Run Canada Podcast

At 19, Wendy Alexis was forced out of track by injury. Decades later, she came back and became a multiple Canadian and world record holder.

Wendy always believed she'd live a big life, full of travel and people. She never imagined a second career as a sprinter would take her there.

She's also one of the most humble champions you'll ever meet. She's quick to credit her family, her support team, and the people who first encouraged her on the track and became family along the way. She plays down being a role model, but she is one: to her kids and grandkids, to the athletes she races with, and to a younger generation of runners watching what she does.

Wendy sees herself as part of a legacy built by the people around her. What she may not see yet is that she's building one of her own. And it all comes back to one idea: when we show up for each other, anything is possible.

Follow Wendy @watchwendyrun

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EPISODE SPONSOR: ALTITUDE SPORTS

[This collaboration is part of an advertising campaign led by the Podpass agency for Altitude Sports]

Shop now at Altitude Sports and enjoy up to 20% off your first order with the promo code "RUNCANADA2026"

Click here to order 👉 https://bit.ly/altitude-runcanada2026

Theme Music: Joseph McDade

As we get deeper into fall race season, I'm happy to share this recording from the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon Women's Training Group. Three years ago, Canada Running Series saw a need for more support for women training for the marathon and created this program to help fill that gap. It's an online community led by a coach, with weekly content designed to connect runners from across the country and provide support, encouragement, and connection throughout the training journey.

Two of those wonderful participants, Anjali Anadkat and Gabriella Bueno, were kind enough to share their experiences and join Heather and me for a conversation about the ups and downs of training.

Follow Heather @catchingheather @kardiaathletica

Follow Anjali @anjalianadkat

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EPISODE SPONSOR: ALTITUDE SPORTS

[This collaboration is part of an advertising campaign led by the Podpass agency for Altitude Sports]

Shop now at Altitude Sports and enjoy up to 20% off your first order with the promo code "RUNCANADA2026"

Click here to order 👉 https://bit.ly/altitude-runcanada2026

Theme Music: Joseph McDade

Lisa Sweetman is the kind of person you connect with the moment you meet her. She's funny, upbeat, kind, and incredibly generous with her time and talent. You'd never guess what she's been through with her health to get where she is today.

Lisa wants to say yes to as much as she can and make her life as full and exciting as possible. That commitment to going wherever the trail takes her has made her an ultra trail runner, a teacher, an entrepreneur, co-race director of 5 Peaks Ontario, and a married mom of two. Calling her life busy is an understatement, and yet she's always looking for new ways to give back to the community she loves. I hope you feel Lisa's joy and enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Follow Lisa @lisasweetrun

Follow 5Peaks @5peaksrun

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EPISODE SPONSOR: ALTITUDE SPORTS

[This collaboration is part of an advertising campaign led by the Podpass agency for Altitude Sports]

Shop now at Altitude Sports and enjoy up to 20% off your first order with the promo code "RUNCANADA2026"

Click here to order 👉 https://bit.ly/altitude-runcanada2026

Theme Music: Joseph McDade

Suzie Boucher-Lemay is both very serious about her training and goals, and deeply committed to keeping running fun and enjoyable. This mother of two has to stay organized to find time to train and race ultramarathons while balancing work, home, and life's other priorities. She has a competitive spirit, but she's just as focused on being in the moment, having fun, and connecting with volunteers and other runners. That balance is the true gift of Suzie's personality: finding the fun in a tough race, taking a moment to turn off her headlamp and look at the stars during a challenging night segment, and knowing her limits when the bad outweighs the good on an insanely muddy course. Suzie talks all about her adventures and shares plenty of practical tips, both for trail newbies and for road runners who might fall in love with trails too.

