Valerie Gagne: My Path to Wild Adventures, Expeditions & Self-Discovery

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Welcome to another episode of Adventure Diaries! Today, Chris sits down with Valerie Gagne, aka The Running Panda, an elite athlete turned seasoned adventurer. Valerie’s journey is a testament to resilience, adaptability, and the transformative power of exploration. From competing at a national level in cross-country skiing and rowing to undertaking solo expeditions in some of the harshest environments, Valerie shares her story of pushing personal limits and embracing adventure as a way of life.

In this episode, Valerie opens up about her early love for sports, her Olympic dreams, and the pivotal moments that shifted her focus from competition to adventure. She recounts the life-changing experience of participating in an Impossible to Possible (I2P) expedition through the Atacama Desert, where she learned to embrace teamwork, vulnerability, and collaboration. Valerie also takes us through her solo ski expedition around the Eye of Quebec, an incredible 190-kilometer journey through challenging winter conditions, where she built confidence by mastering essential survival skills.

We explore:

• Valerie’s early life in an athletic family and her passion for outdoor sports.
• How setbacks in competitive sports led to her transition into adventure.
• The role of I2P in teaching resilience, teamwork, and leadership.
• Mentorship from adventurer Ray Zahab and its impact on her journey.
• The challenges of solo expeditions, including battling slush, injury, and solitude.
• How adventures cultivate mental strength, self-reliance, and problem-solving skills.
• Valerie’s plans for future Arctic explorations and her love for local “backyard” adventures.

Valerie’s story is an inspiring call to embrace both small, local adventures and bold, life-changing expeditions. Whether you're an outdoor enthusiast or seeking motivation to step outside your comfort zone, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration.

Links and Resources:

• Follow Valerie: Instagram and TikTok - @_therunningpanda
• Learn about Impossible to Possible: Impossible2Possible.com
• Explore Valerie’s Adventures: Eye of Quebec, Lake Baikal, Baffin Island

Call to Action:

Feeling inspired? Start your own adventure—whether it’s a backyard hike or a polar expedition. Sometimes, the biggest rewards come from simply taking that first step.

For more episodes and show notes, visit AdventureDiaries.com. Don’t forget to follow, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform!

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to the Adventure Diaries Podcast
• 1:11 Meet Valerie Gagne: The Running Panda
• 3:25 Valerie's Athletic Beginnings
• 6:34 Transition to Rowing and the Olympic Dream
• 10:37 Discovering Impossible to Possible
• 14:00 The Atacama Expedition Experience
• 21:26 Guiding with Kapik1
• 27:01 Solo Expedition: The Eye of Quebec
• 30:23 Navigating the Slush: First Day Challenges
• 34:19 Pushing Through Pain: Neck Injury Struggles
• 36:57 Endurance and Solitude: Mental Challenges
• 38:36 Geographical Wonders: The Eye of Quebec
• 40:25 Achievements and Reflections
• 44:04 Balancing Careers and Adventures
• 47:37 Future Expeditions and Goals
• 51:15 Closing Thoughts and Inspirations

Transcript

 The I2P expedition to the Atacama gave me wings and those components put together. It made me realize that I can do pretty much anything that I want. Definitely looked at adventures. It was like my, my door  was opening into the life of adventures and expeditions. It also helped me shift my mindset of  This is not a competition and I don't have to be the best out here and I can show some weaknesses and these people are not my competitors and they're here to, they're here to help me and I don't have to always put on a strong face and, um, kind of play, play these mind games with my competitors. 

They're just here to help, and we're all here to get to the finish line together. 

Welcome to the Adventure Diaries podcast, where we share tales of adventure, connection, and exploration. From the smallest of creators to the larger than life adventurers, we hope their stories inspire you to go create your own extraordinary adventures.

And now your host, Chris Watson. Welcome to another 

episode of the Adventure Diaries. Today, we're joined by Valerie Gagne.  A. K. A. The Running Panda. Valerie's journey from high performance athlete to seasoned adventurer is truly inspiring. Growing up in an athletic family, Valerie chased Olympic dreams before discovering Impossible to Possible.

An experience that shifted her focus from individual competition to adventure and teamwork. And since then, Valerie has embraced the world of polar expeditions and ultra endurance challenges. She's guided across the frozen Lake Baikal in Siberia and skied across Baffin Island and more recently completed a solo ski trip around the Eye of Quebec. 

And through these journeys, she's learned the power of pushing personal limits and building self reliance. Often using solo expeditions to hone her skills and grow in confidence. Inspired by her mentor, Ray Zahab, and fueled by the lessons from Impossible to Possible, she continues to balance life  and adventure. 

And this is a story that will resonate with anyone juggling big ambitions and everyday responsibilities. What does it take to venture out alone and into the harshest environments? And what drives her to keep pushing her limits? So settle in and enjoy this fantastic conversation with Valerie Gagne.

Valerie Gagne, welcome to the Adventure Diaries. How are you? 

