Inspired Soles

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text

Paula Wiltse is an elite 55-year old masters runner from Carolyn’s hometown of Brockville, ON. She has personal bests of 17:02 for the 5k all the way up to 2:48:50 for the marathon, and has even held some Canadian masters age group records throughout the years. At the age of 50 in 2017, Paula became part of a rare group of women to break 3 hours for the marathon, running an impressive 2:58:52 in Chicago. Carolyn interviewed  Paula about her storied career on the Women Run Canada podcast back in 2021, which you can find in our show notes. 

In this episode we take a deep dive into what’s been going on for Paula over the past 5 years and to sum it up, it’s a LOT. Like many of us, Paula’s running took a big hit during the pandemic, but she’s also been dealing with perimenopause, the strength and speed loss that happens to women in their 50s, and losing her 20-year sponsorship with Saucony. We talk about how she’s navigated all of this and redefined success for herself along the way, as well as how she plans to get back in touch with her competitive drive to knock out a fast 5K this fall.

Paula is an online coach with Mile2Marathon and she coaches a group in the Brockville area called MyReason2Run, so if you’re looking for some help with your running you should definitely check her out. Paula is the real deal and we appreciate her sharing so honestly about the challenges she has faced over the past five years. 

Resources we discuss in the episode:

• Women Run Canada's episode with Carolyn/Paula
• Paula's Sub-3 in Chicago, Canadian Running Magazine
• Our interview with Ilona Thomas (Paula's friend doing Two Oceans)

Connect with Paula:

• Instagram: @wiltsepaula
• Mile2Marathon Coaching email: [email protected]
• Reason2Run Coaching email: [email protected]

Connect with Carolyn & Kim:

• Email us with guest ideas: [email protected]
• Inspired Soles Instagram
• Kim's Instagram
• Kim's Facebook
• Carolyn's Instagram
• Carolyn's Facebook
• Carolyn's website (sign up for her free weekly newsletter on the homepage)

You can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected]. 

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text

Chris Fenlon-MacDonald is an adventure racer and father, living in Calgary AB. He is the owner and founder of Rocky Mountain Adventure Racing and also played a huge role in the creation of the Swamp Donkey events in Manitoba. Recently he completed the Expedition Canada Adventure Race in the Okanagan in 2022 and is currently training for 2023!

After serving as a full-time reservist with the Canadian Armed Forces in Winnipeg and Edmonton and spending time in academia in Australia, he returned to Calgary, Alberta to teach in an elementary setting. Chris has a Masters of Education from the University of Alberta and is currently a Well-Being Specialist for the Calgary Board of Education. In this role, he supports the professional learning aimed to increase the capacity of school communities by working with superintendents, senior school leadership, teachers, parents, students and allied health promotion specialists. Through this work Chris found a passion for school-health promotion, and the broad impacts comprehensive school health has on student wellbeing. 

In this episode, we discuss:

• Chris’ running and athletic background
• Adventure racing and why he was drawn to it
• How Rocky Mountain Adventure Racing was born
• What Chris loves about adventure racing and finally,
• Why you might want to try it!

Chris has a passion not only for adventure racing, but also sharing it with others. You can’t help but become intrigued as you listen to this conversation and you may just find yourself mixing it up a little in your next race!

Connect with Chris & Rocky Mountain Adventure Racing:

• Website: rockymountainar.com
• Instagram: @rockymountainar

Connect with Carolyn & Kim:

• Email us with guest ideas: [email protected]
• Inspired Soles Instagram
• Kim's Instagram
• Kim's Facebook
• Carolyn's Instagram
• Carolyn's Facebook
• Carolyn's website (sign up for her free weekly newsletter on the homepage)

You can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected]. 

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text

In honour of the 10 year anniversary of the Boston bombings, we’ve decided to re-air our conversation with Cassandra Bonn, who ran the marathon on that fateful day back in 2013.

