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RUNNING DOWN A DREAM BY BEN KAPL AN
The most accessible sport in the world finds a comfy home in the cannabis community and fuels high-flying consumers like Emma Andrews, CEO of Nextleaf Solutions, a BC based cannabis processor EMMA ANDREWS IS A MOTHER OF TWO, marathon runner, registered nutritionist, and advocate for conscious cannabis consumption. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Nextleaf Solutions, home of Glacial Gold, best known for their high purity extracts. Andrews, at the helm of a publicly traded company making big moves in the cannabis extraction space, knows that being a high-performing executive goes hand in hand with her approach to health and wellness, both mentally and physically. She attributes her success and resilience, in part, to a philosophy of “conscious consumption”,
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using cannabis as a natural health product, prioritizing alternative methods of cannabis consumption (such as non-combustible), focusing on whole food nutrition, the mindbody connection, and her longtime love affair with running. As the sport explodes across the country and, indeed, around the world—Canada will have more marathon finishers in 2024 than any previous year and, for example, over 500,000 runners applied for 45,000 bibs at the London Marathon— Emma Andrews believes summer 2024 is the perfect time for cannabis consumers to get out and run.
“Running is fundamental to my well-being. It’s my therapy. It’s my decompression and it’s meditative,” says Andrews, a Victoria-based executive originally from Calgary, currently training for fall’s Royal Victoria Marathon, her first marathon in six years and since becoming a mother of two, after a long journey with infertility. “For me, running is also about the mental endorphin boost. It’s cathartic and, especially now as a CEO, running is essential for my overall health, and every aspect of how I show up: it helps me…feel like me.” For Andrews, whose work and family life are all consuming—as many of our work and family lives are—running has become a catalyst to feeling more empowered and embodied through whatever comes her way. It’s a time to herself, a chance to re-centre and focus, take a pause, all while doing something that is good for her and makes
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