Hi, thank you. I'm great. Thanks for having me. 

Oh, you're welcome. It's my pleasure. Excited about this. To frame things up, Valerie, the reason for today and the frame for this is really around a couple of your major expeditions, most notably the Eye of Quebec recently.

And I'm going to try and pronounce this. Is it the Manic? Coogan Reservoir. 

Yeah, there's an A in there somewhere, but it's a, it's a French word. So it's the Manicouagan Reservoir. Yeah.  

So that's what we want to kind of focus on, but I think kind of winding back a little bit to give a bit of a frame for you, your backgrounds, you know, some of your early life formative experiences and then take us through your athletic career before we touch on some of your expeditions.

So tell us about yourself, Valerie, what led you into a life of athletics and adventure? 

Yeah, I come from a very athletic family where sports was definitely put at the forefront as a child. I think I learned how to ski when I was two years old and then I really took to sports in general as a young kid.

When I was in the third grade, I really wanted to run the cross country at school but the race is only started for fourth grade and going up and so I talked to my parents and I talked to the school principal and then I said, guys, I really want to run this race and so they said, okay, but you have to train for it.

So that was. Definitely informative in the way that I learned really early on that if I wanted something when I needed to ask for it and to I needed to train for it and so I was training on a 500 meter little private road running in the mornings before going to school behind the car and my mom would drive us to school so she'd drive the car with the windows down and blasting some Shania Twain and I just ran in my school uniform and so for those 500 meters and so that's It's kind of how I got into training for races.

So I did end up doing the cross country race and did that until very late in life. Up until the university, I ran cross country and then, yeah, did cross country skiing as well. I had a choice very early on cause I grew really fast and I had to choose between cross country skiing and downhill skiing because my parents were looking at the budget.

They said, Val, we only have the means to. Buy you one new equipment this year. So this year you'll have to choose between those two sports. And I decided to go with cross country skiing, which was an odd choice at the time, because it really wasn't a popular sport, but I kept going in cross country skiing and then got into racing, did that at a high level for.

Many years up until I was 18 years old. Uh, yeah, 19 years old. And I got to a high level. When you get good at something, it's kind of natural to start looking at. What are the possibilities and what could I do with this and how far could I go? And I started dreaming about the Olympics. Started working really hard to be the best that I could be.

I kind of took less classes in school to focus on skiing and I moved to another part of the province to train with the best in the country, but I felt like I was always Just knocking at the door of the podium. I can't tell you how many times I came in fourth and unfortunately fourth in Canada is not good enough to make it onto the Olympic team.

So I had to make the decision at a certain point to either keep going with school or to go 100 percent into skiing. And I just kind of knew that it wasn't going to happen for me. So I let that life behind me and stopped racing. They're skiing competitively, and then I went into university, but that dream of going to the Olympics was still there.

Really deep down, I still wanted to go, and so I applied summer before going into university. I applied to this program called Row to Podium, and they basically take transfer athletes from different sports that have the physical attributes that they look for in rowing, and they Teach these athletes to row at the time was with the goal of making it to the Rio Olympics.

So four years later So I got selected onto that program only because the requirements for males is to be six foot four And for the females is to be six foot tall and i'm six one So I got into the program just because I was tall which was really cool because one of the things that I Struggled with, with cross country skiing was how tall and big and strong I was, was not very effective in the uphills.

So I always felt like I was getting passed on the uphills by much lighter skiers. And so, yeah, I got into rowing, rowed for two years. And got pretty good, I was on the national team, and then I just kind of figured that I wanted something else in life. I just did not want to pursue the life of being a full time athlete anymore, and decided that my goal and my dream of going to the Olympics wasn't my dream anymore.

And I think that as humans, we can change and evolve, and to just pursue a dream, a childhood dream that you had when you were a kid, just for the sake of it, was not really interesting to me anymore. That's why Left that life behind, got into a small depression, as many athletes do after they leave behind high performance sports.

And then got into life of adventures through Impossible to Possible. Yeah, so that's my pre adventurous life, I guess. High performance sports. It's being very competitive and doing sports that are a little bit under the radar, not as popular as other sports were at that time. That's found a lot of value and that was part of my identity also, I guess.

That's fascinating. When you were younger, Valerie, was like competition, the Olympics, awards, was that also of what you were after, a degree of validation? In some sort of competitive arena, is that kind of what you were chasing? You feel? 

Yeah, absolutely. I felt like all of the confidence in myself that I could get was through sports.

I was very shy as a kid in high school. I had a little bit of a rough time, didn't make friends very easily. So sports was the way that I found value in myself and that I could be very proud of what I was doing and working towards achieving. A big huge goal was kind of like the thing that made me keep going.

You see when you left like the rowing as an example you touched on there that you kind of went into a little bit of depression and stuff. Did you get any sort of  aftercare when you left that competitive arena or were you just because it must be quite devastating for a lot of people chasing you know getting onto a team trying to go for the olympics not getting in but then kind of just left?

