Category: My Personal Journey
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Vancouver Sun Run 10K – Race Recap – Mario Kart Vancouver
Around 8K, I told myself “this is the moment to get that 10K best. It’s now or never.” I got a little more mushroom power-up in my legs but unfortunately no coins or star power. This managed to bridge the gap between the other dudes fighting in that Yellow bib wave as we continued to…
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Newsletter: How much trail time do you really need for trail races?
In any sport, I’ve long been a proponent of “game-realistic training”. The notion is that you need to prepare for the specific demands of what the game actually looks like. When it comes to endurance sports, this becomes more complex. What we need to develop as athletes is a well-rounded skillset.
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Weekly Newsletter: Giving yourself an off-season
Last Sunday, I concluded my season with a historic half marathon (literally called the Historic Half Marathon). I think I’ve often looked at this year’s races as somewhere within the ‘B’ tier, with no standout results, no podium finishes and no ‘A+’ days. I’m inevitably hungry for what’s to come in 2026 and to put…
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Dancing in the storm
It’s been over a year now in B.C., and almost two since the reason I’m really here. And it forever feels difficult feeling like most of that has been thrown behind either in pursuit and prioritization of the efforts I put into my work in Ontario at the time, or after it inevitably ended so…
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Jackass 31K @ Javelina – Race Recap – Alone in the dark 🔦
I treated this trip like an adventure. I didn’t have an exact time or place goal. I just wanted to have fun. And despite all the darkness of the race, there was a whole lot of adventure light. Here is my race recap of my 4th place finish at Javelina Jackass 31K!
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Weekly Newsletter – The biggest lesson I learned each year on the trails
As another year of training racing starts to approach its end, I reflect on the biggest lessons I’ve learned in each of my years in the sport of trail running so far!
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My recipe for a good race
Last year, I arrived at the UTHC 42K Classique with a nagging knee injury, but in one of the most pressure-free states of my adult life. It was one of my best races ever. I now reflect upon how I can produce more races like this in the future, including my return to Harricana this…
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Shorter, faster, stronger: Why I’m going down in distance on the trails
When I decided to take up ultra running as a passion project in 2023, I had long seen myself as someone who would always be better going long. Long, and potentially, eventually, longer. But instead of going longer, I now have a burning desire to do something else. Go faster and shorter, and become stronger…
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It’s more fun if you sing along
I can’t quite pinpoint it, but I just know that I’ve not been having fun so far with my races. I’ve been having fun in training. But maybe because training’s been going so well, I’ve started to put more pressure on myself to punch above my old belief systems. So in the second half of…
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Weekly Newsletter – Why do you even run at all?
A few weeks ago I started a new job. I’ve been having so much fun with it and it’s reminded me of something really important, that applies to all areas of life – including training… You have to enjoy what you do to both give your best effort, and to see the progress! So this week, I…
Rhys Desmond 