Rachel Notley is running for re-election in Alberta (literally)

Rachel Notley, who is currently fighting an election campaign for a second term as premier of Alberta, is a runner. (Her kids are runners, too. She even combines running with campaigning, as she did just this morning.) And regardless of what you may think of her politics, that makes her one of us.

What a great surprise!
As @joececiyyc and I were running, this awesome family came out of their house to cheer us on.
This campaign is about families like theirs and all Albertans.
Make your plan to run to the polls today: https://t.co/F7DD5cOZpE#abvote #abndp #FightingForYou pic.twitter.com/eqZaMq5Cx0

— Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) April 10, 2019

RELATED: Alberta premier Rachel Notley runs half-marathon before heading to U.S. for business

The Globe and Mail noted yesterday that though Alberta premier Rachel Notley’s popularity is high, her party’s is not. (The NDP won a majority in 2015 only seven months into Notley’s leadership, and she is the first NDP premier in the province’s history. But this being politics, things have changed since then.) But though her chances of being re-elected as premier when Albertans go to the polls next Tuesday may be slim, we can still enjoy relating to her as a fellow-runner.

WATCH: A workaholic, a loyal friend, and a committed parent who is known to crack a joke and swear like a sailor. But underneath it all, she loves Alberta and she has spent her life fighting for Alberta families.

This is Rachel.#ableg #abvote pic.twitter.com/PlCBBNx94j

— Alberta's NDP (@albertaNDP) April 5, 2019

Unlike some politicians who seem only to break out their runners for photo ops, Notley’s pretty committed. (Anyone who runs the Hypothermic Half in Edmonton in February, as Notley did in 2017, has to be.) A recent Globe and Mail story claims she credits her stamina on the campaign trail to her running, which makes sense to us. Another way you know she’s a committed runner is that, according to her campaign video (above), her best pals are her running pals.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvpTUN3Az94/

Notley also, like most runners, has a great sense of humour. She cracks herself up when she realizes the irony in the fact that when she was a kid she had a horse named Jason, who she and her friends would take turns riding. (In case you don’t follow Alberta politics, her political opponent in the campaign is United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney.)

If the pundits are right, after Tuesday’s election Notley may be able to get back to training and racing with a little more frequency. And that’s never a bad thing.