Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:06 Good morning, Fort McMurray. How are you doing today? Thank you for tuning in once again. My name is Elliot Pierre. I'm the host of the Mac city morning show. I'm like I start off every show from the bottom of my heart. I want to thank everybody for tuning in. May it be you tune in live and you're watching me right now and we're watching the prerecorded stuff later on. It doesn't matter to me. I'm just glad that, uh, he took some time to tune in and watch the show. We got a really good one today. I'm super excited, especially about the topic that we're going to be speaking about. But before we start, Tanner hit him with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:42 Welcome to the Mac city morning show.
Speaker 0 00:00:50 All right, there we go. As per usual, I'm not going to introduce the guest. They always do a better job than myself. So, uh, without further ado, Tanner, please hit our lovely guests with the camera. And, uh, please introduce yourself and just give the people at home a little bit of a, a bio about you.
Speaker 2 00:01:08 My name is Jessica Laska and I will be running the winter road to Fort chip on March 5th, sixth, seventh, and eighth. And that is why I'm here today with you. Lovely people.
Speaker 0 00:01:22 Oh, okay. So you're running this winter road in March. So you sat in three, you think you're going to do this in three days?
Speaker 2 00:01:29 Four days is the base like, um, we're thinking 50 a day, but if it ends up being like, if I'm just sitting there in the cold, unable to stay very warm, I'm just going to keep running. You know what I mean? Cause that's a lot of, I don't time between the, when you finish and when you go to sleep to wake up the next day. Yeah. So, and like I'm self-supported so I can't just get the guys to bring me firewood and have a fire all night. Like if I want a fire, I'm going to be foraging for the, the wood and stuff. So I've had it in my mind. I'm like, Hm, I'm going to test out next weekend. See what an actual day would be like ending at five, going to sleep at nine and then decide from there. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:02:13 Okay. Okay. So how many kilometers in total is this? Oh, is 205 kilometers. 205 kilometers. Middle of winter? Yes. Okay. So the big question, I think most people are going to be asking and I'm thinking it,
Speaker 2 00:02:29 Y Y yeah. And the challenge, I, you know, I was training to do the, I did at rod and, uh, because of COVID, it just wasn't plausible anymore. Um, it wasn't feasible. Um, and I was just like, well, why couldn't I just run the winter road? Like I did the winter training in Alaska with the, I did a road crew. And it was, it was so much like here, it was kind of shocking actually, but just more drunk people.
Speaker 0 00:03:04 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:03:05 And, uh, so yeah, it was just like, well, why couldn't I just do it here? And, and lo and behold, I dreamt up, she runs North.
Speaker 0 00:03:14 Okay. That's amazing. Okay. Now I'm a pretty big runner, very different from you though. I prefer to run on a treadmill. I don't like the elements. Um, I don't, I'm weird. Like I just put in my headphones, audio books, playlist, and I just run on my treadmill. Um, never run outside, ever go out of my way. Not to. Oh yes. So you're doing something completely different. Um, I got hooked on running when I was a child. What got you into running and how did you get involved in that?
Speaker 2 00:03:44 Uh, actually I didn't start running until like late 2015. I've I've never really been the super athletic person. Um, but I had moved back and you know, the winters here can be really hard and I knew I needed something to like combat the winter blues. Right. And I saw this guy come into my condo. Like I was at the vistas and the sky in the mornings, I'd be taking my dog for a walk and he's like just finished his morning run and he's completely iced over and he's got this Epic ice beard. And I had like, I was just like, Oh my God. That is so cool. Like, so I, I, I wanted to try it and I ended up buying a bunch of winter running gear and I started and I just haven't.
Speaker 0 00:04:33 That's awesome. So that's a crazy story. To be honest with you, that you started running in the winter, do you do summer runs as well? I run all the time. Okay. All right. So wow. Winter running though. So this is like a go-to jam for you. You you're running in the winter all the time, so
Speaker 2 00:04:52 It's totally different to just run in the winter versus multi-day running in the winter, right?
