Welcome to The XC

Thank you for joining our community! It’s good to have you here!

If you are receiving this email, you have either signed up for our weekly newsletter all about the culture and sport of running, or you were on one of our writers’ personal contact lists and they thought you would enjoy the conversation. Of course, if you have no interest in running, please do unsubscribe.

We named our little project after cross-country running, as it’s pure, gritty and foundational. But we’ll be covering road running, the track, trails, and pretty much everything else that consumes a runner on a daily basis. Think of it as a conversation between running partners, via email.

You will start receiving our weekly Five Things email and some other good stuff right here in your inbox, all for free. This is a labour of love, not a business. You can also go to our home at Substack to read the full archives and other posts as they are published.

We’ll leave you with this:

Rescue us from the dreaded promotions tab

We’re aiming to deliver you something worth getting excited about each week. So, if you can’t find the newsletter, check your spam or promotions tab. And please mark this address as ‘not spam.’ And rescue us from the dreaded promotions prison!

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Thanks again, and please tell a few friends if you feel like it.

© 2026 The XC
Toronto