Cassandra is 47 year old Account and Sales Executive with Quinte Broadcasting in Belleville ON. She took up running in her early 30s and even though her two children were young at the time, she went all in on training to the point that she qualified for the Boston Marathon. In 2013 with her husband, children and mother in the crowd, she absolutely nailed her first crack at Boston in a net time of 3:34:46. After collecting her medal and belongings, she was walking rather gingerly towards the family meetup area when the two bombs went off. What followed was utter chaos as she and thousands of others tried to make sense of what had happened and flee to safety. Cassandra walks us through the range of emotions she felt from confusion to terror as she reunited with her family and left the gridlocked city. It’s been 10 years but the sound of emergency vehicles can still trigger a visceral response in her today. 

Cassandra didn’t allow her Boston experience to be defined by that tragedy. The following year in 2014, she and her husband were two of the over 35,000 Boston Strong runners who made the trek from Hopkinton to Boylston Street, crossing the finish line hand in hand. 

Connect with Carolyn & Kim:

• Email us with guest ideas: [email protected]
• Inspired Soles Instagram
• Kim's Instagram
• Kim's Facebook
• Carolyn's Instagram
• Carolyn's Facebook
• Carolyn's website (sign up for her free weekly newsletter on the homepage)

You can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected]. 

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text

Today we welcome Hollie Lawder to the show to discuss Lauren Fleshman’s new book, Good for a Girl. 

A mother-of-three including two girls, Hollie is not only the genius behind the “Reading on the Run” Instagram and blog, she also works at a library, and is an accomplished road and trail runner. Unfortunately, Hollie also has firsthand experience with many of the difficult subjects presented in Lauren’s book. 

Good For a Girl is both a moving memoir and an important call to action for how to reimagine our broken sports system that has failed so many girls and women over the years. From disordered eating to devastating injuries to mental health struggles, Lauren argues that girls face unique challenges beginning at the onset of puberty that can be traced back to having to operate inside of a system that was built for men and boys. As women move through their reproductive years at the pro level, the challenges seem to compound with gross pay inequity and unfair expectations during the pregnancy and postpartum periods.

This topic is heavy yet so important, and we appreciate the level of honesty and vulnerability that Hollie brought to our discussion. The thoughts, feelings and behaviours that surface for many girls and women as we navigate our ever changing bodies can best be described as “weird,” a somewhat technical term we kept coming back to again and again during this conversation. 

Resources we discuss in the episode:

• Good For a Girl, by Lauren Freshman
• Roar, by Dr. Stacy Sims
• The story behind Nike's Objectify Me campaign with Lauren Freshman
• Nobody Asked Us podcast with Des Linden, Kara Goucher & Lauren Freshman 
• Ask Lauren Fleshman blog
• Women Run Canada's episode with Hollie

Connect with Hollie:

• Instagram: @readingontherun 
• Blog: https://readingontherunblog.wordpress.com/reading-on-the-run/

Connect with Carolyn & Kim:

• Email us with guest ideas: [email protected]
• Inspired Soles Instagram
• Kim's Instagram
• Kim's Facebook
• Carolyn's Instagram
• Carolyn's Facebook
• Carolyn's website (sign up for her free weekly newsletter on the homepage)

We love hearing from you! Connect with us on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend, subscribe or leave us a rating and review on Apple Pod

You can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected]. 

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text

Recently named “Canada’s Greatest Female Distance Runner” by Canadian Running magazine, Lynn Kanuka won medals on numerous international stages and set almost every Canadian middle distance record during the height of her storied career in the 1980s. 

Born and raised in Regina, SK, Lynn now lives just outside of Vancouver where, until 2021, she coached our current Canadian record holder in the marathon, Natasha Wodak (episode 124). 

We chatted with Lynn about how she discovered running, what role her father played, and the many influential coaches she had over the years. We also dig deep into all the details of her 3000m bronze medal performance at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. While this iconic race might be the one she’s best known for, Lynn describes other races where she was able to pull even more out of herself and remembers very fondly. We explore the topic of competitiveness, including knowing when to turn it on and when to turn it off, the drawbacks of our instant gratification culture on today’s athletes, and why she feels it’s harder to be a coach than an athlete.

We can see why Natasha Wodak had such amazing things to say about Lynn. She goes all in on whatever is important to her and brings her positive attitude everywhere she goes. Please enjoy our wide-ranging conversation with Canada’s bronze medal lady, Lynn Kanuka.

