Hello! Welcome. Thank you for being here. I wish I could meet you in person, but for now, allow me to introduce myself.
I’m Claire.
For the sake of this website, I should emphasize that I am an evidence-informed chiropractor who is passionate about treating runners. For the sake of realness, I am really not attached to my job title (don’t call me Dr. Claire or Dr. Wells). However, I am attached to the core of what my job is – a way to help and connect with people. I love to work together with my patients to get them back to doing the things they love without pain. We only get one go at life, and it breaks my heart to think of people spending their lives in pain, and/or avoiding the activities that enhance their health and happiness due to injury.
I started this venture to establish a platform for myself to share about the services I offer, to connect patients and practitioners with a network of professionals in Calgary who are passionate about running, and to contribute to the existing immaculate vibes of the YYC run community.
When it comes to treating runners, I know a lot! And…I still have a lot to learn. In fact, I have a lot to learn about treating people in general (and I’m skeptical of any practitioner who doesn’t feel the same). The body is a weird and wonderful thing; an absurdly complex organism made more complicated by our level of consciousness and cognition. I love it, and I want to get better at understanding it and helping it thrive. I will always try my best with my patients, but I’m not perfect so I might not always have the answers. That’s why I wanted to create a network of professionals in the run space who I can lead my patients to when they need services beyond what I can offer. When I first started in my career, I was scared to admit to people when I didn’t know something. Now I believe it is an asset, because it means my ego doesn’t get in the way of people getting better.
Anyways…
What else can I say about me? I grew up in Ottawa, then lived in Halifax for four years for school, then lived in Toronto for four years for school, then moved to Calgary because MOUNTAINS. I f*cking love the mountains. Trail running has my heart, but after getting a puppy in December 2024 it became a lot harder to get out to the mountains, so for now I do more road running.
Although I love to run now, exercise has changed a lot for me over the years. When I was younger I played competitive basketball, but in grade 12 I quit club ball because “I needed to actually get fit and athletic.” Which was a nice way to mask a complete lack of self-esteem, deep self-loathing, and severe body dysmorphia that were driving a desire to be smaller. I became “subclinically anorexic” and over-exercised and under-ate my way down to 116lb at 6’1″. I gradually got out of that through a very convoluted fitness pathway: First bikini competitions (“I’ll agree to gain weight, but only if it’s muscle!”), then general lifting (fuelled by embarrassment about being weak in my S&C coaching class), then CrossFit (because it felt badass, there are no mirrors, and nobody cared about how anyone looked). After a couple of years, I had unrelenting low back pain that took me out of CrossFit for a while. Once I was better I switched to Olympic weightlifting for about five years. At the end of that I was living in Calgary (and COVID-19 became a thing), so I started hiking more and just generally lifting, and eventually I dabbled in running. I really only started running because it was a faster way to get the steps in each day that my nutrition coach was prescribing me while I was trying to lose weight. I did my first 10k race in 2021 and started being consistent with it in 2023. Now I run more than I lift. I never thought that would happen, but I am really leaning into this season of life. But I strongly believe that all runners should be lifting heavy weight!! Stay tuned for a post on that.
I still struggle a lot with body image, and often with self-worth, and my relationship with food is always a work in progress. I have also experienced varying levels of general anxiety for years. These things, combined with the positive effect of therapy on my life, have made me somewhat passionate about mental health advocacy, therapy, and normalizing the conversation about both. I have done some fundraising for Bigger Than the Trail, which is a nonprofit rooted in the trail running community that provides people in need with free access to therapy. They are SO. AWESOME.
What else…
I have a golden retriever named Winnie who is an absolute charmer. I love her tremendously. I have a wonderful family who I love dearly, and who inspire me and uplift me and support me to no end. I love almond croissants, ice cream, painting and drawing, baking, reading, and coffee walks. I love to be around people who are warm and make me laugh. I love yellow larches and wildflowers. I love that glowy orange light of a sunrise. I love real Christmas trees and campfires and crunchy leaves. And I bet I’d love hanging out with you. If you need treatment for tight things, painful things, or injured things, hit me up. And if you don’t, well…good job haha. I’ll be here if you ever need help in the future.
Oh wait.
Last thing. About this whole “cadence run collective.” I thought I’d share my thought process behind the name and the phrases that I’m currently leaning into.
Cadence
- Represents forward motion. Forward progress. This is something I strive for in my life and for my patients.
- Increasing cadence is often a simple fix to many run problems, so to me is symbolizes that a simple approach can be the best approach. There is really no need to overcomplicate things. A lot of running social media does that, and I find it annoying!
Collective
- Quite simply it represents the collection of practitioners I want to connect people with. Because it takes a village.
- Symbolizes the community aspect of running. We are in it together.
Slogans:
Step It Up
- This is akin to what cadence means – but also represents the desire to be better than before.
You Belong
- Everyone is welcome in my treatment room and in running more broadly. EVERYONE!!
- It is important to me to make people feel seen and valued.
- The concept of, if you run, you’re a runner. It doesn’t matter if you do run-walk intervals, if you have never run more than 3km, or if you compete in 200 mile races.
Strong strides + immaculate vibes
- Strong because maintaining a strong body is important for running.
- Strength training for performance and injury resilience
- Adequate fueling is required for a strong body, and is a passion of mine
- Immaculate vibes because one goal is to provide an overall positive patient experience, company culture, and community atmosphere. We want things to feel pristine in the vibes department, bro.
Okay, that’s it for now. If you made it this far, let me know because I am impressed. 😛
Cadence Run Collective 