Ruthie Sloan
Ruthie shares her story of courage and determination as she balances motherhood, trail running, and getting diagnosed with cancer during COVID.
More Than Our Story
Simon Guérard
Simon Guérard shares his love for ultrarunning and trail running, the inspiration behind his YouTube Channel, and where he hopes to see the sport’s future.
Highlights
Growing up with my family, we were very outdoorsy. Hiking, camping. That's what we would do in the summer. I'm from Quebec. Being in the outdoors is very traditional.
You do 20 miles, 25 miles hiking, and you realize that's kind of the limit you can do if you're only walking. So I started running a little bit just to cover more distance. You find a hike that is 35 miles. You don't want to do it in three days. So you decide I'm just going to run a little bit of it, and I progressively got to longer distances.
I'm also kind of lean naturally, so it came to me naturally to trail run.
In parallel, my work has always been pretty intense. I did a Master's and PhD in Europe and eventually moved to consulting, where my work was literally taking up all of my life. I realized I needed something more than that, and that's when I started getting a little bit more serious about ultrarunning... trying to squeeze as much as I can in a weekend.
That's where the 100-miler is a great distance. I've done some 200-milers, but you don't do a 200-miler on the weekend... The 100-miler last weekend, Leona Divide, I took my car Friday and drove to the start line. Ran. Took my car back on Sunday.
On what attracted him to trail running:
The nature and the views are definitely what attracted me to it. There's an aspect of challenge that's important, but it's not necessarily my main driver. I don't necessarily care about being faster or going longer than other people... I want to grow. I want to push my own limit.
What really hooked me was the community and even that non-competitive nature. Of course, you have the pros, and you have some people who are nonpros and are very competitive, and everyone is welcome. That's totally fine. But for a vast majority, we're just hanging out, having an adventure together, or doing something kind of crazy. The supportive nature of the community is really appealing.
I was just grinding through work. I didn't have the human connection. It was just work, work, work. I have the total opposite of that through trail and ultrarunning. You have this connection. Where you're someone who matters for who you are, and not what you're producing, not the speed that you have, or the distance that you have. It's just for you, and that was very refreshing.
The East Coast is different when it comes to trail running. It's much harder trail, it's not so runnable, which I love sometimes. But, on the West Coast... we're driving distance from Arizona, which has Aravaipa - a huge race organization... There are a lot of great (race) opportunities.
One of the things that I appreciated the most moving to the US. In Quebec, we have wonderful nature, and that's true for Canada... but it's kind of all the same, like it's one ecosystem; of course, there are subtleties. But here you have the desert around Phoenix with the huge cacti, you have the red rocks of Sedona, you have the canyon at Zion, you have the mountains in San Juan... You have such variety that it's really refreshing.
When it comes to planning, the hardest part is that I race about 100 miles every month... Some of these races you have to sign up for a year in advance... The other aspect is that since I race so much and I'm fairly realistic... If you plan too tightly, it's very risky that you have an injury, and then you race injured, and then your year is wasted.
I don't think I'm a gifted runner. I'm not bad. But I am a gifted recoverer, and it's probably because I take it seriously. But that's really the one thing that I have to be careful with... When I run a 100-miler, there's always something that will slow you down. There's some pain somewhere that's the reason why you're not running all the way to the finish line. I don't think anyone doesn't have that at some point. Maybe it's your knee, maybe it's your ankle, maybe you're tired, maybe you're sleepy, maybe there are blisters, maybe it's chafing... If it's chafing, within three days, you'll be okay... If it's your knee. Oh man, you're in trouble. So, first is understanding what was the damage that happened over the weekend, and really monitoring that.
So instead of just sitting down and not doing anything, move a little bit. For sure, all of your joints and ligaments are tight - it's inflammation, movement helps keep it a little bit loose. You even notice it in a race. If you sit down in a race for 20 minutes at an aid station and get back up, you're all stiff, and you think you're going to stay like that forever. It loosens up by moving. That's what I'm trying to do through recovery.
Recovery feels more like an art than a science or training for me. I really just do what feels right. It's hard to describe because obviously people want to know, like, what do you do that is magical?... When it comes to rest and strength, I think it's super important... When I'm racing a lot, that's when I'll try to do about 1 or 2 strength and mobility sessions.