Resources we discuss in the episode:

• Lynn's bronze medal performance in the 1984 Olympics
• Lynn's 5th place performance in the 1988 Olympics

Connect with Lynn:

• Website: coachlynn.org

Connect with Carolyn & Kim:

• Email us with guest ideas: [email protected]
• Inspired Soles Instagram
• Kim's Instagram
• Kim's Facebook
• Carolyn's Instagram
• Carolyn's Facebook
• Carolyn's website (sign up for her free weekly newsletter on the homepage)

You can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected]. 

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text

André Belibi Eloumou is a mindset coach, personal trainer and extreme athlete from Switzerland who was in Calgary recently to train in the cold. While he was there, he ran shirtless and barefoot and performed some ice plunges in the river. His goal is to break the world record for ice immersion, currently set at 3 hours and 28 seconds. He has completed a run across the US and from France to Morocco, but while in Calgary his goal is to train his mindset to endure in a different way. André is training for the world record attempt for his 11 year old daughter Kira, who has Autism Spectrum Disorder. His goal is to make her understand that it doesn't matter how she is, that she can accomplish whatever she sets her mind to and to not let anything give her excuses to do something in life.

André is full of energy and passion and we wish him all the best as he attempts to break the world record for ice immersion.

Resources we discussed in the episode:

• CTV new article

Connect with André:

• Instagram: @andre_belibi
• Facebook: @andrebelibi
• Linked In: @andrebelibi
• TikTok: @andrebelibi
• Twitter: @andrebelibi

Connect with Carolyn & Kim:

• Email us with guest ideas: [email protected]
• Inspired Soles Instagram
• Kim's Instagram
• Kim's Facebook
• Carolyn's Instagram
• Carolyn's Facebook
• Carolyn's website (sign up for her free weekly newsletter on the homepage)

You can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected]. 

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text

Noel Kendle is a 22 year old track athlete at the University of Manitoba where he’s pursuing a degree in Recreation Management and Community Development. A soccer and hockey player growing up, he didn’t dive seriously into track until 2015, but has grown to love it more with each passing year. Noel cites the 800m as his favourite distance of all time and tells us why he currently has a love/hate relationship with the 600m. We even discuss a memorable DNF in the 400m, how our minds often play tricks on us on race day, and why he’s in favour of a recent decision to have a sports psychologist accessible to all Bison athletes. 

Noel is not only an athlete, but a budding coach as well. Together with Calvin Reimer, whom we interviewed back in episode 54, he coaches a weekly track session for masters road runners looking to improve their speed. In this episode we discuss what drew him to coaching, what he loves about it, and how his coaching style has evolved as a result of working with this population.

If you’ve ever had a thought like, “I’m not blank enough to run on the track” (fast, fit, young) you may have a change of heart after listening to what Noel has to say. His energy and enthusiasm are truly infectious and I’ve witnessed firsthand many naysayers who have been transformed under his guidance. If you’re in the Winnipeg area and this episode makes you somewhat “track curious,” we’d encourage you to come on out to the next session. Learn more at: https://mraweb.ca/mra-track-club/

Connect with Noel:

• Instagram: @noel.kendle

Connect with Carolyn & Kim:

• Email us with guest ideas: [email protected]
• Inspired Soles Instagram
• Kim's Instagram
• Kim's Facebook
• Carolyn's Instagram
• Carolyn's Facebook
• Carolyn's website (sign up for her free weekly newsletter on the homepage)

You can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected]. 

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text

Erik Bird is a west coast trail ultrarunner and race director from Mission, BC.  He started running in 2015 after realizing he was not in the shape that he wanted to be in.  He started with 10K and progressed to 50K before falling in love with the trails that are part of the Fat Dog course and completing 120 miles in one of the most scenic places in Canada.  Erik now finds himself the race director for the Fat Dog 120, Trail Run for Water, and the Valley Vertikiller.  In addition Erik caught the Backyard Ultra bug and competed at the BC Backyard Ultra, earning himself a spot on the Canadian team in the world championships in 2022.

