August 8th, 2016 – By Amy Friel
For Toronto chef Daniel Janetos, food has always been a passion.
“I love cooking,” he says. “The only thing I love more than cooking, is eating.”
The founder of the city’s new and wildly popular Mac and Cheese Festival, Janetos has a wealth of experience that covers every aspect of working in the food industry.
“From when I was 11 or 12 years old, I’ve been in the industry,” he recalls. “Anywhere from folding cardboard boxes or doing dishes, to being a line cook, and then working my way up to being a head chef.”
Janetos’ passion for good food has taken him across the world; by his own estimation, he has travelled and cooked in over fifteen different countries. It’s an experience that has allowed him to become intimately acquainted with the peculiarities — both the good and the bad — of working in the food industry.
“You get to see a cross-section of some pretty badass dudes and girls, who are just cooking because they’re passionate,” he says. “It’s an industry that’s high intensity, high in pressure, and high in habits. Chefs, and people within the industry, are known for getting off of work and drinking beers all night. It can be kind of a downward spiral.”
A former football player turned fitness and yoga enthusiast, Janetos was not about to let his passion for health and wellness conflict with his passion for food. So in 2014, when he heard about newly-formed crew The Food Runners, he was quick to join their ranks.
A niche offshoot of Toronto’s Nike Running Club, The Food Runners is a crew comprised of some of the city’s most talented chefs. Their goal is simple: to use running to foster a culture of healthy living among food industry professionals.
“The initial inspiration was just to throw some positivity into the industry,” Janetos explains. “At the beginning, guys were having cigarettes and beers before and after the runs. It was just a social activity.”
But what started as a friendly Wednesday morning ritual quickly turned into a dedicated training regimen, with crew members taking on increasingly challenging races and goals.
For Janetos, this training culminated in the completion of his first-ever marathon at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon last October. Recovering from an injury but determined to capitalize on his training, his race experience was by turns both grueling and rewarding.
Afterwards, like so many marathoners before him, Janetos doubted he would ever revisit the formidable distance.
“I promised myself, if I finish this marathon in under four hours — which I barely did — I’m never gonna push myself to run another marathon. I’m just gonna run for fun,” he recalls. “And then this email came through that said, ‘Hey, do you wanna set a Guinness World Record?’”
Quickly, Janetos found himself toying with the idea of capturing a Guinness World Records title that would double as a unique homage to his professional life and running crew: the fastest marathon dressed as a chef.
An athlete at heart, with a fiercely competitive spirit, Janetos is accustomed to chasing down goals. But he’s also, perhaps paradoxically, hyperaware of his own limitations; his athletic ambition is grounded in the memory of a childhood that was fraught with health concerns.
“I couldn’t eat anything,” he recalls. “I couldn’t run very far. If it was a smoggy day, I’d almost pass out. I went into anaphylactic shock a bunch of times.”
It’s an experience that taught him to value his health, and to take nothing for granted.
“All of that — not being able to eat, not having a good set of lungs — translated into me becoming a chef and loving sports, because I always wanted to have a healthy, active lifestyle.”
As for the demands of marathon training with an already demanding work schedule, Janetos isn’t one to complain — quite the contrary, in fact.
“Running gives you this extra energy, to get up in the morning and do more with the same number of hours in a day,” he explains.
But when the going does get tough (who among us can’t find ten good excuses to blow off a three-hour mileage run?), Janetos is quick to credit his Food Runners crew mates for providing the inspiration and accountability necessary to keep his training on track.
“It’s fairly small and tight-knit — never any more than twenty people,” he says of his crew. “But for the people that get out there, we see true growth. Everyone’s in a similar position, since it’s all people within your industry. So it’s a pretty powerful team, in terms of the ‘no excuses’ thing.”
No longer a rookie marathoner, and with a no-excuses attitude, Janetos now sees a Guinness World Records title on his horizon. As for the existing record of 4:07:17, his intentions for October are clear:
“My goal is to smash it.”
Applications are now being accepted for Guinness World Record attempts at the 2016 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon & Half-Marathon! Find out how you can apply to break your very own Guinness World Record: http://runcrs.co/1TROjVx
