VIDEO: Lucia and Gabriela Stafford show off witty sisterly banter as they take us through typical training day

If you have a sibling, you’re probably going to relate to the above snapshot of a day in the life of the Stafford sisters.

Both high-performing runners, Lucia, 18, and Gabriela Stafford, 21, agreed to let Canadian Running follow them around during a series of runs and workouts. After spending time with our video team, the middle-distance pros showed us a little bit more about their lives– behind just the PBs and top-level track performances.

RELATED: Toronto’s Lucia Stafford has succeeded in setting records on three occasions in 2017

We were especially curious about the relationship between the Stafford-duo. How does it feel when two close-in-age sisters both shine at the same sport? Well, we found out that the pair works well in driving each other in workouts and in races. Other than that, we’ll let their adorable back-and-forth sisterly banter speak for itself… 

“We like to bicker,” Lucia told us plainly. 

Though they run together now, they have had to work on it and put their sibling rivalry aside… sort of. 

“When we started running, we could not do long runs together,” explains Gabriela. “There was one time when I literally ditched her on a trail–

“No, I ditched you!” Lucia interrupts.

Since their younger years, they say, they have gotten better at running together and work to resist the urge to race each other in training runs.  

“It has been… civilized,” says Gabriela.

“It has been more than civilized. It has been fun,” corrects younger sister Lucia. 

Gabriela is familiar to anyone who watches Canadian track. She has been on the scene for a while and just this past summer, she qualified to represent Canada in her first Olympics. She travelled to Brazil and wore the team Canada uniform in Rio at the women’s 1,500m alongside Canadian teammates Hilary Stellingwerff And Nicole Sifuentes. Her PB in the distance is 4:06.53.

Lucia has made headlines in 2017 for breaking records and raking in the first-place finishes in 2017. Earlier this month, we reported on her phenomenal racing at the Armory Track meet in NYC where she broke the Canadian U20 1,000m and mile records. At that point, she had either set a record or won each of her races of the year. The Toronto engineering student has also qualified to run 4x400m relay at the Canadian University Championships.

But 2017 holds another interesting twist and one which, after getting a glimpse into their loving sisterly relationship, we are particularly excited for. On the weekend the sisters will race each other. Both will be running at the OUAs this weekend and as they point out, it’s going to be the first time they have stood together at the start line in four or five years. We wish well to them both!