The beauty of choosing to do your own unsupported run is that you don’t need an established route, but can just create your own. There are limitless options if you wish to follow something a little more established, though.

A few popular routes include:

East Coast Trail, N.L.

• 265K (developed) or 540K (under development) • Varying trail • Fastest Known Time: 34:40 (for 215K of the developed trail) This north-to-south tour of a big chunk of Newfoundland is the easternmost hiking trail in all of North America. You’ll run by a geyser, through three provincial parks and over a 50-metre suspension bridge, as well as Signal Hill and Cape Spear, Canada’s farthest eastern point.

Frontenac Provincial Park Perimeter, Ont.

• 51K • Technical trail • Fastest Known Time: 5:53:50 Once or twice a year, I like to get out and do the entire perimeter of the park. The true perimeter starts at the Trail Office, continues along the Corridor Trail, then turns right on the Rideau Trail out to Slide Lake loop, then completes the east, north and western tips of the park. It’s a beautiful loop, but quite challenging and a good benchmark of fitness.

La Cloche Silhouette Trail, Ont.

• 78K • Rugged, with steep, rocky terrain • Fastest Known Time: 9:25:45 This big loop around the La Cloche mountain range in Killarney Provincial Park. Parts of this beautiful run can be challenging, as you’ll be running up and down the rocky quartzite peaks. But you’ll be rewarded with spectacular views that inspired the Group of Seven painters.

West Coast Trail, B.C.

• 80.03K • Varying terrain; ladders • Fastest Known Time: 9:32:32 This is perhaps Canada’s best known and most celebrated trail. In fact, it’s often been called one of the most beautiful trails in the world. It was carved out of Vancouver Island’s shoreline over 100 years ago as a rescue route to get to shipwrecks.The 80K makes for, at times, very tough running, with multiple ladder climbs.