Speaker 0 00:04:57 Yeah. Cause yeah. Cause
Speaker 2 00:05:00 Like normally I would overdress and then I would come home and then it just form up. Right. But if you do that, when you're going to go and getting a tent, you're going to be wet. Right. It's going to be extremely uncomfortable. If not,
Speaker 0 00:05:16 How's, it is very hazardous for you.
Speaker 2 00:05:18 So I've been, that's like, while I have, I'm like four years of winter running under my belt. This is the first year I've been playing with moisture management to kind of like run just enough with right layers that I'm not sweating, like saturating with sweat.
Speaker 0 00:05:35 So you're diving into a topic where I want to talk to you about in regards to this run that you're doing here, you're going to be outside the whole time you're sitting in a tent. Uh, are you packing food with you? How are you going to stay warm? Like everything's on your back? No, everything's in my sled. Oh, okay. Let's let's hear about it. This is crazy. This is amazing. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:05:59 I've been, I've been running with a tire in the summer. A lot of people might have seen me and just wondered what the heck I'm doing, but that's that's to train, to pull weight behind me. And it actually worked wonders because like I've been pulling anywhere from 60 to a hundred pounds in my sled and it's not killing me. So there's a positive now I have to, because you have so much gear for a winter. Multi-day right. You have, you have your emergency clothing for, if something makes you slow down and you got to throw it on, so you don't lose heat. You got your food, like your fuel for your stove. You got your stove, you've got your multiple layers. You've got your safety gear, that sort of stuff. So it all adds up to like you couldn't carry it on your back.
Speaker 0 00:06:51 Yeah. So I know the people at home are probably thinking the same thing I am right now. I'm terrified for you. You are doing this with the team. I'm hoping.
Speaker 2 00:07:01 No, it's just me. And I've got like, uh, Thomas Hopkins, photography and Shaw spotlight. They're going to be, they're going to be out there too. And there'll be there in case something horrible happens. But like the goal is completely self-supported. Wow.
Speaker 0 00:07:15 Wow. Okay. But there is somebody checking up on you and it's like, if things go,
Speaker 2 00:07:19 Yeah. And I have an inReach device, so it's like a satellite communicator. I hit an SOS button and they send people to me. So like we have a safety systems in place. Okay. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:07:33 You're nuts. This is really exciting. It's an adventure. It is. Yeah. So are by nature, you a adventurous person or is this kind of your first thing that is pushing you into this like new, awesome realm?
Speaker 2 00:07:47 Well, I like, I, I haven't been, but I started to be, I guess, all, when I found running, um, I started doing stage races in other locations. Like I've been to, uh, my first one was in Costa Rica and then Ireland and New Zealand and Iceland. So like kind of combining travel with pushing your running limits and that's adventure to me now the whole like self-supported thing is new.
Speaker 0 00:08:20 Right. For sure. Right. Okay. Nuts. So with all this traveling though, um, I did some background research on you. You've pretty much lived your whole life in Fort McMurray. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:08:31 It's pretty much. I spent like seven years elsewhere and came back in 2013. But aside from that, I spent most of my life here.
Speaker 0 00:08:40 Okay. So you went through the school system here then, did you? Yes. All right. So we had a gentlemen earlier in the week, he went to Compton high school. I went to Merck Tanner, the man behind the camera, went to comp. What school did you go to?
Speaker 2 00:08:53 I went to Westwood for the first two years. And then Mark for the, or, sorry, backwards Mark for the first two, then Westwood.
Speaker 0 00:09:01 Okay. All right. So we don't need to go into the differences between Mark and Westwood. They're a little bit different comp, very different out of the two schools. Don't want to put you on the spot. Which one did you enjoy more?
