Justin Kent breaks long-standing 20,000m Canadian record
Last week felt like marathon, even here in Canada
Hello!
Runners around the world, including Canadians, continue to find unique ways to challenge themselves. They are tackling little-chased records, setting op up solo time trials and races and taking on new challenges.
Let’s get to it!
Justin Kent breaks long-standing 20,000m Canadian record
Justin Kent broke the 20,000m Canadian track record over the weekend, running 50 laps around a track in 61:01.
The previous record was 61:10, which was set by Tom Howard in 1974.
This is the second impressive effort Justin has made this season. He recently ran a PB of 1:02:34 in a half-marathon time trial the day he was supposed to participate in the world half-marathon championships. Canada ended up withdrawing at the last minute because of COVID.
He will be making his marathon debut on Dec. 20 as part of the eight-member Canadian squad participating in the Marathon project.
Natasha Wodak runs 1:10:01 in half-marathon time trial
Natasha Wodak ran a half-marathon time trial this weekend, and made her goal clear: to reclaim her national record in the distance. She first set the record at the beginning of 2019 at the Houston half-marathon, but it was broken by Andrea Seccafien two weeks later, by two seconds.
Wodak came up short, running 1:10:01 on an out-and-back road near her home. Wodak and her coach Lynn Kanuka-Williams did the leg work to make the race legitimate and record eligible. She talked about it at length before the race on the Shakeout podcast.
Wodak’s performance was not a record, but it proves she’s getting fit as she prepares for the Marathon Project — her first marathon since 2013 — on Dec. 20.
Wodak also talked about her favourite marathon workouts over at Canadian Running.
Evan Esselink to run Valencia marathon on Dec. 6
Evan Esselink is the only Canadian on the start list for the elite-only Valencia marathon on Dec. 6.
The 28-year-old made is marathon debut last year at the Toronto Waterfront marathon in 2019, running 2:18:38. He was supposed to run the London marathon this year on its original spring date, but that got postponed to Oct., and Evan wasn’t part of the Canadian contingent at the fall edition of the race.
The men’s elite field in Valencia boasts 14 runners with PBs under 2:06, including three-time Toronto Waterfront marathon champ Philemon Rono.
The women’s field features five runners who have broken 2:20: Ruti Aga, Birhane Dibaba, Degitu Azemiraw, Zeineba Yimer and Tigist Girma.
You can see the full Valencia elite fields here.
Strides: other stuff to read, listen to and know about
⛰ Krista DuChene ran her first ultramarathon this weekend, running 54K on trails on Sunday. She finished in 5:04, according to her Instagram.
A full race report will come, but she shared 5 lessons she’s learned after taking to the trails with Canadian Running.
🔬A group of Canadian researchers, which includes marathoner and dietician Rachel Hannah, are researching Relative Energy Deficiency in Sports (RED-S). They are working on developing a diagnostic tool, as the condition is little understood and relatively new when it comes to sport science.
🚩 Doug Harrison at CBC Sports spoke to several Canadian track and field athletes, including Aaron Brown, Moh Ahmed, Brandon McBride and Crystal Emmanuel, about what their training looks like right now, considering the Olympics were delayed and they are training in the middle of a pandemic.
🚺 Sports bras should be better. I’ve been wearing two every time I work out since my days of collegiate basketball — I’ve tried them all. Susan Lacke at Women’s Running looks at the research and development that is going into sports bras right now.
🎧 Anson Henry, the two-time Olympian turned CBC Sports broadcaster and analyst, was on the Inner Olympian podcast. Anson went to the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. He talks about what the Canadian sprinting scene was like then, what it was like to transition to his career in broadcasting and generally offers good advice about tackling anything new and/or you’re passionate about.
🎧 Malindi Elmore has been making the podcast rounds lately, and shares her story on the Clean Sport podcast. She shares a lot of the same details you’ve heard before, but there’s some new stuff here. Hearing her talk about her Olympic career and return to running at nearly 40 was interesting through the lens of clean sport, and how she believes drugs and doping impacted her career and success in the early 2000s — and was a direct consequence of her not making her second Olympic team in 2008.
🗽The New York marathon was supposed to happen on Nov. 1, but it became a virtual race because of the pandemic. Talya Minsberg at the New York Times looked at how New Yorkers claimed the marathon spirit anyway through their virtual runs through the city.
👟 World Athletics profiled Grete Waitz on the 32nd anniversary of her first New York City marathon win — her first attempt at the marathon distance. She would go on to win NYC eight more times, becoming one of the most accomplished long-distance runners in the world.
🎧 I listened to a couple of Hall of Shame episodes recently, hosted by Canadian Rachel Bonnetta and American Rachna Fruchbom. The premise of the show is Rachel and Rachna tell each other the craziest stories in sports history. The show aired earlier this year and it has covered running a few times. So far they have looked at Rosie Ruiz cheating to win the Boston marathon, Caster Semenya’s fight against governing bodies that decide if she should be allowed to race or not due to her naturally night volume of testosterone and at Suzy Favor Hamilton’s journey from Olympian to working as an escort in Vegas.
🇺🇸 Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon were both on runs when they heard the news that Biden-Harris ticket secured victory in the American election this past week (as was I!). They both have CanCon connections: O’Malley Dillon worked for Justin Trudeau’s campaign in 2015 and Kamala went to high school in Montreal.
Thank you, America, for still caring about democracy.
That’s it for this week!
If you’re reading online or this was forwarded to you by a friend, you can subscribe below:
Run the North covers Canadian running things and comes out every Monday!
Thanks for reading!
Stay safe, keep on running and I’ll see you next week.