Ultrabirch

This is 41 🎈

If you would have told me the year I was going to have I would have never believed you…

✔️ Another year of love and growth w/ Cassie Hawrysh | Host & Speaker | Team Canada Alumna
✔️ Began my MA Degree in Disaster & Emergency Mgmt
✔️ Rehab and recovery ups and downs w/ my ankle
✔️ Seeing the girls continue to grow into little women
✔️ Becoming the strongest I have ever felt 🏋️‍♀️
✔️ Coaching some incredible humans and athletes 🏃🏼
✔️ Aligning my values to my identity in a deeper way
✔️ Completing 135km 🏁🏃🏼 I had no business finishing
✔️ Season 2 of Enduring Minds Podcast nearly done!
(so many more not listed)

Life is lived through the stories and I believe strongly that I am a collection of my choices not a result of my circumstances. I get to make the choice right or fail, learn and put that into action.

41… You are just a number but, the way I see it…

I am now version 4.1 and have the opportunity alongside all of the incredible people in my life to create the steps toward version 4.2 that will allow me to create even more alignment and peace that I am seeking in this life.

This is the year I go after something that has been on my mind in the ultra running 🏃🏼 world for a few years. Time to take a big swing that I will be announcing very 🔜

📸 Cassie Hawrysh | Host & Speaker | Team Canada Alumna

#41

Calgary - July 16th - Trails In Motion 14 - The World’s Trail Running Film Tour Trails In Motion Film Tour ⛰️ 🏃🏼 🏃🏻‍♀️

LINK 🔗 FOR TICKETS IN BIO & MORE DETAILS

In support of Heart Mountain Rescue a foster based dog rescue based near the rockies in Alberta. It is a 100% volunteer run organization, finding furever homes for dogs in need. Especially those seeking adventure!

Heart mountain will be on site with some 🐶 dogs, puppies and perhaps an adoptable that finds their new adventure family that evening!

Cost: Tickets are $25+applicable fees & taxes

Raffle tickets for prizes on site including branded gear, race entries and much more - cash and credit accepted!

Where: cSPACE Theatre @ cSPACE Marda Loop

1721-29th Avenue SW - Calgary

When: Thursday July 16th - 5:45pm to 9:30pm

What: The Trails In Motion Film Festival is an annual international film and content showcase. The 2026 program features 8 films from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and South Africa, with a total runtime of approximately 106 minutes plus a 15-minute intermission.

XACT NUTRITION XACT Nutrition is the sponsor for the Canadian film tour stops, and all attendees will receive a complimentary XACT Nutrition product.

SuperNova | Viszla the dog star of SuperNova: The 100 Mile Dog will be on location alongside Cassie Hawrysh | Host & Speaker | Team Canada Alumna and myself XACT nutrition athlete Evan Birch | Coach

CHECK-OUT EVENTBRITE LINK 🔗 IN BIO FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS 🎟️

Any questions please DM me!

and I have been moving in silence, well not total silence… but at a level that has allowed me to find some peace and consistency alongside her, as I build the body I need, to do the things I love.

This weekend I am racing the 60km near Hinton/Jasper Alberta. I have so much joy heading into the weekend, zero expectations and a full heart ❤️

This is my first trail/ultra race back since my DNF and ankle injury at Tahoe 200 last year. I am grateful for the lessons that taught me, that I likely would not have learned otherwise.

I doubled down and prioritized strength alongside my trainer 3x per week since late 2025 gaining confidence in the gym to the tune of:

- 347,280 lbs lifted
- 5267 reps
- 62 sessions

My constant ups and downs of my torn ATFL ligament, tendinitis in the ankle and the roller coaster that brings. I was supported by my wife alongside a team of incredible professionals:

- Shannon Leydon
- Matthew King
- .chiro Dr. Carson Smith
- Dr. Marcus Robinson

A plan and guidance with support of my coach/mentor has allowed me to keep my head in the game and know that the seasons I experienced were necessary for what comes next.

I have big aspirations and big projects on the horizon that I’m excited to share more about soon, for now I will be where my feet 👣 are this weekend.

From all of this, please take away this one small lesson:

THE BODY WILL FOLLOW THE MIND! and this year has proven that to me more than ever.

“You are no longer climbing the mountain, you are realizing you are the mountain” - Alan Watts 🎶

✨ No Risk, No Magic!

📸

What a privilege to share this worldwide! We are so grateful! 🐕 〰️ 🏃🏼

Yes, that’s right I want you to FAIL, but here is WHY!👇🏻

Failure has been labelled as this inherently bad thing as far back as I can remember, even as a little boy 👦🏼

Attaching self-worth and value based on something working out, went well or you won…

I am here to tell you it is all bu****it 🐂 💩

There is no such thing as failure…

At least in the way we have all been taught to perceive and fear it!

Failure is feedback
Failure is information

The past can only influence the future if you let it dictate what happens next.

What happened, happened, now choose what happens.

It is that simple.

Here are ✨ FIVE things I know to be true about failure when it comes to my lived experience through career, life and sport:

1. When you ‘fail’ your mind lives in the past, awareness is the cue that can bring you back to the place you get to actually fix things…the present.

2. You don’t just stop thinking about a failure, you do however get to replace the thought with the next play, sentence, action or behaviour.

3. Stop placing judgement of self on top of the perceived failure, learn to see it as it is, a mistake, a missed shot or a bad moment. You are not it, it is not you.