Speaker 2 00:09:15 You know what? That's an interesting question. I think I enjoyed merch more. Cause it was closer to my house. There you go. Yeah. Like, I mean high school suck, no matter how many,
Speaker 0 00:09:29 Well, easiest to license out, that is fair enough. Okay. So outside of, uh, running and uh, this new adventure that you're going on, like, what do you do in the community day to day? Like you must have a full-time job doing something.
Speaker 2 00:09:43 Yeah. I work at Syncrude and controls for regional and corporate logistics. And um, aside from work, I, um, host weekly runs with the run club when COVID isn't here. Yeah. We have a, um, a pretty, it's been growing a lot, the running community here. So we have a few beginners runs and we also had park run when Kobe wasn't here. So a lot of my time goes to that sort of stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:10:11 It's, it's amazing what you guys are doing. I know when, like I was mentioning earlier when I was young, growing up things, this community, like we had the Fort Macquarie running club and it was huge, like so huge, huge. Um, and then over the years it kind of died down, but um, you guys have done a tremendous job at trying to like re-energize the community.
Speaker 2 00:10:31 Yeah. They had it like insane numbers. Like if you have you seen FMR archives on Instagram, like in the eighties even. So I'm like, how, how do we get there? You know what I mean? That's, that's what I'm thinking. How do we,
Speaker 0 00:10:48 Yeah, I think you guys are doing a great job. I know my mom, Pamela Pierre in that, uh, my sister's home right now. She joins you guys pretty often. She's a little lady she's about, I think she's, I won't say her age, but she'll get mad at me, but yeah, she's a senior and she runs one or two marathons a year and she loves taking part in what you guys do and seeing different parts of the trails. It's funny. She moved here in 1977, so she's been here forever. Um, but she calls me up on the weekends. She's like, Oh, you know, I went to this new part of town that I've never seen before. Like it's so cool. So, um, through what you guys are doing, it's not only like promoting running, but it's like finding out more about the community and kind of different places in it.
Speaker 2 00:11:31 Oh, for sure. Yeah. That's part of the draw too. I love it. I love hearing people say, I didn't even know this was here.
Speaker 0 00:11:38 Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's going hard on me right now. A lot of people are especially a lot of people in your group as well. Uh, cause I don't run outside. Like I just stood there like Elliot start running outside. I'm like, uh, the reasons that I don't want to know you, well, that's a loaded question. So, uh, one reason is I find running outside a lot harder on my joints than running on a treadmill. And I don't know if that's the truth or not. That's just me personally. So I love running. I'm addicted to running. I run probably four to five times a week, about 10 kilometers a run. So I like love running and I want to do it for my whole life. So I'm trying to have as low impact on my joints as possible. Have you tried trails? I have, yes. Okay. So not as hard as the joint. See, I know, I know. So that's number one. So number one is longevity. Number two is I don't like the elements, like when it's too hot, when it's too cold, like how you run outside, like in the winter,
Speaker 2 00:12:45 It's better than summer because it's, it's like the perfect temperature,
Speaker 0 00:12:48 But the, the ice lungs, like, I don't know how you inhale and the coldness, like, that's the one thing about winter running
Speaker 2 00:12:56 Like a fast runner? Like what's your
Speaker 0 00:12:58 Pace? I don't know. Fast. Yeah. I can run 10 kilometers outside. Cause I have run the last time I ran an outside run. I ran 10 kilometers in 42 minutes. So, um,
Speaker 2 00:13:09 Well you just need to slow like for winter you just need to slow it down. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:13:14 Okay. Okay. Number three. Why don't run outside and while I'm terrified for you is animals. I'm terrified of animals. We live in the middle of nowhere. I, so the animal, you see the bear traps in the summer and you see the footprints in the winter. Yes. You're not alone. No. So in my garage, on my treadmill I'm alone. So those are my three reasons. Not, I'm not saying they're the best reasons, but that's why I stick to the treadmill.
Speaker 2 00:13:44 You know, if he came out and joined us on a run, there'd be enough people not to worry about.
