Canadian here. This may be true for some (many) parts of Canada but certainly not all of Canada. For example, with proper gear you can run outdoors in Vancouver year-round. When I lived in the GTA, I routinely ran outdoors through late December and almost always resumed by mid-March.
Point being: dressing appropriately can extend your running season dramatically.
Even in your example, there's a 4 month period where it's impossible. Snow + ice makes it dangerous to be running outside during winters. I have friends who run marathon and one has had knee surgeries and therefore afraid to run in even a little bit of ice.
And the fact that she was able to execute effectively on the fund raising and marketing aspects of her venture doesn’t mean that she IS an expert in her field. The problems with and ultimate outcome of Theranos paint a pretty clear picture of that.
Visible association with a convicted fraudster, especially one as high profile her, should be a giant red flag to investors and consumers.
We live in the world where there is no such thing as a negative publicity. Just look at Trump. People take notice apparently.
After all, we all know that funded startups are just a pump and dump game. It doesn't matter whether the thing is real at all, what truly matters is how big will the "bigger fool" that comes after you. Holmes attracts eyeballs and thats' all investors need.
Point being: dressing appropriately can extend your running season dramatically.