Matt's musings on a life-altering run to change the world

It’s Run For One Planet Tour Day #325, and we find ourselves in San Luis Obispo, California.

The road has been long and filled with every imaginable scenario and challenge since we put our first steps forward on May 4th, 2008 back in Vancouver. We knew it wouldn’t be an easy journey. Putting oneself out there beyond the normal zone of comfort always brings about the greatest tests—and the greatest rewards for sticking to it.

In our case, it has seen Steph and me endure every single kind of weather condition Mother Nature could throw at us and just keep moving our feet forward with that fire burning brightly inside because of our mission and what we set out to do. We have been tested immensely in our personal lives by putting ourselves under extreme pressure to each run 200 or so marathons in a year. In addition, we continue working after every run day, setting up presentations (with the extreme brilliance of our world’s greatest R41P volunteer team) for school kids and our other tour partners. We often find ourselves (and our team) working late into the night. Steph is the tour’s night owl. I am the early bird, starting at 4:00am.

You can visit our photo gallery and share some of these moments with us.

We are on the final leg (pardon the pun) of our life-enhancing dream. It’s taken us 2 years to plan and train for. We will have run for 1 year in order to make it the 11,000 miles (17,700km’s) across Canada and around America. What began as a simple desire to run and inspire action for a healthier Earth has become an all-encompassing journey, 18 feet deep with experiences so rich in every direction, it will be hard to unlace on May 8th and begin the afterlife of these last 3 years.

We have learned many things by trial and many errors. We have met so many incredible angels who showed up at the precise moment they were meant to, giving us a helping hand or boosting our spirits when we needed it most. All great gifts for throwing ourselves towards a dream of making the world a healthier place to live. Our way was to run in order to inspire and spread our message. We’ve met so many along our road who are making a difference by being a “local hero.”

It makes me realize just how lucky we are to be alive, to be able use our time on earth to make it a little bit better than when we arrived and to teach others to see their own light and ability to contribute. Our times with all the 18,000 pint-sized eco warriors (the kids) we’ve been privileged to present to has added such a depth to why we’re running in the first place. We are excited to begin our legacy for them upon our return home and officially unlacing our runners on this part of the journey.

Thanks for reading. I hope you get even a bit of what an honor it is to be running out here in America and last year, across our amazing country, Canada.

7 weeks to go. Friday, May 8th, we run home.