Introduction: Letting My Legs Wake Up

At the end of March, on a crisp, tip of your nose, sunny day, Kelsey and I were jogging on the old train bridge that crosses the Wolastoq (Saint John River). It was a day where speed and effort didn’t really matter, yet as I tried to settle into an easy pace a barrage of questions gathered in my head. Why does this easy run feel hard? How can I make it feel easier? Are my expectations unreasonable? Each attempt to make it easier made this easy run feel hard. 

“Usually the legs wake up when you stop interrogating them.”

Not long after my easy-hard jog, these words, courtesy of our coach Jonathan van Geuns, landed in my training log and connected with something else that he’d written:

“When you race you don’t just race your fitness. You race the version of the day you had in your head.” 

In the version that lived in my head, when I imagined that day on the bridge with Kelsey, my run was supposed to feel easy, and when it didn’t, even though it was just for a split second, I couldn’t bear the clash between what I’d expected and what I was experiencing. So now, when the question clouds begin to gather, I’m learning to interrogate less, let my legs come around, and find my rhythm, on the trails, at home, and at work. 

-AF  

MIUT Legend (110km) Starts Tonight

This race holds a special place in our hearts. We both raced in 2024 and were supported on the island by two very important people, Jos Eijkelestam and Noortje Kunnen. We hiked before the races, ate daily gelatos, and each did a MIUT race. We learned a lot from running MIUT, mainly that it helps to put on a jacket when it gets cold in the mountains and that the best way to warm up is to keep running. This year, the course has permission to return to some of the most famous trails on Madeira — not yet, but soon to be reopened to the public — after being rerouted in 2025 to allow for ecological recovery following wildfires in August 2024.  

Here is the World Trail Major’s preview of the race (Kelsey gets a mention).

As you might expect, Kelsey is excited to run. She’s planning to take a bit of a different race strategy this time out and that’s filled her with even more curiosity about what is possible out there. Here’s a message from Kelsey about how she’s feeling before the race. 

The race starts at 11:59pm local time on March 6, 2026 —  7pm ET/8pm AT/8:30pm NT.

• 📋 Follow Kelsey’s progress through each MIUT aid station (Kelsey is Bib 52)  

• 📺  Watch live finish line coverage starting tomorrow morning

• 📱It doesn’t look like there will be live on course coverage, so we suggest following Kelsey (her account will be updated throughout the race by Jane!), MIUT and World Trail Majors on Instagram 

While you’re following along, check out Ethan Peters (former teammate at norda) and Valerie Arsenault (teammate at Waybound Running). 

Love A Raffle? Win A Cooler & Support Kelsey’s Running! 

Our friends at BackTrails by the Radical Edge have created a raffle to support Kelsey’s running. For $20 + tax you can buy a ticket to win a Yeti Roadie 32 Haul Cooler. Every ticket purchased goes directly toward supporting Kelsey’s travel, training, gear, and race entry costs. “The shop,” as many of us call it, is a place of community. It’s somewhere we stop for a chat in the middle of an easy run — not just because they’re open to a sweaty hug from a trail runner in the middle of a workout — but because they care about people, community, and about getting people outdoors.

XACT Nutrition Contest Winner

At the end of the summer, during our races at UTMB and TDS we asked you to predict our total combined race time. 

Adam completed TDS in 32:04:53 and Kelsey completed UTMB in 28:23:27 for a total combined time of 60 hours 28 minutes and 20 seconds. The winner of the contest is Vanessa Cunningham who guessed 60:45:48, just 17 minutes and 38 seconds from being XACT-ly right. Special mention to Steven Scott with his guess of 60:09:28 —  a very close second place finish, just 18 minutes and 52 seconds off the correct number and just 1 minute 24 seconds away from Vanessa’s winning guess.   

XACT Nutrition is a Canadian company that has been in Kelsey’s orbit since she started racing. Whenever we see them at a race it brings a smile to our faces. We’re grateful for their support and hope that you’ll give yourselves a chance to try some of their products for your next race (they even have a new gel out). 

