Keep Moving

Summarising the events of 2022 in January 2024 feels a bit weird, but I wanted to catch up with the blog and make sure to at least put some cool moments from 2022 down. The biggest highlight? Well, that has to be the birth of our adorable daughter Emily joining our family in September 2022 which obviously had a huge impact on our lives!

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane through a few impactful events and memorable trips from 2022, and let’s hope year-in-review blog posts will be more up-to-date in future :)

Big news in January

One chilly morning in January 2022, I headed out for a brisk cross-country skiing session before work. Little did I know, this ordinary day was about to become extraordinary. My phone rang, and it was Anda calling from the doctor’s office. With a mix of excitement and surprise in her voice, she asked if I was sitting down. Well, I wasn’t sitting; I was in the midst of my skiing adventure! Amidst the laughter, she dropped the bombshell – not only were we expecting, but we were expecting twins! In that moment, as the reality sunk in, we knew it was time for a big change. Right then and there, we decided to start planning our move back from Brno city center to our Zdar nad Sazavou, embracing the new chapter that awaited us.

It’s been some time since I wrote a blog post about an analysis that should have helped me identify the best place to live: https://vojtechboril.com/2019/02/23/nejlepsi-misto-pro-zivot-cr/

Well it took only 5 extra years, and we’re moving back to Zdarske Vrchy :)

Apart from the big news, the winter of 2022 followed a familiar routine – a series of ski mountaineering adventures, countless cross-country skiing training sessions, and the diligent running groundwork laid for the upcoming season.

One particular week stood out in spring 2022 as I worked remotely from Zdar, immersing myself in the breathtaking springy home landscapes of Vysocina. What made this week truly exceptional was the seamless fusion of cross-country skiing, running, and road cycling—all within the span of a single, vibrant spring week. Zdarske vrchy proved to be a gem, offering the rare opportunity to engage in this trio of activities, even in late March.

The love for this region deepened as I logged a total of 17 hours of training throughout the week—covering 48k in running, 230k in cycling, and 55k in skiing—all while managing a full-time workload.

In April, I found my lost love for the road running when I spontaneously ran the Brno half-marathon and clocked a solid time of 1:15 without any special preparation. Definitely a good motivation to push the time down even further in future!

In May, I went to the Alps for a training weekend, where we logged solid 5000m+ in 1.5 days with Lyznik. Rax Alps never disappoint for a quick in/out trip from Brno! Slept over in a car, two big runs and back home in Brno in few hours… that’s how we do it!

In June, I refreshed my memories of the FKT Zdarske Vrchy when my brother Lukas decided to complete the round and I did it with him as a support and training before the upcoming Sellaronda 60k.

July was probably the busiest month of the year… with big things happening at work (spinning off from Kentico and establishing a standalone company Kontent.ai). Preparing the company rebrand in just a couple of weeks was a bit stressful, and managing a press release at TechCrunch from a cabin in Jeseniky mountains was definitely a bit special :)

Anda was due in a couple of weeks, so we decided to take summer easy, and spend a week in Jeseniky, visit friends in Toulovcovy Mastale for a couple of days, and then get one more retreat in Vir just a few weeks before the delivery in August.

We also regrouped for another year of LVB (“letni vikendove bajkovani” = a few days of bikes, beers and 3 brothers and dad :)), clocking some good mountain bike sessions in Moravsky Kras.

Last but certainly not least, July marked my return to the Sellaronda 60k, ultra trail race that holds a special place in my heart. I ran it back in 2018 (and proposed to Anda while hiking on the course before the race), had an absolute blast, … and 2022 was no exception. After going live with Kontent.ai company on Wednesday morning, I found myself driving down to the breathtaking Dolomites in the afternoon.

Despite the early 5 am start, a time I’m not particularly fond of, the course around Piz Boe (60k/4000m+) and the morning scenery were simply stunning. Opting for an ambitious day, I pushed myself around p10 until the heat kicked in, making it a challenging journey to the finish line at p13. Nevertheless, what a day it turned out to be in the mountains!

Before we knew it, September was around the corner and we welcomed our sweet daughter Emily. I made a great decision to take a couple of weeks fully off from work. Those 3-4 weeks were so special… don’t expect any sweet baby images. We’re not big social media people and we definitely do not plan to share anything out there… so only thing I’d share is that I’ve loved her from very first moment and our lives have been beautifully turned upside down, all in the most positive way imaginable.

In addition to the coming cross-country season, autumn was marked by some business trips (flying over to NYC is somewhat less special when you have a newborn at home… you can’t wait to be back home from day 1…) and, above all, a moving from Brno to Zdar nad Sazavou. What a great decision it was! But more on that maybe some other time :)

After moving to Vysocina, I could finally start participating in Zdarak running series and already had blast in the first races before Christmas… One of the highlights was undoubtedly going full throttle alongside Martin and Mara at Zdarska spojka.

We wrapped the year up by Emily’s first trip to the mountains… We did not want to drag her over to Alps, so Krkonose had to do… but we had a great time and I even managed to sneak in some early season skimo :)

Onward and upwards!