I bring this up in so many conversations about the idea of “adventure,” and I’m excited that it’s finally becoming a series of short videos: Several years ago, Alastair Humphreys and Tom Kevill-Davies decided to try to go to London restaurants from around the world, from A to Z—Afghanistan, Bolivia, Cambodia, and so on. This is the first in the series. (video)

I signed up for the Poetry Foundation’s Poem of the Day email a few weeks ago and I have zero regrets, especially when it’s a short, clever poem like this one: For Allen Ginsberg

I don’t know exactly how to describe this except that if you’re into music at all you might find yourself losing several minutes to an hour clicking around this site, which, if I understand it correctly, is basically a map of all the genres of music Spotify has used. I mean, like southern rock, OK, jazz trombone, yep, but keep going, Australian rockabilly, Saskatchewan indie, Kashmiri hip hop, “whale song,” “fan chant,” on and on and on. And if you click on a genre, it will play a sample of a song from that genre, and if you click on the arrows next to the genre, it will take you to a page with a bunch of artists from that genre, and you can click around and listen to samples of their music. I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of this before my friend Anna (thank you!) sent it to me a couple weeks ago.

Back in 2008, when I first started working at a nonprofit with my now longtime-friend Mitsu, we were chatting in the office about something, and I had the audacity to suggest to him that maybe he should think about drinking some water sometime during the workday. He deadpanned, “There’s water in coffee.” I laughed, and have thought of that often, because everyone knows that coffee is a diuretic. OR: DO WE KNOW THAT? A more informed, very quick article from newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel & Hydration, medically reviewed by an actual doctor: Does coffee ACTUALLY dehydrate you and harm performance? (<–PS this link gives you 15% off your first purchase of PFH stuff, as always)

This is a Substack post about paper (and really, using paper and writing utensils to think), from a writer I’ve never read before encountering this piece, and it just made my week. Because, I don’t know, I love paper too? And wish I used it more than I use my laptop and iPad. The author writes in the intro, “Also, the world needs way more mundane blogging,” but I don’t think this is mundane, and it also reminds me of the best advice I give myself when I’m stuck trying to come up with something to write about: Go smaller. Stop trying to solve the world’s problems and just write about something small.

I occasionally check out the Letters of Note Substack, and this letter from Christopher Walken isn’t super-earth-shattering, but I’m pretty sure anyone who is familiar with him will say “oh yeah, that’s definitely Christopher Walken” after reading a few sentences. Also: Of course he types in all caps?

I only know what/who Ivan the Terra Bus is because Hilary worked at McMurdo Station in Antarctica one year before we met, but whether or not you’re familiar, this is a great piece about the retirement of a very unique 30-year-old vehicle designed to be driven on snow and ice (with a 160-FOOT turning radius!) in very cold temperatures.

If you haven’t heard of Taco Bell Quarterly (pretty sure I’ve mentioned it in this newsletter before?), please allow me to introduce you to it, a quarterly literary magazine that officially has nothing to do with the corporate entity Taco Bell. This poem is titled “Poem in the Shape the Poet Beating Henry Kissinger to Death with Their Bare Hands,” and I think it’s genius.

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Music recommendation: This performance by Gallowstreet, a band comprised of seven horn players and one drummer. (video)

You really only need the headline of this story to know that these two ladies are rad, but the story is kind of touching too. Headline: Two women have sent each other the same weathered birthday card for 81 years (gift link)

To balance out the many links to actual poetry that I seem to have been including in this newsletter lately, may I present this McSweeney’s satire piece, The Only Possible Poems, which made me laugh out loud multiple times. It’s kind of like Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey monomyth, but poetry, and funny.

I do not link to every single Substack post that my wife writes, but I was involved in this one: Not only did I say “I think that’s your next Substack post” when Hilary, at the dinner table, said something about the similarities between toddlers and cult leaders, but I am in the same cult as her! Ahem, I mean, we are raising a toddler together. And that toddler frequently gaslights me (even though he doesn’t know what gaslighting is). Anyway: Quiz: Is Your Roommate a Cult Leader or Are You the Parent of a Toddler?

