know that running is for them, and that they can find ..read more

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 start line of last year's Chicago Marathon. Katie and I talked about how she came to a place where she felt like a "real runner", what the experience of coming to the sport during a pandemic was like, and ..read more

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 encouraging people to find joy in sport and even helped with the campaign to build a field house in Calgary.  Helly served as an inspiration as to what was possible at any age. This episode w ..read more