We’ve spent the last few years building Front Pack one newsletter, one article, and one story at a time. But from day one, the goal was never just the inbox and we said as much when we launched Front Pack Media in April.

We wanted to cover everything happening in health, wellness, endurance and performance; from the gear, the science, and the athletes pushing limits most people never test. And we always knew that meant eventually showing up on video, not just writing about it.

Today, we’re finally doing it.

The Long Way Up is our first-ever YouTube docuseries, and it’s been a genuine labor of love to build. We hope you enjoy it.

We’re not going to pretend this was easy or that we have it all figured out, because we don’t. What we do know is that we want to tell real stories about real people, doing something that is hard, scary, and new.

Meet Anthony

Anthony is a former college football player, turned everyday guy like you and I.

He’s fit and has done everything from CrossFit to finishing his first Ironman last November, to which I was his coach. He’s a great dude and relatable. But fit and ultra-ready are two very different things, and Anthony is about to find out exactly how different.

In six weeks, Anthony lines up at the start of the Rut Run 50K in Big Sky, Montana, widely considered one of the most brutal, technical, and unforgiving courses in American trail running. It has thousands of feet of vert, with exposed ridgelines, and peaks that scream, don’t trip.

Anthony has never run a trail race in his life and until a few weeks ago, didnt own trail shoes.

Why We’re Telling This Story

There’s no shortage of content out there featuring elite athletes doing extraordinary things. That’s not what this is. This is a story about someone ordinary facing something hard. Anthony is someone who didn’t grow up as a trail runner, and who has every reasonable excuse to say “this isn’t for me.” Instead, like so many of us, he’s decided to chase something hard anyway.

That’s the whole idea behind The Long Way Up.

We wanted to document what it actually looks like to go from zero trail experience to toeing the line at one of the sport’s hardest races, in real time, with all the uncertainty and doubt that comes with it.

This isn’t a highlight reel but the actual process, right down to the parts that are messy, uncomfortable, and scary.

Over five episodes, we’re following every high and low of Anthony’s six weeks: the first uncertain miles on unfamiliar trails, the physical and mental walls he hits along the way, including some altitude training in the mountains of Chamonix, France.

We’re aiming for raw, and real, and beautiful. Montana and France, need we say more!

This isn’t just a story about running. It’s about what happens when you commit to something that scares you before you know whether you’re actually ready for it, because if you wait until you feel ready, you’ll never start.

What to Expect

Episode 1 introduces Anthony, his why, and the first days of his training, including his trip out to the mountains of Chamonix, France.

We hope this series resonates whether you’re training for your first 5K, chasing your own ultramarathon, or you just love watching ordinary people take on extraordinary challenges.

If there’s one thing we hope you take from Anthony’s story, it’s this: breaking from the impossible usually starts with saying, yes.

Support Us

Follow along with us and subscribe to catch every episode as it drops. We’re launching each new episode every two weeks from today through the end of September.

And if you’ve got advice for a first-time ultrarunner heading into one of the hardest courses in the country — drop it in the comments.

Anthony’s reading every single one.