It's by the wayside a little bit to find your own way. Is there any sort of aftercare or coaching with these organizations? I 

can't remember being offered any at that time by myself. I did go and see a sports psychologist, but I wouldn't say it was necessarily offered to me by the program at that time.

But I was able to realize that I needed help and I did go and get the care myself. 

And is that when Impossible to Possible came into the mix? 

Yeah, I stopped rowing in October after the national championships in 2013 and in November Impossible to Possible put out their ads on Facebook that they were looking for youth ambassadors to apply for their next Expedition, and it's weird because the whole way that I found out about I2P was through a friend that I used to ski with many years before, and he had been on an expedition, and I was just scrolling through Facebook, and I saw her.

One of his posts where he was running in an environment that was definitely not in Quebec and he was with three or four other people. They were all wearing the same shirts, the same hat, the same sunglasses. So it kind of caught my attention and I clicked on the pictures and read the description and that's when I realized he was running.

a marathon a day for a week. And I thought, well he's definitely a little bit crazy. But also it made sense for him. Because he was someone that I knew ran long distances already. He is a guy who came from a family of world class adventurers and explorers and so I thought, well, you know, this makes sense for him.

This is definitely not for me, but I still think it's a cool project. So I liked the I2P Facebook page and just circumstances A few years later, while I was in that depression on a November morning, I was in my bed just scrolling through Facebook again, and then I saw that post that they were looking for youth ambassadors for the Atacama Expedition.

And for some strange reason That morning, I thought, well, maybe that could be me. Although the longest distance that I had ever ran at that time was 10k, I think. So is it? Yeah, I think it probably that depression state might have. altered my brain chemistry and made me think that I could also do that. And that's what made me apply.

But yeah, grateful for that anyways. 

Yeah, probably subconsciously seeking. And I think the universe kind of aligning a little bit. Can I ask you, is that individual raise a hub by any chance? 

Uh, no. So it's Nancin Weber. Comes from a very big family of explorers. And he was on the Tanzania expedition. I think, 

yeah, so impossible to possible because Ray was on season one, that's podcasting  and he was talking a little bit about that and it's a fantastic organization and I think that's really kind of reading between the lines.

It helped certainly with you at that point in time in terms of Maybe shifting your objectives a little bit and helping mentally. What did that organization do for you then when you go on to the Atacama expedition? And can you just touch on what it is they offer? Because it is a little bit more than just adventure, isn't it?

Yeah, absolutely. So what it is, is they Take what they call Youth Ambassadors and select five or between, I think, four or seven Youth Ambassadors, depending on the expedition and the logistics of it. And Youth Ambassadors are between 17 and 21. At that time I was 21, so I was able to get in. And They form this team of ambassadors that they bring on expedition.

For me, it was the Atacama Desert in Chile. We ran a marathon a day for six consecutive days through the desert, with, I don't think any of us had ever ran a marathon before that. And so, everything is paid for this expedition, down to the socks that you wear. And It's putting us in a very difficult physical situation where we have to push our limits and work as a team as well, because these marathons are not races, absolutely an adventure and expedition formula where we run every single kilometer.

All of the team together. It's not a relay either. And so we learn how to work as a team, which was a very big challenge for myself because I'd been in so many sports where competition was all individual and. It also helped me shift my mindset of this is not a competition and I don't have to be the best out here and I can show some weaknesses and these people are not my competitors and they're here to help me and I don't have to always put on a strong face and play these mind games with.

My competitors, they're just here to help and we're all here to get to the finish line together. And it also puts us in a leadership role because during the expedition, we are in constant communication with thousands of students throughout the world that are following along on our journey. the physical side of it, but also there's an educational side to every expedition with Impossible to Possible.

And for us, we learned about the origins of the universe. We learned about the stars and the moon and the planets. The Atacama Desert being one of the main Places to look at the stars. It's so beautiful down there. And then we share our findings and what we learn with the students that are following along in the hopes of inspiring them to push beyond their perceived limits.

And yeah. 

Yeah. It's a, it's a wonderful thing. I've followed on Instagram a little bit and I've seen some of the photos on it and it's, it's fantastic. Was that a bit of a turning point for you then? 

Absolutely. 

Yeah, because you've gone on to become a guide as well, haven't you, Valerie, like with Capic One and stuff?

Yes. So I think the way that I see it is that my upbringing with my family that was there to give me a ton of opportunities and then my life as a high performance athlete gave me a good solid base to step on and then the I2P expedition to the Atacama gave me wings and then With all those components put together it kind of made me realize that I can do pretty much anything that I want and Yeah from then on Definitely looked at adventures.

It was like a door was opening into the life of adventures and  That I didn't fully understand and I didn't really know about the whole world of ultra marathons and all that. So very eyeopening. And then I thought, well, this is way more valuable than just competing for medals in the hopes of going to the Olympics, just to touch on what you said before that from then I did.