Follow Suzie @suzie.b.lemay

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EPISODE SPONSOR: Événements Gaspesia

Ultra Trail Forillon Désjardins returns this September for its 5th edition in the wild and breathtaking landscapes of Gaspésie, Quebec. Race director JF Tapp and his incredible team offer distances from 1 to 160 km between the sea and mountains, while you discover the rich history of an entire region through postcard-perfect scenery. Events under 45 km have no time limit, making this a fantastic race for first-timers and anyone who wants the space to take in the incredible landscape as they go. To learn more about Ultra Trail Forillon and the Gaspesia 100, taking place in June, visit www.gaspesia.org

Theme Music: Joseph McDade

Confession time. I love chocolate. I love it with a real passion. Like Bridgerton and Outlander kind of love. So when I found out I could use it to fuel my runs, all my dreams came true. Kristyn Carriere is co-founder of 7 Summit Snacks, a line of chocolate energy bars built to fuel you on the run. She started out as a food scientist specializing in chocolate, living abroad and racing as a road runner. When life brought her home to Canada, she teamed up with her sister — Team Canada athlete Leanna — to launch 7 Summit Snacks: fuel for every adventure and every taste bud. Kristyn shares her wild path to becoming a chocolate scientist and where she hopes this sweet adventure takes her next.

Follow 7 Summit Snacks @7summitsnacks Fuel your next adventure at https://sevensummitssnacks.com/

RCP listeners can get free shipping on any order by using code Runcanada - thanks, Kristyn!

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EPISODE SPONSOR: ALTITUDE SPORTS

[This collaboration is part of an advertising campaign led by the Podpass agency for Altitude Sports]

Shop now at Altitude Sports and enjoy up to 20% off your first order with the promo code "RUNCANADA2026"

Click here to order 👉https://bit.ly/altitude-runcanada2026

You need to create an account or sign in to access the discount. Valid on items at regular price only. Valid for a limited time only after sign-up. Cannot be combined with any other discount code and/or promotion. Limited to one use per customer. Membership discount not applicable on this offer.

Theme Music: Joseph McDade

Bonnie Zink was in a bad place. After crippling back pain led to subsequent surgeries, she found herself overweight, out of shape and taking medication for type 2 diabetes. After her last surgery at the age of 50, she was done letting pain run her life. So she started running it herself. It began with walks around the block and small lifestyle changes. It ended with her medications behind her and a half marathon finish line ahead. Bonnie's story proves that no vision for your future is too big—that with commitment and heart, at any age, you can take control of your health and your story. She started out chasing the role models who got her onto the road. Now she's become one herself, for her own adult kids.

Follow Bonnie @bonnie_zink

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EPISODE SPONSOR: ALTITUDE SPORTS

[This collaboration is part of an advertising campaign led by the Podpass agency for Altitude Sports]

Shop now at Altitude Sports and enjoy up to 20% off your first order with the promo code "RUNCANADA2026"

Click here to order 👉https://bit.ly/altitude-runcanada2026

You need to create an account or sign in to access the discount. Valid on items at regular price only. Valid for a limited time only after sign-up. Cannot be combined with any other discount code and/or promotion. Limited to one use per customer. Membership discount not applicable on this offer.

Theme Music: Joseph McDade

Thomas Fafard lived out his Olympic track dream in Paris, running in the finals of the Men's 5000. He calls it one of his best achievements, but also the end of one chapter and the start of the next. Thomas already holds the Quebec men's title in the half marathon, a mark he set in Houston and then broke again in Boston. Then, in his very first marathon at The Marathon Project in 2025, he smashed the Quebec men's full marathon record too. And still, this Brooks athlete knows he's got more to give. Now he's chasing something bigger: more fun, more speed, and another shot at the Olympic stage on the roads in LA.

Follow Thomas @thomas.fafard

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EPISODE SPONSOR: ALTITUDE SPORTS

[This collaboration is part of an advertising campaign led by the Podpass agency for Altitude Sports]

Shop now at Altitude Sports and enjoy up to 20% off your first order with the promo code "RUNCANADA2026"

Click here to order 👉https://bit.ly/altitude-runcanada2026

You need to create an account or sign in to access the discount. Valid on items at regular price only. Valid for a limited time only after sign-up. Cannot be combined with any other discount code and/or promotion. Limited to one use per customer. Membership discount not applicable on this offer.

Theme Music: Joseph McDade

If you know me, you know I love books — love looking at them on my shelf, love losing myself in them, love the people who write them. So I feel very lucky to have had the chance to talk with author Greta Lacroix.