Love this display at a college library: Is it Kendrick Lamar or Shakespeare? (Subtext here: Is Kendrick the Shakespeare of our time? Was Shakespeare the Kendrick of his time? If they met, would they get along?)

If you have ever been young and kind of dissatisfied and kind of wishing you could be somewhere else and behind the wheel of an automobile, I think you might like this essay (which I believe is an excerpt from the new book Plum by Andy Anderegg).

I discovered Andrew Bird’s music sometime in 2008 or 2009, and when I bicycled across America in 2010, I only listened to music when we were not on our bikes—mostly because I thought I would get sick of whatever songs I listened to as we pedaled for pretty much 60 straight days. But one of the albums I listened to pretty much every morning on an iPod was Andrew Bird’s The Mysterious Production of Eggs, so I have a solid emotional + nostalgic attachment to it (but lots of other people also thinks it’s good). Anyway, Andrew Bird just started a Substack, and wrote a post about the recording of that album, which he apparently had to attempt three times before it felt finished. Forgive the overly long quote here, but I love this:
“The Mysterious Production of Eggs started to reveal itself as a concept album — something to do with childhood imagination, conformity, bullying, measuring the immeasurable, arbitrary hierarchies, commodification of concepts like talent and genius.  I always pictured a little kid with a cape and sword, fighting to keep these things from stealing her sacred, internal world. I had some things to get off my chest. I wasn’t rewarded by institutions, though sometimes a teacher would say something like, ‘you are very musical and have a nice tone, but you’re not technical. You need to practice your études and scales, and then maybe you can compete with so-and-so.’ Musicality is a very abstract idea to an eight-year-old.”

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This movie is of course not playing where I live but I am really excited to watch it when it becomes available. I love imagining them bouncing ideas for a title around, and eventually saying, “Eh, let’s just call it ’Secret Mall Apartment.’” (video)

I don’t know what exactly to write to recommend this 45-second video of two NBA players (Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson) hugging each other before a playoff game (and after Love had just lost his father), but if you’ve had the kind of week or month or whatever where you could use something like that, here it is.

If you have a) ever tried to move a photo within a Microsoft Word document and b) somehow not seen this yet, I believe you will feel quite validated, and probably also laugh at this seven-second masterpiece.

I’m not saying I had anything to do with how well this story turned out, but Hailey did take my How To Tell One Story online writing workshop, and wrote this story for her Substack in the process. It’s a really interesting example of weaving together two seemingly unrelated happenings into the same narrative. She said she thinks she needs to do more creative writing, and I agree.

When Zoë Rom and I started talking about the first few guests we’d like to interview on the Trailhead podcast, I immediately suggested Sabrina Little, who has a PhD in philosophy and is a 5-time national champion runner. It gave me the chance to dig into her book, The Examined Run: Why Good People Make Better Runners, which I told her in our interview reminded me a lot of Shop Class as Soulcraft, but for runners instead of people interested in building custom motorcycles. We had a great conversation about running and a bunch of other things—if you’d like to listen to it, here’s the link to listen to it on Apple Podcasts and here’s the link to listen to it on Spotify.

We also have a podcast interview with Steve Magness coming out in the next few weeks, and one of the things I brought up in our interview was this piece that he and Brad Stulberg wrote on their website. If I may try to summarize it, they’re asking, “What if adults who act a little intensely/crazy at their kids’ youth sporting events aren’t living vicariously through their kids—what if their kids’ youth sports games are the only time they really feel something?” And then, of course, how do we fix that?

I was frantically finishing up work stuff on my flight to Phoenix for my writing workshop in the Grand Canyon, and maybe it was in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t be running for 10 days or so, but I put together the below illustration for newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel & Hydration, which is mostly a joke. But I also made myself feel better about my break from running/training by reading this article on the PFH website: Detraining: Will I lose fitness by not training for a few weeks? (<– as always, this link will get you 15% off your first order on the PFH website)

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This is a year old, but WOW, building a scale model of the timeline of the history of the universe in the Mojave Desert—in a day. (video)

Anton Krupicka doesn’t write very often on his Substack, but the last piece he wrote about why his dad continues to shovel snow into his mid-70s, and about his longtime friend Joe Grant, and about singlespeed bikes, was a great read.