Stay involved with I2P, mentoring the new youth ambassadors, helping them out through their training before an expedition, letting them in on the secrets a little bit of what they should expect on an I2P expedition, and then Ray Zahab, who we talked about earlier, he started his I2P. Adventure company called the Capic one, and then he asked me to come guide some of the trips with him.

So it was definitely, yeah, I two P was the starting point for all that. 

I think what I was going to say, what, what I love about that, it's the kinda network effect. It's not just like. you and the team that are there on the ground. It's like, you know, planting the seeds for the thousands that are watching online and all the kids that are following along with it.

That kind of seed of adventure. It's fantastic. 

Yeah. There are so many people that are involved in these expeditions. It's not just the youth ambassadors that are running, but I think we were on our expedition. We were five. But I think the support team and the crew and the educators that were there also for the educational component, I think there were probably 20 or 25 of them that were there just to support us and to make sure that our run was successful and that we were able to inspire thousands in the classrooms as well.

Yeah. What was it like? Just the adventure side of it coming from winter sports, rowing to the heat of the Atacama Desert. It must have been something. 

Yeah, it was definitely challenging. It's heat, it's dryness, it's altitude as well. And it's running really long distances that I'd never run before.  So all of these elements put together made it very challenging.

I remember we did some training before and the group of us, we would chat on internet, letting each other in on how the training was going and our progress and all that. And  The day before we started our run in the desert we kind of did a little meeting and we were talking about Okay, what kind of speed do you think we should run at and I think we settled like on a 630 minute pace And then that went Straight out the window.

The first kilometer that we did, we were like, well, that's not going to happen. This is way too fast. We have to adapt and definitely take into consideration the heat and the dryness and I have asthma. And so the sand and that dry air coming into my lungs was very difficult. I had to run with a buff over my nose and my mouth.

To kind of filter the air that was coming in, which made it even hotter. But yeah, it was just learning really fast that it was going to be difficult, but we had a great support team that was there to help us through everything. And that's also where I learned the importance of drinking a lot of water, a lot of fluids and hydrating properly and eating a lot of food.

Yeah, there's a lot of dynamics going on. There is a new environment, a new expedition, the kind of educational or academic side to it, nutrition, hydration, and you're still having to run a marathon every day. It's fantastic. It's a massive melting pot of things. It's incredible. 

Yes, a lot of learning happening very fast. 

So you've got the bug then from the Atacama then. I mean, before we touch on the Isle of Quebec, I think you've done, was it, Baffin Island and a few other bits and pieces, maybe. Is that with CAPIC 1?  

So I did in  2020, just before the pandemic and before the war in Ukraine, we went to Siberia and crossed a section of Lake Baikal with CAPIC 1.

So I was a guide with CAPIC 1, it was my First experience guiding a group with Capic One, and it was in the winter. So we were running on the frozen lake, camping on the ice for seven days with a group of clients. So that was one of my, yeah, definitely one of my first expeditions in the winter. I'm very used to skiing in the winter and being outside in the winter, but the winter camping component was a little bit new for me.

I think the only time before that that I'd been winter camping was when I was 11 or 12 years old with my ski group and my dad was there and I think the only reason that I found the experience was  not so bad was because my dad stayed awake all night pushing off the snow that was falling on top of the tent making sure the tent wouldn't collapse under the weight of the snow during that snowstorm.

And so yeah, I said yes to Ray. Because I wanted the adventure and I knew that I had a solid base that I could go back to and I knew that I had a good working ethic and that with a positive attitude, that's what the eye camera taught me that I could. Pretty much do whatever so I went on to guide that expedition I was basically the one that was going out getting some ice to melt on the stove and make some water You know, we would put up the tent I was kind of like the gopher so I would do everything around camp and Ray would Entertain the clients more than I did with a ton of stories really incredible stories And he was also responsible for The navigation, all that, but.

Yeah, it was fun times and 

yeah, it's fantastic. I was speaking to a chap called Ash Routon, I'm not, I think you might know Ash, maybe uh, through Instagram  and yeah, so actually,  and coincidentally, I put a clip up today. He's talking about Lake Baikal and describing it as a living, moving entity and all the noises and the cracks and the, the stuff that go on when you're camping on that, it sounded quite the adventure.

Oh, it's Definitely a little bit nerve wracking. The first time you step onto the lake and you hear all the cracks and the deafening sounds that wake you up in the middle of the night from that earthquake, seismic activity that's going on underneath the lake. Very impressive for sure. 

Yeah, I think he described it as like rifle shots going off in the distance and stuff.

He said that it was almost like, uh, what you would imagine like the Western front being like in the, in the war and war torn areas, but yeah, yeah. So all the winter skills then building up Valerie and then, you know, the eye of Quebec because you, you done that solo. Didn't you? You know, 200 kilometers across.