Congratulations Vanessa! Please send us an email with your mailing address and we’ll get you set up with a prize package from XACT. 

Adam’s Race Season Starts

I’ve been training throughout the winter, working on my mindset and confidence, and also on a little bit of speed that I hope I can bring to the trails. My race season starts on May 2nd with 25km at Hanwell Hammering, a race on the outside edge of Fredericton where I had my first race win last year, and Kelsey led the kids race out wearing a hotdog costume. I’ll also be lining up at the Fredericton Marathon (as a pacer), Wharfbound, and Rompin’ Rockwood. 

More about my race season in the next newsletter. 

Crew Appreciations

• Kaylee Hopkins and the team at BackTrails for dreaming up the raffle (get those tickets!) 

• Jonathan van Geuns and his partner Ana for hosting Kelsey in Montreal during her layover on the way to Madeira 

• Thank you to Jane and Noel Hogan, Kelsey parents, who will be crewing her throughout the race with support from Neo (Ethan Peters’ partner), and a trio of brothers from Madeira (Joel, Fábio — who is also running the 42km race, and Hélder).

• Everyone who has ordered cards from Kelsey’s new online storefront for her art 

• Neil Brooks for supporting me (Adam), through an important application process that’ll write about in next month’s newsletter 

• Brad Stewart and Isabelle Turner for hosting me at the Women’s Empowerment Run at CFB Gagetown on Monday (there were more than 450 runners out!) and sending a huge pre-race cheer to Kelsey 

• Jos and the new and returning runners at the Learn to Run Clinic at the Government of New Brunswick for inviting us to run with them  

• Our whole integrated support team is always there to support us — special shoutout this month to Dr. Andrew Richardson, our family physician for going the extra mile to understand how running fits within our overall health 

• Dr. Lori Dithurbide for inviting us to speak about ultrarunning and mental performance to her class at Dalhousie University 

• Dan McLeod at the Municipality of Grand Lake, Sean Morrissy at Mountain Bike Minto, and Alicia at Tiny Trails Campground for their enthusiasm and willingness to help with Mines to Pines Trail Races

• Emily Prystupa and Alex Smith for an engaging conversation about the intersection of running, mining, and environmental policy at the Odell Onslaught

A Few More Notes

🏃🏼 We’re directing our first trail race. Registration isn’t quite live yet, but it’s happening on July 25th in Minto, NB. Follow Mines to Pines to be the first to know when registration opens. 

🍿 We’re partnering again with the Trails in Motion Film Tour to bring a selection of trail running films to our communities. Join their newsletter to be the first to know about the new lineup of films. Details about local screenings coming in the next newsletter. 

♻️ We’ve partnered with a local kids run club, Speeding Cheetahs, to look into the opportunities and challenges associated with end of lifecycle trail shoes. If you’re interested and/or know anything about this, please send us a note!

🎥 We watched “The Finisher: Jasmin Paris and the Barkley Marathons” this month. The film tells the story of the first female finisher of the Barkley Marathons. At a local event this week, our friend Jess Vickruck told me that she remembers exactly where she was when she found out that Jasmin had finished. It was an important moment in ultrarunning and the film helps you to get your head around the achievement. 

Sharing Some Love

We’re slowly, but surely, bringing some running-related projects into the world and with that comes some occasional anxiety about making mistakes, moving too fast, or asking for too much from a relationship. We’re feeling extra grateful right now for all of the people that share their time and energy with us so willingly, especially in moments when we feel like we’re making big asks or when something happens less than perfectly. We know that deciding to be generous is a choice and that we benefit from so many people choosing to see our efforts with kindness, compassion, and generosity. Thank you for making that choice in you relationships with us, others, and we hope, in relation to yourselves — and the projects, dreams, and ideas that feel just a little scary.