In this episode Erik shares how he followed his heart and his passion when he decided he needed a career change and decided to gamble on running events during a pandemic.  He talks about what running means to him, and what the best part of race directing is.  Hint: it has something to do with the community.

Erik Bird is someone who exemplifies what running and community are all about!

Learn more about Erik's races:

• Run for Water
• Fat Dog 120
• Valley Vertikiller

Rapid Fire:

• Favourite Mantra: Enjoy it (when the suffering happens) 
• Favourite Place to Run: Manning Park 
• Bucket List Race: Hardrock 100 or Moab 200
• Favourite Running Book/Movie: Anything by YouTuber Jeff Pelletier
• Favourite Post Run Indulgence: Beer. Cheerios 

Connect with Carolyn & Kim:

• Email us with guest ideas: [email protected]
• Inspired Soles Instagram
• Kim's Instagram
• Kim's Facebook
• Carolyn's Instagram
• Carolyn's Facebook
• Carolyn's website (sign up for her free weekly newsletter on the homepage)

We love hearing from you! Connect with us on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend, subscribe or leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

You can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected]. 

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text

Matt Shepard, better known as “Shep,” is a trail and ultrarunner originally from Washington State who currently lives in Cochrane, AB.  Shep is a true jack-of-all-trades - he can just as easily rebuild a carburetor as he can mend a pair of torn pants. A former medic in the US Armed Forces, volunteer firefighter, woodworker and builder of things, Shep loves to work with his hands. An entrepreneur at heart, he operates two small businesses and spends his summers working as a part of the Sinister Sports team, maintaining and marking the beautiful Canadian mountain trails.

Outside of his day job, Shep can be found exploring new mountain trails or running an absurd distance on a short loop course in the Backyard Ultra format. A few of his notable running achievements include 2x Team Canada Backyard Ultra National Championships, claiming the 200km Columbia Plateau Trail FKT and logging a 6-Day Personal Best of 701 kilometers.  Most recently he was the first place male in the 48 hour event at Across the Years.

In this episode we discuss:

• his running background
• backyard ultras
• his 6 day Canadian record attempt
• his experiences pacing and crewing for Dave Proctor in his run across Canada
• the inaugural Divide 200 that Sinister Sports is presenting this summer.

Shep aims to approach all of life's challenges with a positive attitude and endless curiosity. In his own words "There is so much to be experienced in this world and I hope to get a glimpse of it all!"

Connect with Shep:

• Instagram: @go_shep

Connect with Carolyn & Kim:

• Email us with guest ideas: [email protected]
• Inspired Soles Instagram
• Kim's Instagram
• Kim's Facebook
• Carolyn's Instagram
• Carolyn's Facebook
• Carolyn's website (sign up for her free weekly newsletter on the homepage)

You can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected]. 

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text

Amy Puzey is a holistic nutritionist, mother, and long time competitive trail runner who lives in Invermere, BC.  She is also the founder and CEO of Goodphyte, a company dedicated to making the enzyme phytase easily available worldwide.  We first heard from Amy in episode 99 where she introduced us to herself and explained how curiosity led her to research this super-powered digestive enzyme.  We were so intrigued by what Amy shared that we invited her back to the show to take a deep dive into the science behind this novel enzyme that unlocks micronutrients in your food and helps you absorb more so you feel better, sleep better and perform better.

In this episode we discuss Amy's research around how phytase may improve autoimmune dysfunction, act as an antiviral and even combat micronutrient deficiency in the developing world. She shares case study anecdotes of runners and others who have experienced a dramatic change in their health challenges including auto-immune conditions, diabetes, long COVID, Colitis, and Crohn’s disease.  We invite you to join us as we continue our conversation with Amy Puzey!

Learn more about GoodPhyte:

• GoodPhyte.com
• Instagram: @jointhegoodphyte

Resources we discussed in the episode:

• Amy first Inspired Soles episode (99)

Connect with Carolyn & Kim:

• Email us with guest ideas: [email protected]
• Inspired Soles Instagram
• Kim's Instagram
• Kim's Facebook
• Carolyn's Instagram
• Carolyn's Facebook
• Carolyn's website (sign up for her free weekly newsletter on the homepage)

You can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to [email protected].