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NEW DOCUMENTARY – COMING SOON…

Running Forward – Documentary (2024) An Intersection Between Running and Mental Health

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ultrabirch

IG: @ultrabirch

Coaching for me is so much more than finish lines,

Coaching for me is so much more than finish lines, data and podiums. Joy, self-love, mindset, consistency and calculated training are the cornerstones of my coaching philosophy. Everything else comes as a result of these pillars.

I have openings for additional 1-on-1 coaching clients moving into the 2025 season as we head towards dry trails, open roads and hills to climb.

Please fill out my coaching inquiry form via my link in bio or shoot me a DM to chat 💬 more about what coaching looks like with me. I have been known to run with my own four-legged 🐕 friend SuperNova if you are also interested in getting your dog involved too.

The athletes I choose to coach are driven, successful and motivated to show up as their best selves every day. I am invested in the process and want to see them succeed in whichever direction they are called towards.

I only work with highly motivated individuals so if that is you and you are looking for a new growth opportunity into ultras or pushing past a distance that has only been a dream in your mind, reach out and let’s have the conversation.

⭐️ POLL BELOW👇🏻 Do you currently have a coach?

📸 @_lucascullen @tommydewitt_

#ultracoaching #coaching #mindset #uescaultrarunningcoach #uesca #ultrarunning #ultrarunner #ultrarunners #run #running #runner #runners

A 100 Mile race on Orcas Island became something m

A 100 Mile race on Orcas Island became something much deeper than a finish line.

Documented in a film about trust, partnership, and showing up with no expectations. No pressure to perform. Following a rhythm that has been built over 7 years with Nova 🐕. She was calm, focused, and completely dialled in. There was no need for words.

As Nova’s kahu, our job wasn’t to lead, it was to listen. To protect her, trust her, and follow her lead when she offered it. A true partnership. Thank you to Suunto for making this film possible alongside Ciele Athletics and to Non-Stop Dogwear as a supporting partner of the adventure.

The story of 🎥 SuperNova: The 100 Mile Dog 🐕 premieres on YouTube 🗓️ May 15, 2025. More details coming soon…

📸 @_lucascullen @tommydewitt_

#supernovafilm #adventurestartshere #everybodyrun #unleashyourpotential

Downs are inevitable and life is not linear ~ All

Downs are inevitable and life is not linear ~ All of the ups we go through prepare us for the downs. Whispering to us. Guiding us. Downs are where your character is forged.

These downs after the tower climb were a little different however, they sparked an immense amount of joy in us both 🏃🏼‍♂️ 🐕 .

Think of the most beautiful single track you have ever ran on… ok do you have it in your mind?

Now forget all about it!! and sign up for Orcas Island 100 February 2026 to experience the real deal.

I got lost in my own mind on this net downhill section heading back to Cassie. Nova like her true self was leading the charge with reckless abandon over terrain that went from mossy, to rock, to dirt and back again as we descended the trail.

All I could think to myself was I wish I had 4 legs, paws and weigh 37lbs to help me move more nimbly over this section. The tether we had between us truly made us one with each other. Nova was an extension of me and just as we had done hundreds of times before we chewed the trail up.

I have been asked if I think I had an advantage over other runners with Nova pulling me along…

If you asked me my answer before the race I would have said yes, post race… No! The amount of attention I gave to not getting tangled, ensuring she had water, food, her paws were good, not poking her with my poles. It took a lot of extra brain power that I clearly neglected my own nutrition at times during the race. Sacrificing myself to ensure she had what she needed, likely wasn’t the best plan in hindsight.

As we hit the main road and through a few up and down rollers we hit Camp Moran and Cassie just under 6 hours on the first 25 mile lap. Now it was time for a mandatory rest for Nova that we had planned for 1 hour before we headed out on lap 2.

This lap in retrospect was executed to perfection, a distance we had covered before without even blinking.
We had yet to enter unknown territory but we were edging closer…

📸 @_lucascullen @tommydewitt_ (one of them in the bushes)

#100miledog #supernova #100miler #dogrunner #dogrunning #ultrarunning #ultrarunner #ultrarunners #run #running #runner #runners #vizlsa #vizslagram #vizslaofinstagram

Hills don’t go away. They wait for you. On the t

Hills don’t go away. They wait for you. On the trails. Off the trails. You get to choose whether you climb. Nobody else. You.