I had a nice chat last week with Tyler Dempsey for his Another Fucking Writing Podcast show, and after we’d finished talking about a bunch of things, including a couple of my favorite books that I think more people should read, he sent me this great essay he’d written a few months back, about darkness, time, and relationships.

I clicked on this Eater headline, “Every Food Collab Now Is Completely Bonkers,” because I often think the same thing when I’m in the grocery store. And I didn’t know this before I read it, but now I know that Taco John’s and 5-Hour Energy collaborated to create a caffeinated hot sauce, because why not, I guess. And this was my favorite line: “Mostly, they make me consider the very nature of reality. What is the purpose of a product? Is hot sauce a beverage? Is a smoothie lipstick?”

Sometimes I’m putting together this newsletter on Thursday, like I was yesterday, and I start thinking, “Wow, I have a lot of essays in this week’s newsletter, maybe I should poke around Reddit and find something way less committing, like … oh, here we go, a 22-second video of a restaurant worker SOMEHOW fitting this giant pile of food inside a tortilla without the tortilla ripping. Yeah. That’ll do.”

I love finding good writing, and I think I kind of suck at describing why it’s good—like this essay by Niko Stratis, whose work I’ve mentioned before in this newsletter. Her essays are always fascinating, weaving together music, culture, and scenes from growing up in the Yukon and becoming a journeyman glazier, and discovering her gender identity. Anyway, her new book, The Dad Rock That Made Me A Woman, came out on Tuesday, and this week’s essay is one of my favorites I’ve read of hers, maybe partly because I also put songs on repeat for an hour sometimes.

We interviewed my friend Mario Fraioli for the latest episode of The Trailhead podcast, and he was a super-good sport when I pitched him the idea for the episode, which I believe was “We Ask A Running Coach Dumb Questions.” Some of them were dumb, and some sounded less dumb than I originally thought they were, but he humored us. And he said yes, I should wear a hat when I run.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ME: After 150+ people took my How To Tell One Story online writing course this past winter, we’ve decided to offer it only in limited windows for the rest of 2025. The first signup window is May 16 (today!) through May 23, and we’re limiting the number of spots. Why limit the number of spots? Because of one big change: When you complete the course, I’ll give you personalized feedback on the story you wrote during the course. That of course takes some time and bandwidth from me, so we’re limiting signups. All the details are on this page—if you’re interested, grab a spot!

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I heard from so many people in response to the “Maybe Next Time. Maybe Not” photo essay I published a few weeks ago that I decided to turn it into a short YouTube edit (video)

Almost every time I talk to anyone about the idea of starting a newsletter or a Substack, or just writing more regularly, I find myself mentioning my friend Mike Sowden, and his newsletter, Everything Is Amazing, which, as I have said here before, is wonderful. Mike has built a big audience for his writing by being curious, following his curiosity, enthusiastically sharing what he’s found, and also finding ways to share bits and pieces of what he’s found (or edited versions of what he’s found) on social media. A few weeks ago, his Substack readership went over 30,000 people, and he wrote up some advice based on what he’s learned. Oh, also, Mike is an incredibly nice guy, which I think is a very underrated and maybe underreported tool for success.

I just finished drawing up an illustration for newsletter sponsor Janji for next week, titled “Lies I Have Told My Pacer(s),” and I might have been thinking about all the folks Janji had running in the Cocodona 250—several athletes and also their athlete manager, Kyla (!)—out there grinding out long days and nights in probably somewhat compromised emotional states. I also noticed I had recently started wearing my Janji Trailbreaker Hat around the same time, which I’m loving because it’s starting to get warmer around here and I look at that hat and see what they would call “airy mesh” and I would call “big holes for my sweaty head to breathe more.”

