Ultrabirch

Yes, that’s right I want you to FAIL, but here is WHY!👇🏻

Failure has been labelled as this inherently bad thing as far back as I can remember, even as a little boy 👦🏼

Attaching self-worth and value based on something working out, went well or you won…

I am here to tell you it is all bu****it 🐂 💩

There is no such thing as failure…

At least in the way we have all been taught to perceive and fear it!

Failure is feedback
Failure is information

The past can only influence the future if you let it dictate what happens next.

What happened, happened, now choose what happens.

It is that simple.

Here are ✨ FIVE things I know to be true about failure when it comes to my lived experience through career, life and sport:

1. When you ‘fail’ your mind lives in the past, awareness is the cue that can bring you back to the place you get to actually fix things…the present.

2. You don’t just stop thinking about a failure, you do however get to replace the thought with the next play, sentence, action or behaviour.

3. Stop placing judgement of self on top of the perceived failure, learn to see it as it is, a mistake, a missed shot or a bad moment. You are not it, it is not you.

4. You get to control the effort 100% of the time, what you can’t control is the outcome, that is the symptom of the effort.

5. Criticizing yourself post failure or the inability to complete something shuts down the neural connections to the learning centres in your brain, so don’t flip your lid, get curious rather than judgmental

So YES I want you to fail! I want you to fail often and chase big scary things that seem impossible, so when you do fail, you get back up and go again and again with an undeniable amount of curiosity in what is possible for you.

Failure is a gift to your future self should you choose to:

Accept it
Learn from it
Embrace it

Then choose the next best step each and every time.

SuperNova: The 100 Mile Dog is heading to Europe as an official selection of the Kendal Mountain Film Festival! 📍Kendal, UK

The film will screen on Nov. 21 at 9:30am and Nov. 23 at 2:45pm. The team behind the film will be at both screenings for a Q&A session beforehand. If you will be at the festival come and join us. Hope to see you there!

🐕 - SuperNova
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Coaching for me is so much more than finish lines, data and podiums. Joy, self-love, mindset, consistency and calculated training are the cornerstones of my coaching philosophy. Everything else comes as a result of these pillars.

I have chosen to coach only 7 athletes as that is a sweet spot for me and how I want to continue showing up for my athletes.

From 5km to 500km+ - 100milers, 50km, backyard ultras, timed race formats and epic adventures. I can prepare you for them all.

I have a few openings for 1-on-1 coaching with athletes moving into the 2026 season as we head towards cooler temperatures, snow and darker days. The hills are still there and it is a time to build towards the you that you want to see in 2026. (not to mention race registrations are already beginning)

Please fill out my coaching inquiry form via my link in bio or shoot me a DM to chat 💬 more about what coaching looks like with me. I have been known to run with my own four-legged 🐕 friend SuperNova if you are also interested in getting your dog involved too, that is a bonus!

The athletes I choose to coach are driven, successful and motivated to show up as their best selves every day. I am invested in the process and want to see them succeed in whichever direction they are called towards.

I only work with highly motivated individuals so if that is you and you are looking for a new growth opportunity into ultras, adventures or pushing past a distance that has only been a dream in your mind, reach out and let’s have the conversation.

⭐️ POLL BELOW👇🏻 Do you currently have a coach?

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This is 40 🎈— There’s nothing more dangerous than a someone with nothing to prove.

“Sometimes you need the rain 🌧️ to know you’ve missed the sun ☀️ “ 🏃🏼

I knew this day would come… behind all those smiles I am hurting for what never came to be 😢 and how it all ended so early in Tahoe.

The day where I allowed myself to feel the disappointment, sadness and begin bargaining with myself if something could or would have been different at Tahoe 200… 🥺

I have done so much internal healing and deep work over the last few years from decades of not feeling and stuffing it down to never want it to see the light of day.

I put on a brave face after my Tahoe 200 DNF… Inside I was screaming WHY, why me, why now, why, why, why.

I will never know why but I do know that focusing on it will bury me and I won’t allow that to overtake how far I have come as an individual beyond running and racing.

The truest of all the facts that I have learned to tell myself now is that I matter, I am enough and no outcome or finish will change that fact. How I respond is what matters.

These are the moments I coach my athletes on. That the outcomes don’t matter, the medals don’t matter. What matters is how you feel about yourself because of what happens not in spite of what happens.

I am feeling it all and sharing it all because I believe in not hiding these moments but celebrating my humanness the good, the bad and the ugly crying 😭

I am doing what I can to be present and be right where I am, exactly like I did in the race. Still learning that it is not about perfection, it’s about intention and action.

The action is underway and I will have the answers I need soon on the ankle, but the planning is already in motion.

You know us ultra runners! 😉

📸 photo 1 - Finish line with the bear and Cassie
🎥 video - Literally 1km right before I rolled my ankle
📸 photo 2 - Today finally breaking down 😢🥺
📸 photo 3 - Tears are strength not weakness

.canada

Sport is brutal. Sport is beautiful. The story of my Tahoe 200 DNF.

To start off, I am ok. I am safe. I am also oddly at peace with how it all went down too…

I decided to head out with the front pack on the first 2 miles of road to separate us all before the single track. Uphill pavement which I am no stranger to. I felt light, fast and found myself flying through the start line before the single track, sitting comfortably in the top 5. Right where I wanted to be to run my race my way.

As we made our way through the single track uphill things felt effortless, I kept trying to bring myself back to nasal breathing but the altitude was having none of it. As we flattened out around 8km in I took a video that you see here. Spirits were high and I was running my race.

THE BRUTAL

That’s until the stick that I still have visions of I stepped on parallel to my foot, it rolled under my foot and my ankle collapsed on itself. I instantly had to stop and I knew this wasn’t one I was going to just walk off. But man did I try, did I ever f$&king try. I regrouped and told myself don’t make any decisions until the aid station. I called Cassie and told her what happened and rather than mope or complain I got back to it. I ran/walked in the remaining 18km to the aid station, slowly, painfully and questioning what I was going to do now.

THE BEAUTIFUL

Walking in the last 2km I ran into a fellow Canadian he took the time to slow down and check on how I was doing. Arriving at Armstrong Pass I immediately asked for medical attention and David an incredible volunteer stepped in. We got my shoe and sock off, ice on, foot up and resting. I decided to test it out after 20min and there was no doubt it was bad. I made the decision to sports med tape my ankle like I learned back in high school. Now that I was taped up I told myself I would do the next 27km no matter what, even if it meant walking it in. I was not going to quit in the chair 🪑 it was too early.

The tape job was incredible and I began the climb out of Armstrong Pass and I ran into my friend who said she had a couple ibuprofen…

⬇️ continued in comments below… ⬇️