Keeping Pace
Things move fast in the running world, and it can be tough to keep up. Our March & April 2023 issue featured a profile of Ben Flanagan, who broke the Canadian record at the Valencia Half Marathon in Spain last October with his 61-minute performance. Canadian marathon record holder Cam Levins was also in that race, hard on Flanagan’s heels, and before the ink was dry on the magazine, Levins had bested Flanagan’s record by 42 seconds at the Vancouver First Half. (Then, on March 5, Levins also broke his own Canadian marathon record, running 2:05:36 at the Tokyo Marathon.)
This is a risk we take in the print world, writing about achievements that may well be surpassed before we can tell the bigger story. But it’s a risk we’ll continue to take, because Flanagan’s rise is still inspiring and worthy of a few more words than we usually publish on the website. And it’s not like it’s over—I expect we’ll be writing about him for a few more years yet.
Spring is a time of rejuvenation, and we hope this issue inspires you to ever-more-satisfying running and racing, whatever your goals. Many races have bounced back from the pandemic, but many are continuing the long grind to pre-pandemic participation levels, so we encourage you to sign up for a race this spring, or to volunteer. (Races can always use bodies: for setup and tear-down, course marking, marshalling and water stations.)
Our Canadian Running staff are a talented and varied group of people, and starting with our next issue, we plan to introduce ourselves to you in this space, one staff member at a time. Stay tuned!