I wrote this blog post for a friend who owns a company called
Unsung Hero Apparel. I thought it would also be a good idea to share on our own blog as a means of introducing ourselves to anyone that doesn't know us and our story.
Julia and I met in 2005 while
studying Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa. With a common passion for
health and fitness we easily became great friends, which in no time whatsoever
turned into the greatest relationship either of us could have imagined. Shortly
after we started dating, Julia introduced me to the world of endurance sports.
She was an avid runner, and while I was massively into fitness, running wasn’t
exactly something I ever did for ‘fun’. Nevertheless I obliged in joining her
on some runs around beautiful downtown Ottawa and after a couple weeks of a
brand new type of soreness I had never before experienced, I actually started
to enjoy it. So much so that I decided to do my honours thesis on ‘The
Motivation of Ultra Endurance Athletes’. While I enjoyed running around our
neighbourhood, I couldn’t quite understand why people would want to run a
marathon, ultramarathon or even an Ironman Triathlon. As part of my research, I
interviewed a number of local ultra-endurance athletes and heard their stories.
I learned what motivated them to get started in ultra-endurance, to train day
in and day out, to start an event that they know won’t be finished for many
hours and to keep going when their body is screaming at them to stop. My
conclusions were that these were highly motivated, ‘type A’ people who are
driven to set lofty goals and do whatever it takes to achieve those goals. My
interest in this sub-culture of ultra-endurance became somewhat of an obsession
and within a couple years I had run my first 10k, then half marathon (21.1km),
then full marathon (42.2k) as well as my first sprint triathlon (500m swim,
20km bike and 5km run) and right up to full Ironman distance triathlon (3.8km
swim, 180km bike and full 42.2km marathon run) at Ironman Canada (Penticton BC)
in 2008. What made this race even more meaningful was that I was able to raise
over $6500 for the Canadian Diabetes association in the process. At the same
time, Julia was doing running races of 5 and 10k as well as duathlons
(run-bike-run) and keeping up with overall fitness.
Aside from health and fitness, we
also share a passion for travel. We are fully aware that we only get one shot
at life and want a life of experience rather than a life of things. In the fall
of 2008 we decided that we’d move to Australia for a year. I applied for
Teachers College in Wollongong, New South Wales (about an hour south of Sydney)
and was accepted, and Julia went on a working holiday visa. That year affirmed
that travelling the world was a necessity in our lives and that ‘settling down’
would have to wait. In Australia, Julia ran her first marathon and I did my
second Ironman Triathlon. Upon returning to Canada in early 2010, we got
‘settled’ back in to life in Ottawa and we were back to work in no time (although
not teaching) and back to dreaming of a new adventure. For Julia’s birthday
that year I bought her an adventure travel book that featured variety of adventures
from different countries over the globe. With no real special skills (kayaking,
rock climbing, etc.) we settled on what was probably the craziest adventure in
the entire book. We decided, with absolutely zero prior experience, that we
would hike the 4,200km length of the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans from the
US-Mexican border in California, to the US-Canadian border in Washington. This
was a 4.5 month commitment and we had about 6 months to prepare. We also
decided that it’d make for a great honeymoon, and so we decided that we’d go
against the grain one more time and have a tiny wedding (immediate family only)
and a BIG honeymoon.
We had a very small outdoor wedding
on Julia’s parent’s property in the Muskoka area in April of 2012, and two
weeks later we hit the trail and started walking north from Mexico towards
Canada. This was our life for 4 months. With only a single night in a tent
prior to starting this journey, there was a GREAT deal of uncertainty and a
heck of a lot of learning to do. The ‘first 700 miles (~1100km) is in the
Southern California desert (Mojave) and it’s hot, dry, and there isn’t much
drinking water to be found. You’re constantly filthy, hungry, tired and
generally irritable. A far cry from a typical honeymoon, but it was our choice
and not once did we wish we were on a beach in the Caribbean. Tending to each
other’s blisters, chaffing, mild giardia, mental meltdowns and every other
challenge that was placed in front of us, only helped to prove what a great
team we are. Every single day of that honeymoon epitomized ‘Rise and Grind’.