Have you ever wondered about the “Strava Tax”—that crushing moment when you’ve stopped running or hiking or cycling when your watch says 6.00 miles or 20.00 miles or whatever, only to find that when your watch uploaded your data to Strava, your Strava page says it was 5.99 miles or 19.99 miles? Well, the folks at Strava have written a piece explaining it, and the “how” is actually a pretty simple technology thing, but a little more complex as to why they do it.

I read Alex Hutchinson’s book, Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, back in 2019, and have followed his Sweat Science column for a very long time—generally I read his stuff and think things like, “Thank you, smart guy, for digging through the research and validating the practice of positive self-talk during vigorous exercise.” So it was fantastic to interview him about his new book, The Explorer’s Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map, for the Trailhead podcast. (The podcast is, of course, about endurance and ultramarathons, but we spent some time talking about why it’s harder to find new music you like as you get older, and whether or not Alex “explores” much in his regular training runs around his home in Toronto.)
Apple Podcasts | Spotify

I can’t decide if I want to see Friendship when it comes out (I’ve heard it called “hilarious” but also “deeply uncomfortable”), but I did love this piece on The Ringer detailing the history of the bromance in movies—including the film historian arguing that it’s basically an American phenomenon.

When I interviewed a bunch of dads for a hopefully-someday-book project around the time Jay was born (book still coming, I swear!), one of my friends, Chris, said something like, “Having kids is great—you get to eat macaroni and cheese again.” I of course have never stopped eating macaroni and cheese, but Chris was right, in that I do eat more of it now. Hilary found this Three Ingredient Stovetop Mac and Cheese recipe (by Kenji Lopez-Alt) a few weeks back, and I finally made it myself on Wednesday, and I am pleased to announce that it is a) fantastic and b) really easy. Although you do need to keep stirring it throughout. (Of course Kenji Lopez-Alt points out that three total ingredients is actually one fewer ingredient than is used in making a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese)

There are many great things about this Austin Kleon piece on “Questions Without Answers,” including the link to his other piece, “7 questions I ask myself (when I don’t know what to do next),” but my favorite part might be all the comments from readers sharing the best question a kid ever asked them.

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Today is the last day to sign up for this session of my How To Tell One Story online writing workshop! As of my writing this on Wednesday evening, there were still a couple spots available. We’ll open registrations again in August, but this is it until then. If you’re curious about writing, or want to write and just need a framework and some “kind and encouraging lessons” (as a past student put it), you can read more about the course and/or sign up at this link: semi-rad.com/courses

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Speaking of creativity and storytelling, I ended up really liking what this video had to say about “original ideas”—not that we shouldn’t chase original ideas (as the title says), but that your specific perspective and effort is what makes something unique, so you might as well try. (video)

Maybe you weren’t staring out the window this morning thinking, “You know what I could use today? A really beautiful poem about onions.” Or: Maybe that’s why you read this newsletter: the off chance you’ll encounter a really beautiful poem about onions.

Trust me: Take 60 seconds, or 90 seconds (OK, maybe more like three to four minutes) and scroll through the photos created by the winners of the Milky Way Photographer of the Year Awards (via Kottke.org).

This is not a new piece from newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel & Hydration, but I recently wrote about feeling lucky to have not had many major injuries in the almost 10 years I’ve been running ultramarathons, so it was interesting to go through Damian Hall’s bullet points in Ultra training: Is it possible to stay injury free? and see if I could find any similarities to my own training. Especially since he wrote it when he was 45, didn’t start running until his mid-30s, is a dad of two kids, and is really fast. (reminder that the above link gives you 15% off your first purchase at PFH)

I have a copy of cartoonist Jason Chatfield’s new book, You’re Not A Real Dog Owner Until… on my desk right now, and sure, I’d advise you to buy a copy for yourself, but I think a better piece of advice might be to buy it for someone on your holiday shopping list and just hang onto it until the holidays rolls around, at which point you will be feeling quite a bit more pressure to find a gift for a person who loves their dog(s) but also loves laughing their ass off.

