This week, we interview runners who are gearing up for The Marathon Project, a race in Chandler, Ariz., that doubles as an qualifier for the 2021 Olympic Games. It's probably going to be the fastest North American marathon of 2020, and it happens on Sunday, Dec. 20.

Our first guest is Rory Linkletter, a 24-year-old Canadian-American, and second-time marathoner. Last fall, he raced to a 2:16:42 in his marathon debut. Linkletter, a professional runner for Hoka One One and NAZ Elite, hopes to dip under the Olympic standard of 2:11:30 on Sunday. That sounds like a stretch, until you consider that he's run the second fastest half-marathon in Canadian history earlier this year in 61:44, and it's clear from his Strava profile that he is ready to run much faster than 2:16.

Here, Linkletter tells us what The Marathon Project is all about - he lives in Flagstaff, so he has the inside scoop. We also chat about his preparation for the race, his decision to let his hair grow until he makes an Olympic team - it's already down to his shoulders - and his experience living with fellow Canadian Olympic hopeful Cam Levins for 5 weeks this fall.

We hope you enjoy the conversation. Be sure to catch our Marathon Project coverage throughout the week. We will have a few more runners on to chat prior to the race, and we are preparing a live viewing experience of the race itself on Sunday, Dec 20.

Natasha Wodak is running her first marathon in over seven years this weekend in Arizona, at the elite-only Marathon Project race. Host Michael Doyle talks with the Canadian 10,000m record holder about her decision to try the marathon once again, the peculiar circumstances around this race, and what it's actually like to stand at the start line at the Olympics.

It's Marathon Project Week at The XC! Leading up to the Dec. 20 race, we'll be talking with those racing in this special event, and covering it from a variety of angles. And be sure to watch our live video podcast on our YouTube, Facebook and Twitter feeds on race day, starting at 9:30 a.m. ET, as we break down the race and provide updates of all the action.

Follow us on social @thexcorg

And subscribe to our newsletter at thexc.org

Note: It's been a while since we released our Top 5 stories of the week pod, which has it's own feed, so we thought we'd share it here as well, just so you could find it! Please consider subscribing to the The XC Top 5, as we'll be podding weekly as we get running back in the near-ish future. Enjoy the show!

Alex Cyr, Andrew Cruickshank and Michael Doyle are back for a round up of the most intriguing, jaw-dropping and entertaining stories from the week in the world of running. Here's a snapshot of what to expect:

1. An unreasonably fast new half-marathon WR

2. One of the All-Time Greats debuts over 21.1k

3. U.S. Olympic Trials champion Aliphine Tuliamuk is 31 weeks pregnant

Canadian Ben Flanagan makes half-marathon debut

4. Canadian Ben Flanagan makes half-marathon debut

5. Top Canadian Athlete Trophy co-awarded to soccer and football player, Moh Ahmed left out of conversation

Make sure to hit up our new site, thexc.org for more regular content

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thexcorg/

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thexcorg/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thexcorg

The XC merch: https://cottonbureau.com/people/the-xc

Michael Doyle talks with regular contributor John Lofranco about his impassioned op-ed on our site that Canadian track star Mohammed Ahmed isn't getting the respect he deserves in 2020 for his all time 5,000m performance during the Pandemic at a low-key time trial in Portland, Oregon in the summer. Lofranco offers up some clever comparables of other top tens in the big team sports for further perspective on just how big a deal Ahmed's stature should be, and why maybe running doesn't get any respect in mainstream sports media coverage, particularly in non-Olympic years.

Be sure to follow The XC:

Twitter.com/thexcorg

Facebook.com/thexcorg

instagram.com/thexcorg

And subscribe to our newsletter at our new home: thexc.org

The Diamond League, track's most prestigious series of international events, faced an existential crisis even before the pandemic hit. Today, World Athletics, which controls the League, announced sweeping changes to the structure of the league. The XC's hosts Alex Cyr and Michael Doyle unpack these changes, and ask the question: is this really going to change anything for the fate and popularity of track?

Be sure to follow visit our new home thexc.org

We're now posting videos of most of our pods on our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-vy4dKS0q9hRrTpG6XyEw

And follow us:

Twitter.com/thexcorg

Instagram.com/thexcorg

Facebook.com/thexc.org

Today Alex Cyr is joined by two fit, restless, potential future Olympians.

