The Shakeout Podcast

This week we remember Ed Whitlock. One year has passed since he broke four hours at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon at the age of 85, an astounding feat and a world record, one among many in his long list of achievements.

We look back at this race, which would ultimately be his final marathon. We speak with his son, Neil Whitlock, elite runners, Rachel Hannah and Reid Coolsaet, Alan Brookes, Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon race director, and sports scientist, Paul Vanderburgh, to reflect on the story of his 3:56:38 marathon as one of the greatest races in running history.

On this week’s episode, Canadian Running staff revisit the lingering question of gender equity in cross-country races in Canada. One year ago, this issue came to the foreground, particularly in the Canadian university scene, and currently there are still differences in distances between boys and girls, men and women, varying across provinces and federations. Several athletes and experts weigh in on the controversy, explore the reasons for the disparity, draw on personal experiences, and offer potential solutions to the on-going issue.

We speak with Leslie Sexton, Victoria Coates, Sasha Gollish, Branna MacDougall, and Brogan MacDougall, along with science writer and contributing editor for Canadian Running Alex Hutchinson. Each voice thoughtfully examines the situation and it’s clear that the conversation not only remains relevant but also needs to continue.

Michelle Kempton began running in her mid-30s after the birth of her twins to improve her health, and within only a few years became involved in her running community of rural Nova Scotia. She has been the race director of the Maritime Race Weekend since 2011 and each year has provided a two-day event that showcases the culture and community of the East Coast.

On this week’s episode of The Shakeout, we share Kempton’s personal running story and discover that the unique running community in the Maritimes is all about good times, pirates, and cold beer.

We would like to thank the Ontario Media Development Corporation for their contributions to this podcast.

Becoming a better runner involves a lot more than just running. There are a limited number of hours you can spend training before the risks of injury, mental exhaustion, and becoming dangerously anti-social outweigh the benefits of lacing up your shoes.

Getting the most out of every kilometer has a lot to do with how you spend the hours you’re not running. Getting enough sleep, having good eating habits, proper biomechanics, and being mentally strong are all separate pieces, that when combined with running itself, create a bigger picture of being a successful runner.

On this week’s episode of The Shakeout, we speak with Amy Bender, clinical program director of Athlete Services at the Centre for Sleep and Human Performance in Calgary, Jen Sygo, registered dietitian and sports nutritionist, Chris Napier, team physiotherapist for Athletics Canada, and Kim Dawson, professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University to get expert advice on how to build a runner’s perfect day.

We would like to thank the Ontario Media Development Corporation for their contributions to this podcast.

Dave Proctor had one goal: to run across Canada. He had two motivations. The first was to break the 27-year old record held by Al Howie, who ran across Canada in 72 days. Proctor's goal was to complete the run in 66 days. 

The second motivation had less to do with running. Proctor, who is based in Otokos, Alberta, lives with his wife and three children. His 9 year old son, Sam, suffers from a rare disease called relapsing encephalopathy with cerebellar ataxia that affect his movement and co-ordination. If he suffers a relapse, he could lose all movement. By running across Canada, Proctor hoped to increase awareness of rare disease and raise over $1 million for research of rare disease. 

It was an ambitious goal and there were serious challenges from day one. As Proctor and his team reached the halfway mark, he had to face one of the most difficult decisions any runner has to make: when to quit. 

On this week's episode of The Shakeout, we speak with Dave Proctor and his wife Sharon about the challenges of the cross-Canada run and how a difficult decision resulted in the support of runners across Canada. 

We would like to thank the Ontario Media Development Corporation for their contributions to this podcast.

Running may be a simple freedom for some, but for others who do not have the same privilege, it is more than just running, it's about human rights. 

Free to Run is a non-profit organisation, which uses sport to support women and girls living in areas of conflict. Its founder is Stephanie Case, a Canadian ultramarathoner and human rights lawyer working in Afghanistan. 

In 2014, when Case first had the idea for Free to Run, she reached out to the women of Afghanistan to become the first ultramarathon team from their country, and it was then that she met Zainab, a young Afghan woman and aspiring runner. Together they would form a team that would face the challenge of the 250K Gobi March in China.

On this week's episode of The Shakeout, we bring you the story of these women and how their lives intersected in their common goal to bring freedom to the women of Afghanistan through running. 

We would like to thank the Ontario Media Development Corporation for their contributions to this podcast.

Heading into the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, Oakville, Ontario's Donovan Bailey was the 100m World Champion, the Commonwealth World Champion, as well as the holder of the World Record in the indoor 50m, a record which he broke just months before the Games in 1996. According to Bailey, the race was his to lose. 

The main event of the 1996 Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta took place on a hot and humid night on July 27th at the Centennial Olympic Stadium. In a race that started with eight athletes, it would take four attempts and one dramatic disqualification before one runner would rise up and win the title of the fastest man in the world.

On this week’s episode of The Shakeout, we take you back to the drama and glory of one of the most celebrated moments in Canadian track and field history.

We would like to thank the Ontario Media Development Corporation for their contributions to this podcast.

The Canadian Death Race is a 125K ultramarathon held annually in August in Grande Cache, Alberta. It covers over 5000m in elevation, including three mountain summits, and as its name suggests, this race is tough. 

Each year, up to a thousand runners sign up, and to no one’s surprise, each year hundreds fail to finish. But in 2015 as the first runner crossed the finish line, everyone was surprised --including herself.

On this week's episode of The Shakeout, we tell the story of how one ultrarunner not only survived the Canadian Death Race but unexpectedly came out on top.

This is a story about a teenage running legend from Toronto. 

The year was 1962. At the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, in the sweltering heat of an Australian summer, 18 runners lined up on the track at the start of the men’s six-mile race. It was an impressive field that included Olympic medallists and past Commonwealth champions.

Among these men was a young Canadian, a University of Toronto student named Bruce Kidd. 

On this week’s episode of The Shakeout, we take you back to our conversation with this running legend, to relive the race 56 years ago, when a 19-year-old Kidd ran to secure his place as one of the greatest long-distance runners, not only in Canada, but also on the world stage.

Audio excerpts are taken from the documentary film, Runner, directed by Don Owen and narrated by W.H. Auden.

Endurance permeates every aspect of human life. Whether you are training for a fall marathon or trying to get through late nights at work, the ability to endure, to withstand discomfort, is a practical skill. 

What we learn from Alex Hutchinson's book Endure is that this skill is something we can practice and improve upon, and that the limits of human endurance are much more elastic than what we once believed. 

Throughout the book, Hutchinson traces the intellectual history of the concept of endurance. He weaves together stories of epic moments that test the limits of human endurance, including Henry Worsley’s fatal journey across the Antarctic, the Tor des Geants, a trail race that covers an incredible 24,000m of elevation, the classic ride of the Tour de France, and a non-stop 692km race in the Yukon Arctic Ultra. 

On this week's episode of The Shakeout, we take you back to our conversation with Hutchinson who shares intimate stories of his own running successes and failures he shares in Endure and how he discovers that the concept of endurance is at the heart of what it means to be human.