2021 certainly was not without its challenges
but I think I managed to make the most of it
both in terms of my running goals and the growth of my youtube channel.
So I thought it would be fun to take a look back at 2021
as well as to take a look at what I have planned for my upcoming season
so far at least in 2022.
I came into 2021 with a major hamstring tear
but after several weeks of intensive rehab
followed by months of strength training working with a personal trainer
I managed to make a full recovery.
I'd go on to run close to 3,000 km with about a 100,000 meters of elevation gain
throughout my 2021 season
while traveling across Canada and halfway around the world
to compete in 3 incredible events that i'll talk about here in a minute.
My first goal for the year had originally been to join my friend Gary Robbins
at the 2021 Barkley Marathons in Tennessee
after this plan had been sidelined for 2020.
I was going to be joining him as his crew chief
and I was looking forward to filming that experience
to show you all a behind the scenes look at what it takes
to support a runner in that race
but unfortunately while that race did move forward in 2021 with American participants
we weren't able to get across the border from here in Canada.
Both Audree and I were then planning on running the Val D'aran 100 miler
in the Spanish Pyrenees in the fall of 2021.
That race would have got us an automatic entry into UTMB in the alps for 2022
but with the uncertainty around international travel in early 2021
we pretty quickly abandoned that plan
and instead turned our attention to some races closer to home.
So my goal race and my first race really since 2019
would end up being the Quebec Mega Trail 100 miler here in Canada.
Now this race was really special for a few reasons.
First of all, it was the first time that Audree and I were both competing
in the same event
and it was also the first time that Audree's family
would get to see her race.
She's originally from Quebec from a small city called Shawinagan near Montreal
so her entire family was able to come out and support us
and cheer us on which was really fun.
It was also special for me because of my own familial ties to the province.
As most of you probably saw in my film from the race
my ancestors on my Dad's side had lived in Quebec for generations
before my grandfather moved out west here to British Columbia.
So I had a lot of fun retracing my roots there.
The race was a huge challenge though
both because of the technical nature of the trails and because of the humidity
but I did manage to finish in 8th overall
and Audree managed to smash what was her first 100 miler
finishing 1st female and 14th place overall.
The film itself was also an opportunity for us to try out something new
where we presented two perspectives on the same race
something we'll be doing again here in 2022.
Next, I traveled to the nearby province of Saskatchewan
to run the Beaver Flat 50k.
This was a bit of a tune-up training race for me before my next goal race
but I still managed to do pretty well finishing in 4th overall.
Again, I have a connection to Saskatchewan
with my mom having come from there
so it was nice to reconnect with that side of my Canadian heritage as well
And last but certainly not least
I traveled to Namibia to run the 7-day, 250 km Namib Desert race
part of the Racing the Planet 4 Desert Series.
This was something I began to think about really only part way through the year
when it became evident that I might actually be able to do a bit of international travel
and let's just say that I might have had a bit of pent-up energy
when it came to travel and figured I'd go big.
This is actually my second stage race but by far my biggest undertaking
in terms of travel and logistics for a race.
I also really wanted to raise the bar in terms of production values
for the film that I planned on producing about the race
and of course what I ended up doing was producing an entire series.
I'd received such positive feedback from all of you
following the release of my film from the Quebec Mega Trail
particularly around some of the other travel aspects that I featured
separate from the race itself.
So I thought this would be the perfect chance to double down on this aspect of my storytelling.
Because ultimately that's one of the best things
about trail running, for me at least.
It's the amazing places it can take you to.
Places you might not otherwise visit
and that's certainly even more true when it comes to the events put on by Racing the Planet.
When I returned from Namibia in early November
it was time to get to work on editing
which honestly I was doing right up until the release of the final episode last week.
So that project really was a huge undertaking for me.
But I've already seen the benefits in terms of the increase in views
in subscribers and in advertising revenue
and the feedback from all of you has been incredible.
So I'm definitely motivated to continue with this type of approach in the future.
I had set a somewhat arbitrary goal for my Youtube channel
of reaching 50,000 subscribers by the end of 2021
which, while I was close, I unfortunately didn't quite hit.
