Hello! I’m Aidan, the traveler and marathon runner behind Plaid Running The World. A lot of little things pushed me to where I am today. A breakup, new friends, the pull of new places, and a pile of dirty laundry all brought me here. Funny how life works sometimes.

After a long term relationship of mine ended I went into a tailspin and distracted myself with anything I could, one of those distractions was running. I had never ran recreationally before but I dove in headfirst. No shoes, no gear, just pent up energy I needed to burn. Despite me torturing my knees with improper shoes that’s how I coped for a while, just running when I mentally needed it. That strategy worked at first but eventually something needed to change.

I’ve always loved travelling. Seeing new places and experiencing a different way of life is something I will never get bored of. I’m also a sucker for adventure and chaos and that led me to Mauritania. I had always wanted to ride the iron ore train through the Sahara Desert but never pulled the trigger. What better time than when you are feeling lost in life? So I bought tickets and landed on a new continent, and that’s where I met my new friend Johnny. 

Johnny was the tour leader for Mauritania, an experienced traveler and all around cool guy. He was training to climb Everest while we were there and would ask if anyone wanted to join on his runs. I called myself a runner so I figured why not, looking back Johnny probably doubted I had ever ran a day in my life. He asked about my lack of shoes, clothes, a watch to track progress. Not that you need these things to run but to him it didn’t make sense not to have the gear to try and improve. “If you don’t change, nothing does mate.” A sentence he said to me that sticks with me now. We had great talks on our runs and I had an incredible experience with everyone else that was there, many people I still talk to today. When it was all said and done I landed back in Canada with a new perspective on many things not just running. (I also went straight to Nike and bought real runners, wild I waited so long.)

I got home and applied my new saying to my life. I started tracking my running stats and found where I could make improvements, that got me healthier. I took my foot off the gas from work and focused more on friends and dating, that helped my mental health. I started focusing less on material things and more on experiences, and that simply made me happier. It sounds cliche, I always thought that way too but genuinely a few small changes can change your life for the better. 

These days I still love running and travelling, I try and do both as much as I can. I also want to give something back because both of these things gave so much to me. I created this site as a way to combine all three. However you landed here, thank you so much.

Why the plaid shirt? Honestly it is pretty dumb, I planned a run and didn’t realize I had no clean shirts left. Instead of postponing I threw on my cotton flannel plaid and hit the trail, while running some guy yelled out “Nice shirt!” Definitely sarcasm but I couldn’t stop laughing and now that’s my thing. If you see a plaid shirt running by, that’s probably me.