When The Right People Show Up

Hey Team!

Wowzas... I have quite a bit going on right now, and I’ll be honest, it’s been a bit difficult to keep up.

A big part of that is being on the move so much. I am incredibly grateful to travel as much as I do, but when you’re a rolling stone, bouncing from city to city, week after week, that alone can take a lot out of you.

Last week, I was in Tahoe for TrailCon, one of the trail industry’s most notable conferences. It’s scheduled that week with purpose. The first weekend is Broken Arrow Skyrace, with the 11K, 23K, and 46K races across three days. The second weekend is the Super Bowl of ultramarathons: the iconic Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run.

TrailCon sits right in the middle, bookended by both events, and draws athletes, spectators, brands, and people from all corners of the trail running world.

Fun little fact: British Columbia native Jazmine Lowther won the Triple Crown for having the fastest combined time across all three Broken Arrow races. Always cool to see someone from home showing up like that.

But I have to share one pretty cool moment from the week.

In Tahoe Village, there’s one main resort area with five different buildings. For those who have never been, it has that classic ski-resort town feel. Lodge vibes. A little dated. Probably designed sometime back in the 80s.

Nonetheless, the first thing I asked when I checked in was where the gym was.

To my surprise, it was one of the smallest and tightest gyms I could have imagined, especially being in such an active, former Olympic town. But there I was, 4:30am on a Tuesday morning, doing what I could with very limited options in this tiny 25-by-25-foot space.

And as the clock rolled toward 5am, look who walked in: Rich Roll.

This is significant for me because for the past two years, I’ve been manifesting being on his podcast. After getting my reps in last year, and with more and more platforms getting bigger, that dream started to feel possible. Not to mention, I’ve met a lot of new friends over the past two years, and somehow I’m starting to feel closer to him than Kevin Bacon.

We ended up sharing a bunch of stories throughout that hour-long gym session, including our mutual connection to my friend Cole, who is the co-founder of my favourite sock company, Sweet Feet.

And in the end, I feel like that conversation was all I needed. Would it be incredible to sit down one day and share my story on his platform? Of course. But for now, this was perfectly enough.

And the coolest part was that we didn’t even get into any of that. It was simply two guys sharing stories in a gym.

From The Field

As many of you know, last August I ran with 45 run clubs in 30 days in New York.

Very early in that journey, I was introduced to Val Gutu. He had just started a club called GutuGo Run Club, and without really knowing where to begin when we arrived in New York, he quickly became one of the early people I connected with.

As I got to know Val and understand the origin story of his run club, we started to bond on a deeper level.

His father had passed away, and GutuGo was started as a way to process the grief of losing him. Val was born in Russia and moved to the U.S. at an early age. As I embraced his story, he equally embraced mine, especially my journey running to Whistler for Project 125 and the impact it had on so many people.

I vividly remember him saying to me, “I think I want to do something similar. What do you think about me running across Puerto Rico? Maybe raising money for mental health? Maybe for cancer? What do you think, Matt? I think I want to do this now.”

Five days ago, Val kicked off Project 500 in Puerto Rico in honour of his late father. He is running, with his crew, around the perimeter of the island: 50 km a day for 10 days straight.

This full circle moment brings me so much joy.

I know how much this means to him. And when he gets back, I’m going to remind him of that conversation in New York. Because ideas are one thing. But it takes a lot of courage to go out and actually do something like this. To take the thing that hurt you, turn it into something that can move people, and then put your body on the line to bring it to life. That is a different level of commitment. And it makes me so proud to be his friend.

This Week’s Shift

I’ve also found a new cadence and energy behind my social media. Like anything in life, sometimes having the right person in your corner is all you need to get started. For social media, that person has been my friend Johnny. Johnny reached out to me and said very explicitly that he wants to see me win. And for him, the way he wants to help is by supporting the growth of my Instagram so I can have a bigger impact.

When he said that to me, I said, “Let’s go.” He gave me the wind at my back to take more risks, lean in, and stop overthinking the process. And it worked. Not only have my posts been performing better, but I’m actually enjoying the process in a way I wasn’t before.

The gym and my runs are easy for me to commit to. They are like eating. I have no problem doing them every day. But posting reels every day? That didn’t come naturally. I was more of a twice-a-month guy. But guess what? I had support. Johnny isn’t doing the work for me. He’s barely teaching me anything new. But he’s keeping the flame lit... and that might be the most important part.

Sometimes the gap between wanting to do something and actually doing it isn’t more information. It’s energy. It’s belief. It’s having one person who reminds you to keep going when the thing doesn’t feel natural yet.

So the next time you want to do something, but it doesn’t come easily, maybe the answer isn’t to force it alone. Maybe you just need one person to help keep the fire burning. Because sometimes it’s not the task that changes everything. It’s the excitement around getting it done.

Quick Reminders Before You Start:

If you want to follow along with Val’s journey for the next five days, he’s keeping his Instagram active and posting regular stories.

I mentioned Sweet Feet again above. The dopest socks around. They’re celebrating their three-year anniversary with their 14th drop.

And with all the added social posts lately, a few people have asked about my “Lord Forgive Me” hat. That’s Johnny’s masterpiece. You can find it here.

Sometimes the right person shows up in the right season to remind you what you’re capable of. Whether it’s a conversation in a gym, a friend bringing an idea to life, or someone keeping the fire lit behind you... the people around us can change the way we move forward.

Catch you on the Start Line,
—Matty