Canada’s Gabriela Stafford, 23, enjoyed some fireworks herself on January 5.

Until that day, Stafford had been known as a 1500 runner — she owns a 4:03.55 pb, but failed to make the finals in the 2016 Olympics, 2017 Worlds, and 2018 Commonwealth Games. But at the Glasgow Athletics Association Miler Meet, Stafford made her 5,000 debut and to say it went well would be an understatement.

She ran 14:57.45 to destroy Megan Metcalfe-Wright’s old Canadian indoor record of 15:25.15 by nearly 30 seconds (she narrowly missed Courtney Babcock‘s outdoor mark of 14:54.98).

We imagine some of you may be wondering why a Canadian would be running in a low-key 5,000 in Britain in January. The answer is simple. Stafford has pulled a “reverse Mo Farah” and moved from North America to the UK to train with Laura Muirunder the Muir’s coach, Andy Young. Speaking of Muir, she won the 5,000 in 14:52.02 and towed Stafford to the record.

After getting the record, Stafford gave big props to Muir and Young, telling Canadian Running her workouts are very intense nowadays:

“I’ve definitely gotten a lot more mentally tough. Some of the workouts I’ve done this fall are just on another level in terms of both intensity and length. Some of them are just as difficult as races, so I’ve really had to up my mental game as a result. Completing these workouts allowed me to approach my season opener more calmly than I have in a long while, because a 5K race can’t be harder than some of the sessions I’ve done recently.”

Stafford celebrated her national record by getting married a week later. (from LET’S RUN}

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Entries close on January 28 just over 1 week away for February 2 event at Richmond Olympic Oval

Coaches and athletes can enter here

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