I'm currently just shy of 42,000 subscribers
which is still a huge increase from the 20,000 or so that I had at the start of the year
and my channel got 2.3 million views in 2021
with a total of more than 370,000 hours of watch time
which is just incredible so thank you all for that.
So now let's talk about 2022
starting with where I'm at in both my recovery and my training.
I've been running a moderate amount since the Namib Desert Race
maybe around 40 to 50 km per week
and still working hard at the gym with a personal trainer twice a week.
Ski season is coming to an end here in Vancouver
and I'm starting to build back up my mileage for my first race of the season
which is going to be...
The Georgia stage race, again with Racing the Planet in mid-June.
To be honest, the country of Georgia had never really been on my radar
before I started to consider this race
but the more I see and read about it the more confident I am
that it's going to be another incredible experience.
This race will follow a similar format to the Namib Desert race.
We'll be running 250 km over 7-days in 7 stages.
Each stage will be around 40 km
with the longest being 80 km.
We'll be carrying all of our own gear and food for the entire week
aside from a tent which will be provided at camp each night.
My plan is to head to Georgia about a week early to explore the country
and you can bet that I'll be producing a series of films again from that race.
So I'd be curious to hear from all of you what
kinds of things you'd like to see in this new series
after having watched Racing Namibia.
For example, are there any aspects of camp life that you'd like to hear more about?
Or perhaps a better look at the women's field?
Leave any suggestions that you might have in the comments below.
After Georgia, I'll have just a couple of weeks to recover
before Audree and I head down to Colorado to support some friends from Vancouver
who will be running the Hardrock 100.
I'll likely be pacing a good chunk of that race like I did back in 2017
and you can see a film on my channel about that.
So I'm looking forward to seeing how, if at all, the event has changed since then
and I'll likely bring you some content from that trip as well.
But our big trip for the summer will be to the Alps for the month of August.
The first thing that Audree and I have planned is to fastpack the Tour du Mont Blanc
which is a 106 mile trail that circumnavigates the Mont Blanc massif.
It starts in Chamonix, France
and passes through Italy and Switzerland
before finishing back in Chamonix.
We'll likely spend 3 nights along the trail in refugios
running about 42 km of the route each day
and, yes, we definitely will be filming that entire experience.
We're going to then spend a couple of days in Annesy
before heading to Italy where we'll spend a couple of weeks in the Italian Alps
in a mountain resort called Cervinia which sits at about 2,000 meters
just below the Matterhorn in the Aosta Valley.
This is the region where Audree and I both ran back in 2018
during the Tor des Geants
so it's gonna be really cool to retrace some sections of that trail with fresh legs
while checking out some new sites like the Matterhorn.
We'll be working remotely and doing some day trips
all while acclimating for our primary goal
which is to run UTMB later that month back in Chamonix.
The Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc is basically the Super Bowl of mountain ultra running.
It's been a goal of both of ours for years
and it's finally our chance to toe the line.
UTMB follows that exact same route we'll have seen earlier in the month
the TMB around Mont Blanc
and that race really is our 'A' race for the season
and it's gonna be one of the biggest races that either of us have ever done.
And after that, who knows?
I might try to tackle one or more events in the fall
or perhaps I'll focus on some unsupported adventures.
I've got some other content planned throughout the year
including a bunch of ideas I've been sitting on for instructional style content
but I've also been considering the idea
of documenting my training leading up to both Georgia and UTMB
in a series of sort of training diaries to give you all a bit more perspective
into what goes into training for these kinds of events.
So tell me in the comments if this is something that you would be interested in.
But I'd also love to hear from you guys about what some of your goals are for the upcoming season.
I know not everyone who watches my channel is necessarily a runner
yet alone a competitive one
but are you as excited as I am for some travel in 2022?
Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my videos throughout the year.
I really do appreciate and I read each and every one.
Special thanks as well of course to my channel supporters.
If you want to support the channel just click on the Join button from a web browser.
So stay tuned because there's lots more to come.