We’d typically get up around 5:00AM, sore from the day before, and break camp
and start walking within 30 minutes. We had to beat the heat and get in as many
miles in the morning as possible before the heat of the day set in. After 700
miles of dealing with the heat, the lack of water, the rattle snakes and
spiders, we finally reached the Sierra Nevada mountains and were soon
consistently up above 10,000 feet of elevation. Finally we were treated to cooler
temperatures, clean, natural spring water and hardened bodies that could deal
with what the long days of hiking had put us through. We continued hiking
through California and into Oregon. By this time it was August and some
injuries (tendonitis in Julia’s foot) had kept us off trail for a week and put
us behind schedule. The injuries lingered and we decided, after hiking more
than 3000km that it was time to go home. We felt we had accomplished what we
set out to do – which was to have the most incredible adventure we could
imagine - and with a lifetime’s worth of memories, maybe now we could settle
down, buy a home and start a family.
Returning to Ottawa in September of
2012 and finding an apartment to settle back into felt so familiar. ‘Getting
settled’ has become quite routine for us. I’ve been incredibly fortunate
through all of these adventures that my employer in Ottawa (Popeye’s
Supplements) has always taken me back. I had worked in the stores, as a manager
and headed up our event and expo team, and this time I was promoted to be a
member of the head office staff as ‘Head of Business Development and IT’. It
was shortly after taking on this role that I was introduced to Skyler and Pete
and the Unsung Hero brand. After talking with them for the first time at a
Starbucks in Ottawa, I fell in love with the brand. Its message and vision
resonated with me immediately. The ‘Rise and Grind’, ‘No Quit All Hustle’
approach to life is something we’ve always aspired to and so I knew that these
were the type of people I wanted to work with. I’ve only become more impressed
with what these guys have grown this business into. Not only a retail clothing
brand, but so much more. A brand whose vision includes serving the community
and inspiring youth is one that I can certainly get behind. Since that day in
2012, it’s been an absolute pleasure to work with these guys for a number of
joint projects (National expos, television commercials, charitable events,
etc). Popeye’s Supplements has only benefitted from such a partnership.
In the fall of 2013, within a one
week period, Julia and I moved into our new house (purchased in the Spring),
signed up for a TESOL (Teach English to Speakers of Other Languages) course and
ran 387km over 4 days in a relay style effort while raising $3700 for the
Ottawa Mission. When we finally got ‘settled’ into our new home it felt great,
but not quite right. The next year was absolutely incredible. We both continued
to grow, learn and challenge ourselves in both our work and personal life. I
raced three half Ironmans, as well as a number of other triathlons and running
races, while Julia raced a number of 5k and 10k running races and placed at or
near the top of her age / gender group each time out. Somewhere in the summer
we decided that none of this was enough. We needed to see the world and we
hadn’t yet done so. How do we see the world on our terms? The way we want to
travel, not as tourists but as travelers? We took that TESOL course that we had
signed up for nearly a year earlier and committed to moving to South Korea to
teach English. But we were home owners. So, how would it work? The whole idea
may have seemed way too complicated and daunting, but we had spent 4 months
hiking the Pacific Crest Trail as our honeymoon, so we knew that anything was possible.
There’s always a way, and with a little ‘No Quit, All Hustle’ attitude, we knew
we could get it all sorted out.
I write this from our apartment in Buyeo,
Chungnam Province, South Korea. We’re living in rural South Korea, where
absolutely nobody (aside from ~8 other English teachers) speaks English. We’ve
been here in Korea for nearly 4 months. We can read and write the language and
can get by with very poor (but improving) Korean and mediocre acting. This is
truly a master class in adapting to a new culture. The daily challenges we face
here were exactly what we were looking for. In four short months we’ve learned
more about ourselves, each other, Korea, teaching and in life than we could
have imagined. We’re driven to constantly challenge ourselves and are 100%
committed to being lifelong learners. We’re not exactly sure when we’ll return
to Canada and ‘settle down’ (again) but likely not in the next few years. This
weekend we were registered to race in the Spartan Beast Race Korea (20km
running with 25 obstacles). Unfortunately it was cancelled due to the current
MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak we having going on here.
What eases the pain is that we’re anxiously awaiting a delivery from Ottawa
that’s due to arrive this week that includes the newest UHA T-Shirts!