The first half of the loop Nova and I were locked in enjoying every new section of trail that we found ourselves on. Hitting the Cascade Lake aid, Nova 🐕 was developing a little bit of a fan club already. She just thought she was the goodest girl ever because everyone knew her name not knowing what she was actually attempting.

The first climb to Mount Constitution was not given to anyone, you had to earn each step towards that tower. We did not waver and we did not complain, we settled into a rhythm one foot 🦶 , two paws 🐾 , one foot 🦶, two paws 🐾 as we navigated the never ending hil climb up powerline.

(Have you ever ran an ultra on a section called “powerline” and it not be the steepest part of the course? Or am I crazy and want to forget those sections a little too easily…)

Is it weird that I was enjoying myself more than any other hill I had been on in awhile?

I found myself loving each minute as if I wasn’t going to get to do this three more times! The smell of the trees and the ocean mist passing us by was ingrained into my psyche. Something about this place, these hills, these trails felt like a new found sense of what it means to run.

That climb was a gift and the next aid with Nova’s fan club awaited us before we headed up the tower to punch our bib for the first of 4 visits to lock her into the history books as the first dog to join the coveted “tower club”.

📸 @tommydewitt_ @_lucascullen (one of them!)

#100miledog #supernova #100miler #ultrarunning #ultrarunner #ultrarunners #run #running #runner #runners #vizsla #vizslas #dogrunner #dogrunning

Everything we want is on the other side of fear, i

Everything we want is on the other side of fear, in the unknown, in the discomfort, in the quiet and sometimes painful moments.

All of that however was washed away with a glimpse into those golden pools you call eyes 👀 of Nova’s 🐕 with every glance back. As we set off deeper into the adventure on the buttery smooth single track alongside the lake.

Nova isn’t your typical Viszla. She was the runt of the litter that I drove two 14 hour days back to back to pick up with her riding shotgun as I hand fed her kibble on the ride back home every 5 minutes.

Most days she is just like any other dog. Breakfast, play, sleep, outside, walk, sleep, run eat and sleep again. It’s when her nose catches a whiff of the trails that she is about to tear up that she comes into her own.

That salted and peppered lady beard, her patch of grey on her chest and her grey paw hair poking out around her nails. She ripped around that lake almost knowing that she was going to see @cassiehawrysh sooner if we went faster.

Nova had no fear because she didn’t know what we were in the middle of. Perhaps we can all take a page out of her playbook and realize that fear is created by us not imposed on us.

I think Nova 🐕 has it right and the student is becoming the teacher.

📸 @_lucascullen @tommydewitt_ (one of them 😂)

#100miledog #supernova #100miler #ultrarunning #ultrarunner #ultrarunners #run #running #runner #runners #vizsla #vizslas #vislasofinstagram

It’s the people you share the moments with that

It’s the people you share the moments with that make these adventures what they are.

I won’t be doing the typical “first 5km was an uphill road before we headed down to mountain lake”…

This is will be like a bedtime story I tell my kids. Except unlike Morgan Freeman I won’t be telling you to go the *#$% to sleep.

This is about paying attention to the little moments.
The smells of the forest.
The water between your shoes and the pavement.
The howling winds trying to rip your hood off your head as you walk around like Quasimodo with your pack under your rain jacket.

One of those moments is how I recognized Nova 🐕 is like any normal dog but her super powers come out on the trails. Like Clark Kent or Bruce Banner Nova turns into Super Nova. Then returns to being a big baby where she can be picked up, snuggled and comforted by her humans.

@cassiehawrysh and I knew that as a team we had her back and we wanted to normalize this for her like any other training run she has been on.

She knows what running smells like.
The feel of the dirt beneath her paws
Running beside other runners like her pack.
She was in her element.

That’s the thing we never saw this as impossible. We saw it as a chance to do something out of the box and create a sense of hope and wonder.

Looking into those eyes throughout those 75 miles told me that we were right where we were meant to be.

📸 @_lucascullen or @tommydewitt_ (they can decide 😂)

#supernova #100miledog #ultrarunning #ultrarunner #ultrarunners #run #running #runner #runners @suunto #youradventurestartshere @cieleathletics #everybodyrun #cieleathletics #ciele @nonstopdogwear #unleashyourpotential @xactnutrition #fuelyourgoals @stokedoats #fuelthefirewithin @hydrapak #thepak @leki.canada #leki #lekicanada #lekitrail

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