Speaker 0 00:13:48 That is true. It's something like, honestly, like there's, I think there's more positives to run outside than indoor. What drives me nuts is I do prior to COVID I love to travel and uh, because I don't run outside. If where I'm staying, doesn't have a treadmill, I don't get to run because I'm not conditioned to like run and stop at lights. And like, I'm just, it's a different form of running right outside versus indoor. So that is the main reason I do want to try, try to start running outside again is just because like when I go traveling, I would like to just be able to run and not be limited to.
Speaker 2 00:14:24 And there's something magical about like travel running too. Like you can see places that most people don't get to see
Speaker 0 00:14:32 On your feet. That's exactly it.
Speaker 2 00:14:35 You're getting like 50 kilometers a week. So yeah.
Speaker 0 00:14:38 Yeah, yeah. I know. I know. I know I do, dude. Yeah. I'm gonna, I'm going to be hit with like, I know the comments from the running club. Like I know I'm going to get blown up. You're in trouble. Yeah, I know. Well, because I'm a little bit of trouble now. We're going to put you in a little bit of a hot seat. Okay. So we're at the part of the show. It's called the Mac city minute where Tanner, the man behind the camera is going to ask you five questions. Just rapid fire. Try your best to just like, not even think about it. Just whatever comes off the top of your head. Just spit out the answer. Okay. You ready? Ready? All right. Tanner hit her with the questions.
Speaker 3 00:15:11 Alrighty. Question number one. How does running affect your life daily?
Speaker 2 00:15:16 Uh, antidepressant. Alright,
Speaker 3 00:15:18 Question number two. What is the most interesting run you've ever taken?
Speaker 2 00:15:23 Uh, Iceland.
Speaker 3 00:15:25 Alrighty. Question number three. What's your favorite way to treat yourself? When resting on a multi-day run,
Speaker 2 00:15:31 Uh, a Lake or a river
Speaker 3 00:15:34 Question number four. What is something you do to train that most people would not expect
Speaker 2 00:15:39 The pulling the tire maybe. Huh?
Speaker 3 00:15:42 And question number five. When you're training, what do you jam out to? What do I sorry, jam out.
Speaker 2 00:15:48 Oh, electronica.
Speaker 0 00:15:53 There you go. Those are good. I like, how do you come up with these questions?
Speaker 3 00:15:57 I sit at home and think about the guests that we have and see how we can relate it to what they do.
Speaker 0 00:16:01 Yeah. It's a different five questions every time. And they are very specific to the guests
Speaker 3 00:16:06 Times. I create them the night before. Sometimes I create them five minutes before the show because I forgot. There you go.
Speaker 0 00:16:13 All right. So Iceland, why was that your first job?
Speaker 2 00:16:15 Oh, it was the most beautiful place. It was like the, the most poorly organized one. I'll say that politically, but it was so beautiful and I, I want to go back there most places. I'm like, I've been there. I want to try somewhere new, but I actually do want to go back there. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:16:36 Yeah. That's the thing about running like, um, I've, I've helped organize a bunch of runs. I've helped sponsor runs through company sponsorship and I've participated like there's so much that goes into organizing a run that people are like, what are you talking about? You just run. And you're like, no, it's a lot. And when you're talking about like big distances, it's really easy for that to go over.
Speaker 2 00:16:56 Yeah. Yeah. And I think this was this, this woman's first time branching out and yeah. A lot of learning. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:17:05 So when you're running and you're traveling, are you running like marathons or what do you, what do you, uh, what's the kind of distance that you're going for?
Speaker 2 00:17:13 It's a stage race. So that's where you, like, you run a certain amount every day and then you camp at night. Right? And my first one was one 50. I did a few, one fifties and then my last one was 350. So that goes from like 20 K a day to like a marathon a day. And in New Zealand it was like a marathon a day. And then the third day was, was 90 kilometers. Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:17:37 You're going major distances. Yeah. Okay. So I have a question. This is a, uh, it's a running question. What kind of shoes are you wearing? What's your brand?