The goal (to reach 100 100-mile races) is pretty secondary to everything. I think a running streak (can be) dangerous... I see people who have a four-year running streak...then they run on the injury because of the streak... And that's true for racing. I don't want to be in a situation where I'm forced to run a 100-mile this month... There's no race that's that exciting.
(Running) will take a backseat as soon as we have children. When exactly will that be? I don't know, hopefully soon.. We're enjoying life in the meanwhile.
I'm not necessarily a specialist when it comes to 200-milers. I've only done two before... I don't train differently, but the way you race these is very different... It's much more about trying to be sustainable, finding a way to keep your speed throughout the whole adventure. Which means sleeping more, which means resting more, eating more, and going much slower.
This year, I'm definitely doing longer races, which means just more recovery.
In terms of scenery, I think Tor des Géants in Italy, in the Italian Alps, is absolutely wonderful.
On his YouTube Channel:
I've always been more attracted to long-form content... I wanted something that was really honest. So I focused on long-form content, and the more I did it, obviously, people were inspired by that. They liked the style. They like the humor.
I want you to feel like you're running with me, and what that means is sometimes you're on a high and you're happy, and I'm joking, and this is fun. Sometimes I'm just bitching and I'm just like, "Oh, this is tough, and I just shit myself. I have blisters," and I could try to pretend that I'm super tough, but I'm not bothered by that, that's not true. I want to share that so that people feel how it is. I want it to be as transparent as possible.
I feel I also have the knowledge now to help people, to inspire people, and that's a way for me to be a positive change in the scene and hopefully move things in the right direction.
Whatever I say is what I felt at the time, and a lot of people won't necessarily do it like that. People that I respect and I think their movies are great, have beautiful movies, but they usually do a voiceover commentary after the race. They will say, "You know, mile 15 to 30, I was really struggling in that climb," and I think that style is really nice, and it feels a little bit more documentary-like. I want to be like, "I'm in it right now. How do I feel?.. At the beginning of the race, it's easy to take out your camera and say something... It's the middle of the night, I'm sleepwalking, I'm not even aware of what's going on. Thinking of taking out the camera and saying something is really not easy. You don't think about that."
I say a word every three miles, and it takes five seconds. I just take out the camera and say, "Okay, mile three, feeling excited," and I try not to think about it... I don't want to be like "What should I be saying right now?" Trying to be creative or quirky or anything. Just whatever comes to mind. Sometimes it's bad. Sometimes "Oh, blisters" or "Oh, sun." But sometimes it's a little bit more profound.
On the future of ultra running and trail running:
A lot of people like me are helping promote the sport and making it more accessible... (it's) growing and becoming more accessible to people that are maybe not as fit, and it becomes less intimidating, and I think that's great. On the flip side, I think it's getting a little bit more professional, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But one of the things that I've always appreciated is that I can go talk to Courtney (Dauwalter) at the starting line, and she will respond... But I think this will change eventually as it gets more and more professional, and there's more and more money, more sponsors.
On what he would say to someone looking to get started in ultrarunning or trail running:
The short answer is just do it. Don't be scared about it. It's very accessible.
Ultra Marathon Trail Running with Simon
Welcome to Running with Simon! Follow my Trail and Ultra Running journey towards 100x 100+ miles Ultra Marathon (49x so far). Plenty of running and training tips videos along the way. My goal with this channel is to make Trail and Ultra Running accessible, inspiring you to get out and have your own adventures.
I strive to make trail running accessible, sustainable and inclusive. I’m an average guy working a normal full time job, and a life outside of running. I run this channel for my love of trail running. If you appreciate, please subscribe / like and share my videos – and say “Hi’ in the comments!
On this channel you will find 3 types of content: ultra marathon race / trail On this channel you will find 3 types of content: ultra marathon race / trail running adventure, training and running tip video, and a running training VLOG.
Daniel
Daniel is an extremely curious person, a wealth of random knowledge and facts. Extremely passionate about a vast array of interests ranging from health to history, science to athletics, everything culinary and the list goes on. Trust us, you would want to be on his team for Trivial Pursuit.
Daniel is also years into his battle with brain cancer. He experienced a seizure while on a Zoom call at work in late 2020 and quite literally, his life changed within minutes. After his operation he started to talk about his story but had always known it was more than just him. From then, More Than Our Story became a PROJECT that has evolved into the starting point it is today.
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