Before the Ottawa Marathon, when Lanni Marchant was racing just weeks after the Vancouver Marathon at 38-years-old, Lanni and I hosted the Ottawa City Run Club at Superette, arguably the country’s trendiest cannabis shop, where athletes in Canada need to purchase CBD.
CBD is the non-psychoactive component of the cannabis flower and, in America, it can be purchased at WholeFoods and on Amazon and is sold differently than old-school weed. In Canada, the two products are treated equally, though they do radically different things and most industry watchers predict our law will change soon. (CBD companies are allowed to sponsor athletes in America and Lanni says most big US runners have CBD sponsors).
At any rate, the event—hosted by iRun and MediPharm Labs, Canada’s leading CBD manufacturer—was eye-opening, to say the least.
“Since 2019, if I want to feel calm or dialled in during a workout, I’ve been using CBD,” says Marchant, who signed autographs and answered questions during the revelatory day. “I now realize how much of an anxious person I’ve been—or was—until I started using CBD.”
MediPharm Labs makes formulated oils that work for different need states. As the editor of iRun, there is a product I wholly endorse by the brand called CBN 1:2, which is a nighttime formula that also contains THC and seriously assisted me during a difficult bout of getting absolutely no sleep. Lanni would never touch THC, but says she takes CBD, which was recommended to her by her naturopath and counsellor, after her workouts—but also as she navigates her everyday life.
“Like any athlete, I can’t have any pot products so of course, with cannabis, I said, ‘no, no, no, no,’ but CBD is different,” Marchant told the crowd of runners, who actually didn’t look that different than the other Superette customers. “I use CBD in recovery drinks after a workout and for pain relief and it also helps me stave off, or at least lessen the effects, of migraines.”
To see the runners’ eyes pop open at the design of Superette and to watch them take in Lanni’s words felt like the dawn of something special. Looking more like an Apple store then a pot shop, Superette, like Lanni, goes a long way toward ending the stigma surrounding cannabis. MediPharm Labs can’t make any medical claims about their CBD products and more research is absolutely needed to better understand exactly what CBD does—and does not—do.
However, Lanni Marchant is inarguably one of Canada’s all-time greatest runners and her CBD endorsement garnered everyone’s attention. “At the start, I had to keep it on the DL—the down low—but in the states, elite runners are constantly giving out CBD promo codes and eventually I’m sure we’ll be there in Canada,” said Marchant. “It’s never easy being a trailblazer, I know that, but I think everybody should try CBD. It changed my life.”
For more information on MediPharm Labs, see medipharmlabs.com.
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