Episodes

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text We’ve talked a lot about pacing strategies on the show and how to pace yourself well throughout a race. But what about the role of a pacer? What is a pacer and why would you want to ask someone to pace you? What does it take to be a good pacer and how do you go about choosing one? What are the rules and etiquette when it comes to pacers and what types of challenges do they face? We discuss these topics and more as we explore how the use of ...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Adam Neiles is a 27-year-old former football player who now works as a Strength & Conditioning Specialist at Testify Performance in Winnipeg. We first spoke to Adam just a few short months ago (Ep 187) as he was beginning the buildup to his very first marathon…the Manitoba Marathon. At that point he was following a solid plan, spirits were high, and he’d set the goal of finishing in under 4-hours. We thought it would be fitting to have ...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Miriam Betzner fell in love with trail running while living in South Africa. Born on the other side of the world, she grew up on three continents before her family settled in Manitoba. After nine years abroad, she moved back to Manitoba in 2014 and got involved in the local trail running community by volunteering at several local races that first year and has been part of the community since. When she’s not running trails, you might find he...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Hailing from Calgary AB, Polly Moody is a 40-year old mom-of-two, a full-time teacher, and 2:46 marathoner. What makes her story so compelling is just how much adversity she’s had to overcome. After breaking the elusive 3-hour barrier (2:58:38) at the 2015 Boston Marathon without much dedicated training, Polly tried multiple times to go sub-2:55 and came up just a bit short each time. Instead of giving up, she kept mining for lessons ...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Chantelle Erickson, known as "the mother runner," has enjoyed running for 15 years. Originally from the Greater Toronto Area, she moved west, living in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Her running journey spans obstacle races, marathons, ultras, and multi-stage races, all initially in the pursuit of health and wellness. Starting on a treadmill, she soon embraced the outdoors, running on Saskatchewan's gravel roads. Running became crucial for her m...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Kevin Barata is a 46 year old trail ultrarunner who lives in Abbotsford, BC with his wife and three daughters. He has been a police officer with the RCMP for 21 years and currently works with the Emergency Response Team in the Vancouver Lower Mainland. Kevin has been running ultra marathons since 2014 in various distances from 50km to 250 mile races. In fact he recently completed the Coccodona 250 and has run well over 150 miles in mu...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Rory Linkletter and Ben Flanagan are elite Canadian distance runners and friends who have both been on the show twice. Although they have different primary disciplines, they occasionally compete against one another and that is always a great day for fans of the sport. On May 25th, 2024 they lined up at the Canadian 10k Championships in Ottawa and they’re here to break it all down with us. As a 5k runner, Ben was treating this race as ...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Melvin Yumang is a 40-year old flight nurse & runner from St. Agathe, Manitoba who was one half of a recent Couple of the Quarter episode with his wife, Jonelle. Melvin & Jonelle are proud parents to 8-month old baby Jameson and in that episode they opened up about their fertility & health struggles. Today we’re shining a spotlight on Melvin’s running. Inspired to do something meaningful to mark the one year anniversary of...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Dave Stevens, hailing from Nelson, BC, is an accomplished Elite Ultra Runner, Coach, and Father. By day, Dave serves as a Spatial Analyst for the province while blending a sustainable training regimen into his busy lifestyle. With an impressive track record spanning more than a decade, Dave has secured victories at the Run Rabbit Run 100 miler twice, UTMB Mexico 100 miler, and has made the podium at the flatter Javelina 100. He has consiste...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Today we are catching up with 42 year old Canadian marathon record holder Natasha Wodak. Natasha was last on our show in February 2023 and we spent a big portion of that conversation talking about one of the many highlights of her illustrious career where she ran the Canadian marathon record of 2:23:12 in Berlin back in September of 2022. Since then she has done four marathon buildups and three marathons trying to hit the Olympic standard o...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Gina Tranquada is a 38 year old occupational therapist, runner, wife and mother-of-two from Winnipeg, MB, who has been tearing it up on the track, road, and trails since we last spoke two years ago. Under the guidance of Olympic marathoner Krista Duchene – who currently holds the Canadian 50km record – Gina has begun making national teams. In Sept 2023, she proudly represented Canada at the Beaver Flat 50 in Swift Current, SK, which served ...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Jessica Drakul is a 45-year old adult-onset runner who ran the 2024 Boston Marathon, set a personal best time of 3:40:11, AND re-qualified for next year’s race. Despite it being a warm day that proved challenging for many runners, Jessica maintains that it was only the second hardest thing she’s ever done. The hardest thing? Getting sober 18 years ago. After a 7-year struggle with alcohol addiction from the ages of 19-26, Jessica had ...