So was it Lake Baikal? So what winter expeditions have you done before you got to the Eye of Quebec? 

So then I did last year with Ray Zahab and Kevin Fraser. We went to Baffin Island and we crossed the valley section of Baffin Island on  in January and that was also a very Extreme expedition, I feel like I'm still, everything is still an intro to winter expeditions and winter camping.

Although if I do start to look back, I feel like I'm getting a little bit more experience, but that was definitely very eye opening expedition to the world of polar adventures. And I was Seven days approximately, but the goal of that expedition was yes to ski across the valley But it was more so to go out there experience it and also to support Ray in that Expedition because he was going through Cancer and he was in the middle of chemotherapy rounds at that time time.

So it was another side of adventures that was not so much aimed at performance and it wasn't, the point of it was not to do it the fastest or not to be the first. It was nothing like that. It was just to be out there with friends, doing what we love and supporting each other in that quest for adventures because you don't have to be the fastest or the first or whatever to have a good time out there and to still push your limits.

And I think that's a perspective that's, you know, speaking to lots of adventurers, it's a perspective that starts to. develop with maturity, I think, because a lot of people tend to chase those big validation points and goals and firsts earlier in their career. So it's nice to hear that. 

Yeah. 

So how did the Eye of Quebec come about then?

Did you feel that you wanted to test yourself? Yeah. In these conditions? 

It wasn't so much to test myself. The real reason behind my deciding to go to the Eye of Quebec and doing A solo expedition was to continue to build confidence in myself. And the way that I find I can build confidence is by increasing my experience and increasing my skill levels.

And when I go on expedition with other people, there are definitely some points where some skills that I leave to others because I don't feel as confident in doing them. Example is to  play with a liquid gas stove. I don't have as much experience with those, and when I go on expeditions, that's always something that I leave to my partners, to my teammates.

I'm like, well, maybe you should deal with this because you're better at it. Putting up the tent is another one, and high winds. So these are skills that are definitely very important in winter expeditions. And I just felt like I didn't have the skill level to bring to a team, be like, I got this, I'm confident in these skills, and you can leave those with me, I've got it.

And so I wanted to put myself in a situation where I didn't have any other choice. but to be good at it. Yes, I could have practiced in my backyard, but it's not the same as doing it in a winter environment and setting. So, that's why I wanted to go on a solo expedition. Logistically, the Eye of Quebec was pretty easy in terms of logistics. 

I live in Quebec, it's accessible by road. I only decided to do this, maybe, Two months before, and it was just one quick phone call to a local guy. That would be responsible for coming out to get me on a snow machine if anything went wrong.  And that was it. I put my kit together, put everything in my sled.

I got some help from Ray, who, love him, he's my mentor, he's always there to help me. And, yeah, so got some good tips from him, got some gear from him that I didn't have. And just  Put everything in the car and went. So yeah, very easy logistically And so I didn't feel like I was putting too much pressure on myself for this expedition It was just kind of go out and practice basically.

That's how I looked at it 

Yeah, it sounds like it was almost like a training kind of a bit of a training ground yeah, the only thing is I 

don't know what I was training for because I was just training to get the skills and Get more experience in that environment. 

It's like putting the reps in or the laps in or whatever.

So that's a wonderful way to look at it. What type of skills did you have to then test, you know, such as the putting up the tent or the stoves and stuff? Did you have any environmental challenges, wind, snow, ice, or that? Did you manage to build on those skills that you were going out to test? 

Yeah, I didn't know that I was going to have to test this out, but I ended up.

going through a lot of slush on that frozen reservoir that was, we had a weird winter with the weather being kind of warm in December and the reservoir only froze, uh, maybe like two weeks before I went out. And so it was. Fresh ice, there was enough ice to support a skier with their sled. That wasn't an issue, but with the snow that came afterwards and that started falling onto the ice, the ice, what it does is it kind of pushes down and then some of the lake water comes up on top and it Pushes down it kind of collapses under the weight of the snow and so that's what makes some slush and it's very common Early on in a season.

I didn't expect it to be that slushy at the time that I went in February, but because the Winter conditions only came a little bit later this year. That's what I had to face. And I learned on the very first day how to navigate through the slush, which is not something that I had done before. And I had to, yeah, first time that I went through, I kind of, You know, got out as fast as possible But then my sled got stuck behind me in the slush and then it was just too heavy for me to pull out but I worked so hard to Get it out with my harness my backpack still on my back and I hunched down I tried to pull with all my strength and it just wasn't moving.

So I had to take my Backpack off, take my skis off, and then I had to walk through the slush, some water got into my boots, and then I was able to push my sled out, and then everything, all of my equipment was frozen with like a thick layer of slush that just froze on top of everything, so I had to learn how to defrost everything and took a knife to get all of the ice out of my binding so I could put my skis on again.