4. You get to control the effort 100% of the time, what you can’t control is the outcome, that is the symptom of the effort.

5. Criticizing yourself post failure or the inability to complete something shuts down the neural connections to the learning centres in your brain, so don’t flip your lid, get curious rather than judgmental

So YES I want you to fail! I want you to fail often and chase big scary things that seem impossible, so when you do fail, you get back up and go again and again with an undeniable amount of curiosity in what is possible for you.

Failure is a gift to your future self should you choose to:

Accept it
Learn from it
Embrace it

Then choose the next best step each and every time.

So much more than a Wife, Step-Mom, Friend, Kickboxer… These are only small pieces of who she truly is.

This is Cassie, my person. The one who chooses me and our girls 👧🏼 👧🏼 each and every day.

A strong, independent Woman that commands any room, space or opportunity that comes her way.

Her beauty, her wit and her grace are, but a few things that I am lucky to witness through all of our days together.

The smile that could turn any frown upside down and light up even the darkest room. I am truly, madly and deeply in love with her ( yes you )

To my two daughters, Rio and Mia. You have shown me what it is to love unconditionally and how to show up as a father for you. The women you are becoming through everything that you do is a gift to witness and experience alongside you.

Never lose that light that shines so brightly from each of you, and if someone try’s to dim it or take it… I have no doubt that you won’t back down without a fight 🥋

To all the women in my life (including my Mom 😉) who I have connected with or even shared a brief moment with.

Thank you.

Thank you for continuing to show up, take up space and be the role models and voices my girls will one day aspire to be, as they navigate this ever-changing and sometimes cruel world that they will inherit. Their hopes and dreams are built on the legacies and women that come before them.

🐕 Nova (SuperNova), and I are excited to see you at the TELUS Spark Science Centre this weekend! Alongside the Extreme Sports - Beyond Human Limits Exhibit running now until April 12, 2026

We will be screening 🎥 SuperNova: The 100 Mile Dog 🐕 Documentary on the inspiration stage!

February 14th-16th
12:30pm and 2:30pm each day.

We will follow the screening up with a Q&A, meet and greet, along with photos 📸 and giveaways.

Nova had some stickers made of herself too that she is very excited to hand out and also printed some coloring pages to take home!

🐕 “Come say HI and give me a pet! “ 🐾

Having been to the opening night of the Extreme Sports Exhibit in December, we are stoked to be back with Nova (SuperNova) to screen our film and meet everyone in attendance this weekend. The screenings are included in your ticket price too!

Thank you we are grateful to have the opportunity to share this with the Calgary community and bring a local legend in Nova 🐕 to the Inspiration Stage this weekend.

⬇️Drop us a 🐾 if you will be there this weekend ⬇️

🎥: SuperNova Film By

SuperNova is a film about Nova, a 7 year-old Hungarian Vizsla, her ultra-running Dad, Evan Birch and her crew chief Mom, Cassie Hawrysh. A story about trust, instinct, and the magic of moving together. It goes far beyond any start or finish line; it is a love letter to how impactful our dogs are to us.

Since Nova was a puppy, her and Evan have been inseparable on the trails and they are finally ready to take on something big; The Orcas Island 100 Miler in February of 2025. The Orcas Island 100 has 8200 meters of elevation over four gruelling 25-mile loops. Late winter and early spring conditions meant rain, fog, wind, mud, and long hours of darkness overnight.

This was the perfect stage to attempt what may seem impossible by most standards and see just how far he and Nova can go together before she settles down and becomes the “couch dog.”

dogs

Closing loops 🔁 🧠 has created a level of freedom in me that I didn’t know existed. Not in the way of chasing outcomes or setting a resolution to rid myself of habits, instead in the way of being present and not continuing to let old stories drive my actions.

January has been an interesting time for me the last 4 years as I healed, grew, changed and overcame the challenges that PTSD, depression and anxiety brought to my doorstep in 2022.

One of those loops I mentioned was the uncertainty and unknowns of navigating the WCB (Worker’s Compensation) system over 4 year’s. ( 📸 # 2)

This open loop finally closed on December 30, as I went for my final WCB assessment. I will tell the full story of that another time… (It is worth the wait)

This signified for me the closure of a 4 year loop that I never would have imagined ending up inside of 5 years ago.

Having now started my Master’s Degree in Disaster & Emergency Management at Royal Roads University in November, I have a new path that I am taking day by day with no thought of what comes next. Remaining present and focused on what is in-front of me with full intention.

Nothing we experience in our minds and bodies is without a purpose.
A chance to move past, move through or surrender to it is always there.
We are a collection of our choices, not a result of our circumstances.
You are always one decision away from a complete shift.
What you are not changing you are choosing.

Coming back to loops 🔁…

I am convinced that we burn out not because of the expectations placed on us, but because of the expectations we place on ourselves to do more, be more, make more. More, More, MORE!

This leaves open loops throughout our psyche and drags us further away from ourselves. Questioning if we are good enough, strong enough, smart enough, capable enough. Enough, Enough, ENOUGH!

This is why I chose the word — BELIEF — ( 📸 # 3) as my underlying driver for 2026. Belief in my self, my abilities, my character, my strength, my body, my mind, in others, in friendship, in life, in love and in laughter.

⤵️ Do you have a WORD for 2026? drop it in the comments below!!

📸 - Photo 1