What’s fast for you could be slow for another runner and impossible for someone else. Fast can even mean something different for individual runners depending on factors like where they are in a training cycle, if they’re coming back from an injury, or the distance they’re running. Some runners equate fast with a specific pace-per-mile.
Brooklyn-based fashion designer Florence Canonoy, for example, said it’s about seeing her paces drop on her tracking app month after month. For others, like Mollie Kaplan from Florida, running fast has nothing to do with the time on her watch. And for Long Islander Chris Chung, fast is a feeling: “When I’m doing interval workouts, that’s what fast feels like to me,” he said.
Below, Canonoy, Kaplan, and Chung share what they each learned pursuing personal goals in different races—all while wearing the On Cloudboom Strike 2. A content creator from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who played lacrosse in college and has completed four marathons. Distance raced in the Cloudboom Strike 2: marathon in Chicago An industrial designer and content creator from Jericho, New York, who’s been running for 10 years and did his first marathon in 2025.
Distance raced in the Cloudboom Strike 2: half marathon in Vancouver, British Columbia A fashion designer from Brooklyn, New York, who ran casually in high school and college and began taking running seriously this year. Distance raced in the Cloudboom Strike 2: 5K in New York City Race goal: Push herself while returning from a hip flexor injury This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision. Co-created with athletes for marathons and half marathons, featuring our CloudTec Sphere™ cushioning system for a fast ride and Helion™ HF hyper foam for energy return.
Mollie: My first marathon in New York City in 2024 was my fastest. I’ve been wanting to PR since then. But going into Chicago, we had a yellow warning [weather alert] with less than ideal conditions.
So I was a little frustrated because after training all summer in the heat, I was really excited to finally do a cooler marathon and was definitely prepared to PR. But I took the pressure off myself the last two weeks before the race. My goal was not to look at my watch.
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