I had to knock all of the ice off. of the bottom of my sled so that it would glide on the snow again. So that whole ordeal probably lasted like 20, 25 minutes. And then I kept going and I think 5 minutes after I kept going I fell through another kind of pond of slush. And the thing is, I thought, okay, well, maybe these conditions are not, they're not good.

I should probably not be out here. But the thing is when you're Going on a solo adventure, you don't have the people around you to talk with and validate your thoughts. And so I didn't have anyone to say, hey, like, is this normal? Maybe we should keep going. Maybe we should go back, turn around. But being by myself, I didn't want to Turn back on the first day, and then have someone say, Oh, that's totally normal.

Every adventurer goes through that. You just have to keep going. It sucks, but that's very normal. So I just kept going, and I went through the whole 20 minute cycle every time I went through Flush, which was probably every, like, kilometer or two kilometers. And at a certain point, it got to where I didn't want to turn around because I knew that I would have to go through all that slush again.

But there was a part of my brain that was like, well, maybe if you keep going, there won't be any slush in front of you. Which is kind of the lies that we tell ourselves when we're adventuring.  And especially when you're alone out there, you kind of tell yourself anything to just keep going. So, anyways, I put up my tent on the first night and then second morning I woke up and I wasn't able to move my head.

There was something in my neck that I had pulled some muscles or something, that's what I thought. It was extremely painful to just sit up and to put all of my stuff away that morning. But again, I just thought, well Your neck hurts, so what? Keep going. So I did. Eventually it got to a point where it was so painful to pull my sled that I couldn't pull with the straps on my shoulders anymore because the pressure on my shoulders and on my neck was too much.

I pulled my sled with only my hip strap and I could only look at my feet, so to see where I was going, make sure that I was still going in the right direction. I had to physically take my hands and put them on my forehead to lift my head up and see where I was going and then okay, I could take my head back down look at my feet and just keep putting one foot in front of the other basically and I think not being able to see too far ahead was a good thing in the end because I can see the island in the distance that was never getting closer because it's just too far away.

I was just looking at my feet and going through slush and just going through the motions. Without having to think too far ahead. Yeah, and then by the time, you know, it's day three I've gone halfway around the reservoir and There's no reason for me to turn around at that point. So I just said, okay. Well Let's keep going.

And I made it around 

fantastic. Did you have to endure that the slush throughout the entire trip or was that just in the first couple of phases, the first two or three days or 

no, it ended up being the whole entire 

trip. 

Yeah.  

Yeah.  Wow. So that just that brute force mentality, like just. Keep going. Keep going.

Yeah, it was 

basically just well, I would give myself the objective of skiing 30 kilometers a day and I was able to do that basically because I would never stop until I got to those 30 kilometers, even if it took me 12, 13 hours a day, and that was just the goal that I had set for myself. And as long as I could keep putting one foot in front of the other, then I There was no reason to stop before. 

Valerie, if you think about what you were saying earlier about the team side of things and the human connection and stuff, how did you find that trip from a solitude perspective or did you struggle mentally or, you know, because you're obviously enduring hardship in the day to day. basis, which is part of the adventure to an extent, but how did you deal with that mentally?

I think in the end I was very happy to be by myself on that trip  because of the neck injury that I had because I felt like I was much slower. than I could have been and I know that if I was with other people I would have felt like I was slowing them down and that is something that I need to work on to know that I too can have points where I'm not superwoman and I'm not the one that's going to be the best out there and I I don't always need to be 100 percent to still contribute to a team, but for the whole expedition to be not as fast as I know that I could have been, I dealt with it better mentally knowing that I was alone.

If it took me 12, 13 hours to complete the 30 kilometre goal that I had set for myself, then it didn't matter because I was alone out there and it was just my time and I wasn't slowing anyone else. 

Fantastic. What was it like out there on that? Is it like a plateau?  Is there much like? Forests or wildlife.

What is it? Help me picture it because I haven't looked at it actually. 

It's a very interesting geographical feature in Quebec. It's a meteor that hit the earth  215 or 217 years ago. I can't remember exactly, but some million years ago. And it created this hole and then there's an island. in the middle that is surrounded by two rivers on each side of that island.

They created in, I can't remember what year, I think the 80s probably. They created a hydro dam so that whole area flooded and those rivers became massive. And now it's one, they connected around that island and they're now one massive lake. And so it's a lake that's, when you go around the island, it's just under 200 kilometers.

So everything that I read before going on the expedition was 200 kilometers. It's 200 kilometers. I hugged the interior of the island I was really close because that was where I found was the best ice and less slush And when I was going really close around the island It ended up being closer to 190 kilometers.

I think at the largest points, the lake is probably 50 kilometers wide. So it's quite wide and so you feel like you're at its largest point. So you feel like you're on a huge, huge lake. I was close to the island so there were trees. It's a very forested area. at that point. So I had trees on one side and then just white on the other side. 

Fantastic. So you're talking about the speed, but I believe you done it in the 60s when you had planned for seven. So it's still a success. By all accounts. Yeah, definitely. 