Greta wrote Love on the Run, a romance novel focused around a Toronto run crew. But the real story here is one of perseverance. Greta is both a longtime runner and marathoner, and her path to becoming a published author followed the same rhythm as her running: ebbs and flows, stretches where she had to pull back and regroup, and moments where the only way forward was to put her head down and get it done. And in both areas of her life, community carried her — the writers and runners around her made her stronger and more confident, one page and one mile at a time.

Follow Greta @greta.lacroix.writes

Get your own copy of Love on the Run HERE

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EPISODE SPONSOR: ALTITUDE SPORTS

[This collaboration is part of an advertising campaign led by the Podpass agency for Altitude Sports]

Shop now at Altitude Sports and enjoy up to 20% off your first order with the promo code "RUNCANADA2026"

Click here to order 👉https://bit.ly/altitude-runcanada2026

You need to create an account or sign in to access the discount. Valid on items at regular price only. Valid for a limited time only after sign up. Cannot be combined with any other discount code and/or promotion. Limited to one use per customer. Membership discount not applicable on this offer.

Theme Music: Joseph McDade

Trevor Hofbauer is a two-time Canadian Marathon Champion, a Canadian Half Marathon Champion, a Team Canada member at the World Cross Country Championships, and an Olympian. But that's not what he hopes you remember about him first.

Ask anyone he works with at Run Calgary, and they'll tell you the same thing: Trevor is a really good dude.

He's also the epitome of "rise and grind." That work ethic — that obsession with finding the 1% — shows up in his training, in his life, and in every athlete he coaches.

This one's going to make you want to train a little harder, be a little kinder, and go looking for your own 1%. If you only listen to one podcast this weekend, make it this one.

Follow Trevor @trevhofbauer

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EPISODE SPONSOR: ALTITUDE SPORTS

[This collaboration is part of an advertising campaign led by the Podpass agency for Altitude Sports]

Shop now at Altitude Sports and enjoy up to 20% off your first order with the promo code "RUNCANADA2026"

Click here to order 👉https://bit.ly/altitude-runcanada2026

You need to create an account or sign in to access the discount. Valid on items at regular price only. Valid for a limited time only after sign up. Cannot be combined with any other discount code and/or promotion. Limited to one use per customer. Membership discount is not applicable on this offer.

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Music by: Joseph McDade

Safety on the run can be a difficult subject to talk about. We want to believe that the places we run and the people we run with will always help us feel safe and happy. But for many runners, thoughts about safety are always top of mind—whether because of lived experience or uncertainty about the spaces we're in.

I was lucky to be joined by three generous humans who are constantly looking for ways to help keep people safe: on the roads, on the trails, and during a race: SarahRose Black, Erin Doucette and Steve Dowler.

While this episode is full of practical tips for running in all spaces, I hope you also come away from it with a sense of hope—that, as a community, we can work together to create safe spaces for everyone who wants to run.

Make sure you listen to the end and find out how you can get involved in Finish the Run, taking place this weekend, Saturday, July 25, 2026, in Toronto. And if you aren't in Toronto, you can check out @finishtherun_to to find out how you can support Metrac, an Ontario-based not-for-profit organization working to end gender-based violence.

Follow SarahRose @finishtherun_to and @chixrunthe6ix

Follow Erin @a_girl_called_ernie @torontotrailrunners @the.trail.collective

Follow Run Calgary & the Calgary Marathon @calgarymarathon @runcalgary

EPISODE SPONSOR: ALTITUDE SPORTS

[This collaboration is part of an advertising campaign led by the Podpass agency for Altitude Sports]

Shop now at Altitude Sports and enjoy up to 20% off your first order with the promo code "RUNCANADA2026"

Click here to order 👉https://bit.ly/altitude-runcanada2026

You need to create an account or sign in to access the discount. Valid on items at regular price only. Valid for a limited time only after sign up. Cannot be combined with any other discount code and/or promotion. Limited to one use per customer. Membership discount is not applicable on this offer.

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Music by: Joseph McDade