Speaker 2 00:17:47 I have to disclose that I met ambassador for all. Tra as of yesterday I just signed the contract.
Speaker 0 00:17:55 Congratulations.
Speaker 2 00:17:57 Always when I'm like, well, I wouldn't say always when I first started, I didn't and I need room for my toes or I was losing toenails left right. And center. And then I found Altra and like now I rarely lose the toenail. Like they're so comfortable.
Speaker 0 00:18:13 Okay. Big shout out to ultra. Then I've never heard of this shoe brand before. No, because, uh I've because of the amount of running I do, like I've tried everything, my go-to brand, which I've been wearing for years, but my newest version of it, I just bought not good. I need to get rid of them. Maybe I'll try ultra, um, is a six. I love a six. Like, and I've been running with them for probably 15 years now. Unfortunately the new one that I just bought maybe two months ago, it's killing my feet. No. So it's not working out for me. So what's the spread
Speaker 2 00:18:46 It's, Altra a L T R a and they're, they're like they support the natural foot shape. There's zero draw. So yeah. And they have quite a few models, but the one that I used to whereby and always stick with is lone peak.
Speaker 0 00:19:01 Okay. Yeah. And where can I get this? Is it online? Do they, uh, they, they show you're in format.
Speaker 2 00:19:06 Where's the, they have a website, but it's like, not for Canada. So here I usually get them on like, um, runner in or track in or, and I think they have a suggested website. They use to get theirs. And sometimes like for you who you're like a treadmill runner, you can get some running room and they'll go on sale too, though. They have good sales at rolling them from,
Speaker 0 00:19:33 Okay. I'm gonna, I'm gonna try it all spammy
Speaker 2 00:19:35 With all my sources. Okay,
Speaker 0 00:19:38 Cool. Sweet. All right. Well that is the end of the show. So thanks for coming. I really do appreciate it. But before we leave, I need to give two shout outs. Is that okay to enter? Can I give to shout outs and give as many as you want? All right. First and foremost, forgot to do it yesterday. Tanner's mom. Tanner's mom made me some homemade. It wasn't chicken was Turkey soup, Turkey soup cracked. Oh, it was delicious. And like, I like to eat as we talked about earlier in the week, she shaved these onions down. So thinly, like they just melted when they were in my mouth all by hand. All by hand. Yeah. That's what we found out. So big shout out to Tanner's mom, best cook in the city for sure. Killing it on the soup. So thank you very much for the soup.
Speaker 0 00:20:24 Second person that we're going to shout out is my father Gregory Pierre. He sent us a gift yesterday to add to the sec, a bottle of Demerara 12 year old rum. So big shout out to my dad. We're not going to crack it, dad. Don't worry. It's the morning show. However, uh, I love you. Thank you very much for the gift and else at home. Uh, if you want to give or send me and Tanner some gifts, we're all for it. We love free things. We love free things. So, um, somebody also sent a book. My wife sent a book by Matt McConaughey Greenlight. So that was the first gift we got. Now we got a bottle of booze. Um, I'm excited to see, uh, what else we get sent. Maybe it'll appear on set. Maybe we'll see. So anyways, Fort McMurray, everybody watching once again from the bottom of my heart.
Speaker 0 00:21:12 Thank you so much for tuning in today. Thank you so much for coming as well. Good luck with your run. We'll definitely be following you and supporting you, um, in spirits, not in body, you're on your own for that one. Uh, but everybody at home. Thanks again. It's been another great week. Uh, we have a banging lineup next week. So please tune in. Um, like we talked about earlier, we've got guests booked until, uh, March and we got a few more for March. So thanks for all the support for everybody who wants to come in and have a chat with us other than that, have a great day. And we'll see you next week. Peace.
Speaker 1 00:21:45 <inaudible> talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
