Introduction: Lessons from growing a garden

I’m sitting on the couch in our living room in Fredericton with Ralph snuggled in my lap; the rain outside adds to the cozy vibes of a thrifted jazz-folk Jill Barber CD I’ve been playing on repeat today. The past three years in a row we have spent the last few weeks of August in the Chamonix valley for UTMB, and while I miss being in those big mountains (and plan to be back for another “big loop” around Mont Blanc) I’m appreciating being at home for the change of seasons and all the bittersweet and beautiful things this time of year invites us to experience. 

The 2026 race season is not over yet – more on that later – but there’s something about this time of year that feels like a new beginning and a time to reflect. The air is changing, the evenings are getting cooler again, and the idea of sweaters and soup starts to feel exciting.

From our front window, I can see the swaying tips of cornstalks we planted from kernels in May. The garden is also a lovely reminder of time passing and good things growing. This spring, we dug up the front bed of day lilies and mixed in our own compost (three years of kitchen scraps), and along with our neighbours, planted seeds and seedlings for a vegetable garden. Much to our surprise, things actually grew! It definitely helped that we didn’t go away for weeks at a time during peak summer heat; watering the garden this season was a shared team effort, even the two little girls next door pitched in with their toy watering cans sometimes. 

One of the things we were most excited about trying in our will-anything-actually-grow-here patch of earth was a Three Sisters garden, inspired by Indigenous growing methods: stalks of corn and sunflowers have grown tall, with pole beans winding around them and squash plants of some unknown variety (Adam saved a lot of different seeds this past winter) providing natural mulch at their base. Robin Wall Kimmerer describes the three sisters beautifully in her book Braiding Sweetgrass: “Together these plants — corn, beans, and squash — feed the people, feed the land, and feed our imaginations, telling us how we might live”. 

I love the idea of the different seeds being planted at the right time, growing at their own pace, and working together to be healthy and strong. It reminds me that the “seeds” we have been planting in other parts of our lives are all growing at their own pace. There’s quiet work that needs nurturing and care, time to grow, and will be ready to harvest when the time is right.

-KH

The Kerry Way Ultra Starts Tomorrow (Friday morning)

Three weeks ago, Adam booked a solo ticket to Dublin to participate in the Kerry Way Ultra, which kicks off tomorrow morning (Friday). I’m at home with Ralph this time, ready for a weekend of dot-watching with all of you and sending love across the pond.

While it may seem last minute, this race has been on his radar for a few years and quietly came together in a beautiful window of time and training. For the past several editions, we’ve been in the alps during the race and the timing hasn’t aligned. But this year, the race falls into a threshold moment: just before Adam begins his PhD studies at the University of New Brunswick, after a summer of local races and on the back of consistent training for an open-ended possibility of a big fall race.

It’s definitely a big one! 200km (ish) traversing the entire length of the Kerry Way, connecting Irish history, stories, folklore and archaeology across a scenic and challenging route. Self-supported (no official aid stations, just pre-planned drop bags throughout the course), following hiking signposts instead of race flags, and almost a marathon longer than his longest race. He’s prepared, and ready for whatever the experience might be.

In Adam’s own words, he described it simply to Ralph as “a really long walk” and also, in a few more words, connected to the swirling big feelings that running 200km brings: “Across a threshold, with love, and by way of return, towards my longest run, and an unknowable ceremony of being okay for now” (read the full post he shared ahead of the race here). 

Tonight, after dropping off his bags and before hopefully getting a full night of sleep, we talked about many things: “feeling wiggly”, planning for unknowns, and the complexities in navigating a route that isn’t flagged and has multiple possibilities from point A to point B (a local runner told him, “you might possibly go off course, but you won’t ever really be lost”), to name a few. He’s also connected with other runners over the past couple of days: Brendan from Ireland who is doing the 60km and drove/hiked all around the route with Adam yesterday, another runner from Canada who’s there for the race, the owner of the hostel who has run the race several times and found Adam a GPX track for the full route, and others who have offered advice and encouragement during his pre-race preparations. While he’s there without a crew, he’s certainly not alone. 

Adam’s race starts at 10:00am local time on Friday morning, September 4th – 5am ET/6am AT/6:30am NT. There is a 6:00am start wave as well, for runners who want additional time to complete the course. The runners wear a GPS tracker so – as long as the technology works – we will be able to see live updates and follow their progress on the race map! A good day of dot-watching ahead. 

• 🔎 Follow Adam’s progress on the live map. 

• 📱 There isn’t live video coverage of the race, so we suggest following the Kerry Way Ultra on Instagram / Facebook for updates during the event. 

• 🙌 Join the Crew Notes channel on Telegram if you want to chat with others following Adam’s race.  

Crew Appreciations

• Brendan, who drove an hour in from Dingle for a drive and hike around the course with Adam, sharing stories about the place and his life. He’s running the 60km this weekend!

• Nico from On Running for sending Adam an ultra-light pair of waterproof pants for the race (there’s a 100% chance it’s going to be wet, and likely rainy at some points, along the Kerry Way) and Kelsey a pair of Cloud Ultra Pro shoes for some big training miles ahead.

• Tom and Christian from Chance Running for doing their very best to get a package to us in Canada / Ireland with a Storm jacket for Adam (Kelsey’s go-to layer for keeping warm and dry in any weather) and some new kit for upcoming races.

• Backtrails, Precision, XACT Nutrition and the local Tesco for helping keep Adam fuelled for 200km of self-supported running (there are no official aid stations on the course, just drop bags the runners prepare in advance and the rumoured possibility of “pop-up” aid stations with tea and scones from a few friendly neighbours along the route)

• Our counsellors, Sheldon and Olivia, for helping us navigate the ups and downs and in-betweens of the big and little moments in our one-on-one therapy sessions, providing spaces for us to learn and grow so we can show up for ourselves, each other, and the people we care about with more love, compassion, and curiosity. 
  

A Few More Notes

🏃‍♂️ Noel (Kelsey’s Dad) is running the STEEP Ultra this weekend, taking on his first 50km race on home trails in the Humber Valley, Newfoundland. He’ll be crewed by Jane and Riley (Kelsey’s Mom & brother). He’s done most sections of the course in training runs, now it’s time to put it all together for a big adventure day!

🦘 With just three races left in the World Trail Majors, Kelsey is currently ranked 4th in the overall standings for 2026. There’s another big one on the calendar for this year in the works…stay tuned to find out where she’ll be headed in November.

⛏🌲 We hosted the first edition of Mines to Pines Trail Races just over a month ago, and it was a huge success – thank you to everyone who made the event so special! The winners of the 50km, Cody Cooper and Carolane Pitre, each received support to run the Grit & Grind 20km in Gatineau this weekend. Wish them both luck and speed on the trails!

🍦 Our dear friend Noortje was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer almost two years ago, and this month we’re celebrating her recent treatment win: successful radiation that shrunk the punk this time (ice cream = an appropriate way to celebrate all good news). Noortje’s writings and reflections on her cancer journey teach us a lot about life, hope, positivity, and being present with the things you love. 

🎧 Sara Bareilles just released her first album in seven years, Good Grief, that we started listening to just before Adam left. In an interview with Q Host Garvia Bailey (also worth a listen), she says “I think one of the gifts that grief can give you is presence…Why not try to stay open to the richness of the experience, the good, the bad and the ugly, and just look at it as being the gift of being here at all?”