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Adam Neiles is a 27-year-old Strength & Conditioning Specialist at Testify Performance in Winnipeg. Over the past 7 years, he has trained everyday athletes, pro athletes, and everybody in between to reach their performance potential in their chosen sport(s) while reducing injuries along the way. A graduate of Kinesiology at the University of Manitoba where he was also a linebacker on the football team, Adam is currently working his way ...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Stuart Chutter is the first trail ultrarunner we’ve had on the show who is also a regenerative farmer from Melville, Saskatchewan. We were super curious about how a person finds the time for both farming and ultrarunning, activities that each require significant commitment, time and energy for success. So we invited Stuart to come on the show to talk about both his passions. In this episode, Stuart tells us about how he started ...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text **TRIGGER WARNING - This episode has references to sexual abuse. In this episode, Edmontonian elite ultra runner Priscilla Forgie returns to the show to discuss her contribution to the new book Run for Your Life. This book is an incredible collaboration of short stories written by 13 different runners made possible by several sponsors from Alberta, Canada including Run Calgary, Servus Edmonton Marathon and 5 Peaks. It was within the p...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Omena Babalola is an accomplished 55-year old masters sprinter from Winnipeg MB and an absolute force to be reckoned with. Born in Nigeria to two high achieving parents, Omena came to Canada in her early 20s and spent time on Prince Edward Island before completing her MBA at St. Mary’s University in Halifax and following her man to Winnipeg. Omena currently works as a Professional Auditor at Manitoba Hydro and is the Vice President of Athle...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Jean Fortier is the general director and founder of Québec Mega Trail. He joins us to talk about his running origins and dive deep into the past, present and future of this amazing event. QMT is a legendary ultra-trail race, renowned as one of the most beautiful but also as one of the hardest in Canada. Crossing one of the most beautiful places in Québec, it takes runners all the way to Mont-Sainte-Anne, and more than 3,000 racers meet ther...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Nick Kershaw is a man with a mission. A runner with a background in finance and a passion for international development, Nick joins us from the UK to tell us all about how the Impact Marathon Series came to be and why it is so special. The Impact Marathon Series was born in 2015 from a dream that we could use the simple power of running to uplift communities and empower runners all over the world. Throughout the Impact process, ...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Jen Shapka is a woman with a mission who seemingly can’t say no…and there are many runners who are grateful she says yes most of the time! Jen has moved a lot in her adult life, and it was the frequent moving that made this now 45-year old force herself to find a community wherever she landed. With two small kids at home, a husband away for work, and no family around, it was tough to get to the gym or join a team (both of which she’d have p...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Rory Linkletter is a professional Canadian athlete who lives and trains in Flagstaff, Arizona, is sponsored by Puma, and is coached by US half marathon record holder, Ryan Hall. He is also now the 2nd fastest Canadian marathoner in history! We first had Rory on the show six months ago (Ep 153) after finishing 19th at the World Championships marathon in Budapest. Since then he’s been training up a storm with one goal in mind…making the Paris...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Today’s episode features three incredible ladies who all have speaking roles at The Run Retreat, an inaugural women’s event that will be taking place in beautiful Hecla Provincial Park, 2 hours north of Winnipeg, MB, from June 7-9, 2024. Three-time Inspired Soles guest Sasha Gollish is our keynote speaker and in addition to being an elite Canadian runner, she is also the Director of Community Engagement at the University of Toronto’s ...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Our COTQ series is meant to highlight the different aspects of what it means to be in a partnership when one or both people are runners and do we ever have a power couple to feature today in Jonelle Koop-Yumang and Melvin Yumang. Melvin is the runner of their duo but as you’re about to hear, his 6-year running journey has aligned very closely with the couple’s fertility journey…and what a wild ride it has been for them! Their story is fille...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text Evan Birch is a partner, father, friend, colleague and ultra runner who has been running his entire life, in more ways than one. While his accomplishments range from competing in the Sinister 7 100, the Canadian Death Race and the Divide 200, Evan’s foray into ultra running began in 2017, born out of running away from a two-decade career in emergency services. He assisted thousands of people, saved countless lives and comforted many more on...

Got feedback about this episode? Send Carolyn a text On February 3rd, 2024, the United States held their Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando, FL to determine the team they will be sending to the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, France. Once every four years the best in the country race head-to-head where the top three men and top three women are chosen to represent the country at the Olympics. Not many countries select their team this way and it’s got to be an absolute pressure cooker of an e...