Our Story

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!

Last Day of May

 

Holy smokes it's May 31st. We can't believe that we've already been here 3 months. We've been in Korea for about 3.5 months, but we've been in Buyeo for over 3 months now. The time has flown by and it's already June! I guess we're settled in now, and planning future travel within Korea and neighboring countries (though not to the North). Japan in August and Thailand in the winter. That said, we're loving life in Buyeo right now!

 

I've finally been getting out on my bike here in Korea and it's been absolutely incredible. The paths here are great, and today I did a 76km ride, mostly on roads and the roads are just as awesome. I was worried about riding in Korea, as I've heard that it's not great to ride on the roads, but from my experience today, I think that only applies to the cities. Out here in rural South Korea, the roads are great quality, the traffic is minimal and the drivers have been extremely courteous. Today’s ride was an adventure. I set out with the intention of riding all along the path towards Nonsan and then crossing the river at Nonsan as I did last week and then make my way home along the other side of the river. The only issue with this was that about 8 or 9k in, the path (a boardwalk section) was closed and I had to turn back. Instead of riding all the way back to Buyeo, I cut into a little neighborhood and rode along the main road past the rice fields and little homes. The road was better than I expected and the traffic was virtually non-existent. I check Google maps on my phone and found a route that would allow me to bypass the closed section and eventually make my way back to the river. It was a big loop around, but
I was excited to ride around and see some new sights. I rode through some small villages and even past one of Julia’s schools. It was absolutely gorgeous. I even managed to draft behind a tractor for 5 minutes or so, as he was going at a perfect speed. Once I got back on the path I was only about 5k from Nonsan. The path at this point is great, smooth riding. I crossed the bridge where I had intended to, but instead of getting on the path and coming back along the river I decided to follow the road I was on and see where it took me. It was a perfect little route. It took me past a middle school in Sedo, where I will likely teach next semester, and through Imcheon, where I visited with some other teachers. Did I mention that the roads were great and the traffic was light? I had a blast. There were a few long climbs that put a wee sting in the legs, but the descent on the other side was well worth it! Once back on familiar roads / paths, I calculated how much further I had to ride to hit my 75km goal for the day and just got it done. It was a glorious day for riding.

 While I was out riding, Julia went for a walk on Busosaeng Mountain. IT was a perfect morning for it, cool but sunny. Apparently there were many others out this morning as well! We both have some seasonal allergies that are making us seriously congested. I’m more or less over it, but she’s still feeling it big time. The yellow dust from China doesn’t help either. The air on the mountain is considerably better and so it was a nice reprieve for her.




After we both got home and cleaned up, we went out to get a cushion for our couch. We went to Jin’s (my main co-teacher at my main school, whom I don’t actually teach with, but that’s another story) mom’s store in downtown Buyeo to pick one up. We looked around and settled on one that looks like a hippo. Everything was going perfectly, until she wouldn’t let us pay! We were more than happy to pay, but she refused to accept our money. So kind! We will be giving her a small gift with a thank you card. J

 
 The rest of today will be laid back (totally counter intuitive) so that we’re ready and rockin’ for the week. No more holidays between now and the end of the school semester (7 weeks away) so it’s pretty full on from here on out! That said, classes are often cancelled and this week I don’t have any classes on Wednesday (I’m normally at my school in Oesan) and no teachers class (2 periods) on Friday! So 5 of my 22 classes this week were cancelled! This means more prep time for all of the others!
 

Lastly, while walking around town yesterday, some of Julia's students spotted us and ran up to say hi (and give out hugs). We snapped this photo with them.

 

Jirisan National Park and Hwaeomsa Temple

I'm writing this while sitting on an express bus from Gurye to Busan. It's Sunday morning (May 3rd) and we've just don't two days in Jirisan National Park. We weren't really sure what to expect from this place, other than it's popular for hiking and is the biggest and oldest national park in Korea. It lived up to every expectation.

After researching our options for getting from Buyeo to Gurye, we decided to take a taxi. A very expensive taxi. It ended up being about 200,000 WON ($210 CAD) and was about 1:45 in duration. If we bussed or took a combination of buses and taxis, it would have easily taken 6 hours or so and would have been pretty pricey also. In hindsight we should have fired out how to rent a car. Our current commute is not too bad though. It was an $8 taxi ride to the bus terminal and then $16 each for the bus. 

As soon as we got to our motel (it's called a pension, but I don't quite understand it, so I'll just call it a motel) we dropped our stuff off and headed for the national park and the mountains. We were situated quite close, only about a 5 minute walk to get to the National Park, which had an entrance fee of 3500 won. We walked up along a River and past a resort and eventually hit the temple. It's a pretty big temple with many building and is actually quite touristy, but monks still live there and go about their business. After some time wandering around we found the trail that led up the mountain. We took this for about an hour. It's quite steep hiking and the trail is mostly made up of rocks and boulders that you scramble along. We eventually came across a random cafe and stopped for iced Americanos, as you do. Leaving the cafe, the trail gets quite steep and it's 5km to the top. We made it a little over half way and decided to turn back. It was just taking too long and we had started too late in the day to make it worthwhile. We hung out beside the River for a short snack break and to cool down and then started making our way down. We were in shorts and t-shirts and sweating like mad, while Korean hikers were ALL wearing long sleeved shirts and pants, so had gloves and some had warm hats. It just doesn't add up!!

We made our way back to the temple and then down and out of the park to some nearby restaurants. We had a meal at a restaurant and went back to our motel to clean up. We decided to head into Gurye and check it out. We caught a cab along the road while walking as we wouldn't be able to walk on some of the roads that take you into town. The kind taxi driver dropped us off in the middle of the town and refused to take our money! He called it 'service'. We wandered around the town, looking for another restaurant to eventually have dinner at. While walking, we saw a couple foreigners step out of a building and so we approached them. Turns out she lives in Gurye and was able to make some suggestions. We eventually found a good little place and had yet another bibimbap dinner (I also had kimbap). After dinner we caught a taxi back to our motel and passed out pretty easily!

Yesterday was a much more relaxing day. We got up and made our way back up to the national park and back to the cafe along the trail. Again we had Americanos and enjoyed the views. After this we wandered all along a dirt road back down (3.5k) to the temple where we hung out and watched the goings on. We eventually went to the resort that is in the national park and got some traditional Korean adult beverages that we enjoyed outside. While in the resort, we noticed some massage chairs. They looked good so we went back to test them out. $1 got us 10 minutes of glorious deep tissue massage, just what we needed to stay relaxed. The rest of the day was pretty laid back, another meal and then eventually back to our motel around 7:30 where we hung out outside until 9:00 or so and then off to bed...

And so now we are on our way to Busan and the second leg of this trip!