Definitely a success. I had planned seven days. Again, when I was reading on everyone who had done it, they all talked about 200 kilometers.

So I thought, 30 kilometers a day, give or take, it's about seven days. And yeah, I ended up. The last day was I think I skied closer to 36 or 38 kilometers on the last day just to finish it. Yeah, I just started out with that 30 kilometer a day goal and I stuck to it. Some days was 28 because I stopped where I knew that it was good snow and good ice and I didn't want to just go through some slush just before stopping for the day.

And then other days I went a little bit above and went to 32. And then Six days. I was very happy with that. It wasn't again The point was not to go and get a record or anything like that It didn't end up. I think I was the first woman to do it solo But again, like, that's who cares, the point was really just for me to get experience, build on my skill levels, and yes, I did want to push myself, like, that competitive side of me came out, not to be competitive with other people, but to push myself and give myself a very big goal and work towards it and push in that direction. 

Well, you met the objective, didn't you? You met the goal, so it's a proud moment, so congratulations for it. And it's nice to hear you talk about it as almost like, I can act like, you know, the experience side of it as well. It's, it's a bit different to some adventures and the objectives of certain, certain adventures.

So it's lovely to hear. 

Yes. When I do talk about it though, I'm reminded, especially by my mom, to say like, Well, you can still be proud, even though you went out and it was just training, you can still be proud of what you did. And so I'm, I'm trying to include that in my  way of thinking about it. Yeah. 

You should absolutely be proud of it.

It's a huge achievement. It's fantastic. And just. Making yourself vulnerable in these places and completing it, you know, because you would be kicking yourself if you turn back, you know, that first thing you entered the slush, you know, and you didn't persevere with the neck pain. And it's all that type two fun that makes it really worthwhile and rewarding when you look back on it.

So yeah, congratulations. And 

then one of the first people that I called. when I was done with the expedition was Ray and I told him about the slush and first thing he says is, oh yeah, I've gone through that. And I'm like, okay, well, good thing I didn't turn around.  So I was, I was happy. I kept going. 

Yeah.

It's great to know that he's your mentor as well. I've only, I've only had that one conversation with him and I follow him quite closely on Instagram and stuff and he's, he's such a positive light and all of this stuff. It's fantastic. 

Yeah. He's so inspiring and he always. Every time I talk with him, I just feel like super motivated to go outside and go for a training run or for a ski and I just feel so energized every time I talk to him.

Yeah, I hope at some point in the future, I've got a little daughter that I can maybe send one of my daughter on one of the expeditions for, for some guide. 

Yes. 

Guided experience. Yes. That's fantastic. So I can switch lanes a little bit before kind of wrapping up, but you're also an air traffic controller.

Yeah. As well, I believe. Yeah.  How long have you been doing that?  

Um, I've been doing it for five years. I went to university to be a physical education teacher. I completed my degree in that and then realized I did not want to teach kids in a school setting. It just wasn't for me. And then I also come from a family with A lot of connections to aviation.

My grandfather was a pilot. My grandma was a stewardess, but my dad was an air traffic controller, and so it kind of runs in the family and from a very young age, I would go into work with my dad. And especially on his night shifts and I would sleep under the console, he'd pull out a little air mattress in my sleeping bag and I'd go into work at night with him.

And so I knew that it was an option. I knew that it was there. I just needed to experience other stuff in life before committing to that very intense career. And also the training to become an air traffic controller is also very intense and five years ago for two years I was training and I basically did nothing other than Train to be an air traffic controller.

I would go on 30 minute runs maybe twice a week and that was it. So my whole Life of sports and adventures and all that was on pause for those two years. But it was a completely different objective that I'd set out for myself and I really, really wanted to achieve. And so I got sent to the tower at the airport of Quebec City and I've been there for the past five years.

It's a very demanding career, but it is extremely enriching. It ties in, I think, a lot of the skills that I need for adventures and sports and expeditions are skills that I need also for my job, and so. Yeah, it's a little bit weird and out there and not a lot of people know about this career and everyone takes the plane, but they don't think about the air traffic controllers, but it's a great job and love it.

Yeah, there must be a lot of the, because it's a high stakes environment. I can imagine high pressure, a lot of risk management, which I know that would be transferable to your expeditions and your guiding. 

Yeah, exactly. Just being able to make decisions. Quickly being able to adapt, change your plan as you go, and being able to manage your stress even in high stress situations.

So, side note, I, so my day job, I work in IT and I'm very much in a consultancy position now, but back many moons ago when I was an engineer, I used to be The guy that fixed the national air traffic control devices and everything that went wrong and your rooms. So I used to  be on standby and those rooms and press your airports in Scotland waiting for things to break.

I'm used to getting shouted at non stop. 

Yeah. I mean like, well, is it okay if we only fix. it tomorrow. No, we need it now.  Yeah, 

we actually had a guy who had to stand by with like two of the old dot matrix printers because it was the only kind that worked in this when they were printing out old flight plans and stuff.