John Gay has represented Canada in three separate international competitions since early 2019, including the world athletics championships in Doha late last year in the 3,000m steeplechase — that's especially impressive considering the world has been shut down for nine of these past 24 months.

Kieran Lumb is the 2019 Canadian U Sports cross-country champion, and as of February, the Canadian U-23 record holder in the indoor 3,000m.

Both were in great fitness when COVID sent the world into lockdown in March, so they decided to essentially quarantine together in a cabin to keep some sort of momentum going. Just last week, they got to prove their post-lockdown fitness over 10,000m, where Lumb stopped the clock at 28:17, and Gay at 28:18. Both trailed the winner, 2016 Olympian Luc Bruchet, by milliseconds.

Today John, Kieran and I talked about that race, but also about venturing into the world of professional running, about dealing with a busy school schedule, about making a push for the Olympics, and at one point, John tells his dad that he loves him. Really sweet listen until the end. I had fun recording this conversation, and I hope you enjoy.

Just because we won't have a national cross-country championships this year, doesn't mean we can't dream about how the race would have played out.

The XC's Alex Cyr and Evan Ubene, a.k.a. the Twitter presence known as Not Trackie and host of the Running Hot Takes podcast, decided to see who could build the best fantasy cross-country team, in place of getting to watch Canada's best distance runners race in Abbotsford, B.C. this fall.

Here are the rules, which are similar to a typical pro team sports fantasy draft:

They each must build a classic cross-country team of seven women and seven men, totalling 14 picks each. They can draft in whatever manner they wish. They each have 45 seconds to make their pick. And it is a "snake draft," meaning that the order goes: Team A, Team B, Team B, Team A, Team A..." etc. for 28 total rounds.

And the first pick in the 2020 ACXC Fantasy Draft goes to...

Follow Not Trackie:

https://twitter.com/runninghottakes

And listen to his pod here:

runninghottakes.podbean.com

And be sure to visit our website for more stories, podcasts and opinions all about distance running:

https://thexc.org/

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thexcorg/

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thexcorg/

Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thexcorg

The XC merch: https://cottonbureau.com/people/the-xc

Check out The XC for well-reported, well-told and unbiased running content: https://thexc.org/

Back in March, Canada's fastest female marathoner, Malindi Elmore, wanted to know if any shoe could deliver the results that the Nike Vaporfly Next% was producing for runners around the world. Nike's controversial new design included a carbon plate and super light foam that was helping runners lop minutes off their marathon times, including Eliud Kipchoge's marathon world record. But Elmore had no allegiance to the Swoosh, and as a free agent she wanted to know if other brands could actually compete.

Elmore had just set Canadian national record of 2:24 in the Vaporfly, but wasn't sponsored by Nike (and was actually buying the shoes herself in order to gain the benefit they provided). As COVID was shutting down the world around her, she quietly took her Nikes into a lab along with a new carbon plated competitor by Saucony, called the Endrophin Pro, in order to see if any other shoe could match the Vaporfly. The results will no doubt change many minds about which shoes to wear for that first post-pandemic breakthrough marathon.

Host Michael Doyle talks with Elmore about her curious experiment.

Last year, we produced a regular podcast called The U - it was a look into Canada's varsity running scene. The podcast, much like the entire university athletics circuit, entered hibernation in the spring, around the time COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. But this week, we are bringing it back. After all, had sports not been cancelled, the U SPORTS Cross-Country Championships would be happening this weekend.

Here, our two guests tell host Alex Cyr how training is going, how they both overcame pretty serious injuries, and who they think would have won the U SPORTS race this year, had it taken place. Aside from the running fodder, Hufsmith talks about why she chose to embark on a 100-day social media hiatus, Lutz talks about the time he met Scottish singing superstar Lewis Capaldi, and the trio shares what they each think about American media franchise High School Musical.

Follow us @TheXCorg

And visit our new home: thexc.org

Amid the doldrums of the Pandemic, a Texas Uber driver and former University of Wisconsin track runner named Ryan Craven channeled his love and longing for cross-country running into his other passion: 3D design and coding. The result is the aptly named "XC Video Game" (not affiliation with what we're doing here at The XC). Alex Cyr couldn't resist reaching out to Craven to ask him about his digital love letter to the sport.

Be sure to read the full story at our new home, thexc.org

And follow us on social @theXCorg