So the good old days. 

Yeah,  that's awesome. 

Fantastic. So again, switching lanes a little bit. So plans for the future. Have you got any big unrealized adventures, any other big expeditions that you're kind of planning for that or that you would love to do? 

Right now, I'm still kind of, I know that I want to go back to the Arctic.

Logistics in the Arctic are much more difficult than the eye of Quebec, that's for sure. And so I need to sit down, look at a map, and decide what I want to do, which I haven't done yet. I'm still looking at the map, but to me, a project needs to really speak, and I need to have like, almost an emotional connection to it.

for me to really want to do it and to be successful in completing it, because if I only look at the map and trace a line between two points, it's not enough. There needs to be something more to it, and I still haven't decided what it is. So for now, I'm still looking to build my skill level, my experience level, and that might look good.

Like,  another expedition in Quebec, it might be in the sub Arctic region. It's still in Quebec, it's Northern Territory, it's called Nunavik, and it's very much like the Arctic. It's just under the Arctic Circle.  It couldn't be categorized as a polar expedition, but anyways, it doesn't matter because the environment is pretty much the same.

So there's definitely something to be done there that I'd like to explore. When I was at the end of my university years. I took a year off and I just went up to Kuujjuaq in Nunavik and I coached a group of girls cross country skiing for the Arctic Winter Games. And it was the most enriching experience that I've ever done, I think.

For almost a year I was up there in a whole new community with The Inuit, which I did not know much about, even though I live in their country, I live in their province, so it definitely taught me a lot, taught me a lot about The land, and exploring on the land, and so I think for that emotional connection to go back there would be very special.

Less far in the future, I think this summer, I would like to try again to go on the East Coast Trail, complete the East Coast Trail. Which I tried last year to complete in a self supported manner. I tried doing it in seven days, pulled the plug after four days. For many different reasons, but just feels like an unfinished project that I want to go back and try to complete it.

So it might be this summer. 

Fantastic. Excellent. Exciting. So it seems that you've got plans in motion, which is great. So maybe we'll chat again one of these time. Fantastic. 

Yeah. And then there's also always the balance between life, work, and then trying to go on these expeditions. It's. a little bit more difficult when you've got a full time job to ask for some time off for big projects.

So I think for now I'm still looking at a week long, 10 days, something like that. And then eventually the Really big month long projects will come once I retire. Maybe 

yeah, so this has been brilliant. I've thoroughly enjoyed this and I want to move on to the two closing traditions, Valerie, which are a pay it forward suggestion and then a call to adventure.

So the pay it forward is an opportunity to raise awareness for any. Worthy Projects, Organizations or Causes. So what would you say as a pay it forward suggestion? 

Well, to me, it's pretty easy. It's impossible to possible. That organization did so much for me. I know that it brings a lot of value in a lot of people's lives and it.

It may not be for everyone to go on an expedition, and that's okay, but for kids to be able to follow along in their classrooms, it can bring some motivation to their life that they can apply to whatever. So I think that because it reaches so many students,  it just makes sense in every way. 

Fantastic.

Yeah. Fantastic. Excellent. There's got to be some sort of award that I do in this show for when things come up in time again, because that's probably the third time it's come up. Oh, really? Yeah. It's brilliant. It really is. It's brilliant. Thank you. And then finally, a call to adventure.  What would your call to adventure be?

So, to me, it would really be to just go out there and do backyard adventures. They are so valuable in building those skills and those experiences and then building someone's confidence like myself. Just going outside and you don't have to go far to really have a good time. Great adventure. It can be just a one day adventure on your local trails, your local mountain, and even just going on a bigger adventure like I did on the Eye of Quebec, but it's still being local.

And it brings so much value to my progress as a beginner adventurer. And I think those backyard adventures are incredibly important. And by trying to look at, okay, what's next? What other big adventure you've got planned? To me, to really concentrate on those. Little adventures every weekend is the way to keep going in life and to make sure that you stay active for a very long time because it's there and it's accessible.

Fantastic. Couldn't agree anymore. Just the power and the beauty of green spaces, blue spaces, just getting outdoors. Fantastic. Excellent. Valerie, thank you ever so much for your time and sharing all your adventures with us today. It's been wonderful. 

Thank you for having me. It's been great. 

So where can everyone find out more about Valerie before we wrap up to follow along?

Most of my adventures I share on Instagram and on TikTok and my handle is at therunningpanda. And Panda is my dog and so he's featured in a lot of those videos on there. 

Excellent. We'll get that listed as well.  Perfect. Fantastic. Thank you, Valerie. Thank you. 

Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. For the show notes and further information, please visit adventurediaries.

com slash podcast. And finally. We hope to have inspired you to take action and plan your next adventure, big or small, because sometimes we all need a little adventure to cleanse that bitter taste of life from the soul. Until next time, have fun and keep paying it forward.