I have read a lot of essays about AI in the past few months, and no one has made sense of it better than (no surprise) Oliver Burkeman, in this piece about “navigating by aliveness.” A snippet: “I have two things to say about that, the first of which is that I don’t believe it: that aliveness is so central to meaningful human experience that there’ll always be a market for those who can cultivate it, embed it in what they create, foster it in institutions and organisations, and bring people together to experience it.”

I thought the headline on this BBC story about “people stuck using ancient Windows computers” was intriguing, and it was interesting discovering how much important stuff in our world relies on super-old systems, but the real gem for me was about three-quarters of the way through story, in which I learned that Washington State University-Vancouver has an Electronic Literature Lab, which sounds amazing: “Founded and directed by Dr. Dene Grigar, the Electronic Literature Lab (ELL) contains over 80 vintage Macintosh & PC computers, dating back from 1977, vintage software, peripherals, and a library of over 300 works of electronic literature and other media.” As in, there’s no way to view the art pieces except on the computers preserved at the ELL.

I don’t think you need a reason to have holiday lights up all year, but this one is particularly, inarguably, heartwarmingly (is that a word?) valid.

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I have recommended the 1996 Geena Davis + Samuel L. Jackson film The Long Kiss Goodnight before in this newsletter, so it felt really good to have a YouTube film critic with a large following endorse it as “one of the most underrated and overlooked action movies of the 1990s,” as well as explain why it’s so good (and why Mitch is one of Samuel L. Jackson’s favorite characters he’s played!). (video)

Years ago, I was climbing a multi-pitch route with a French friend who was pretty fluent in English, and we paused at a belay to eat a snack and drink some water. Simon pulled a small stuff sack from his pack and from the stuff sack a few food items, including the most battered energy bar I had ever seen. He held it up and said to me, “Theese ees my friend. He goes weeth me everywhere.” I of course understood exactly what he meant, as I, like every one, had the one bar that I kept bringing on hikes and climbs, but never eating, because I had better options. It was like an emergency ration that I kind of knew I would never eat unless I was on the verge of starvation. If you know what I mean, you will love artist Cy Whitling’s latest comic, “The Eternal Granola Bar.”

I was clicking through Substack yesterday, wanting to find someone who wrote an actual story, a narrative of something that happened in real life. It wouldn’t have to be anything spectacular, just a story. And I found it. It was titled “I Agreed to Help Pick Up a Couch and Ended Up Participating in a Street Performance” and it made my day. If you read it, I am betting you will say to yourself, “Yes, I know or have met someone like Moonbeam.”

If you are from the Midwest or have just spent some time there, perhaps you might enjoy this short poem by New Yorker poetry editor and T.S. Eliot Prize winner Kevin Young, “Ode to the Midwest.”

I have spent some time over the past few months thinking about AI and how it’s going to affect (or is already affecting) our lives, and I am not sure I have much of a measure of understanding of it, except that I am trying to embrace things that make me feel human. And I think this piece, titled “The Who Cares Era,” captures something similar to what I’m feeling. (via Kottke.org)

Many of the links in this newsletter lead you to videos or articles that require a few minutes to fully experience. This Reddit post will take you six seconds to watch and will provide a small bit of wholesome joy.

I have mentioned before in this newsletter that I have been enjoying the live DJ mixes I often find on YouTube, but I think the production of this one might be my favorite yet: camcorder footage, a few different angles, a little bit of video editing, and a bunch of R&B tracks (and some live drumming). Plus the title is “the homies mixing R&B and chilling with a pineapple.”

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This video is my first time seeing a sweep boat in action, and my first reaction was “DAMN that thing looks unwieldy,” so it’s really cool to watch someone expertly navigating it on Idaho’s Salmon River. (video)

I don’t know if I’ve previously mentioned the Rotating Sandwiches website in this newsletter before, but I have to believe that if you’re reading this newsletter, you know a) someone who would appreciate the Rotating Sandwiches website OR b) someone who would be somewhat confused but also entertained if you just sent them a link to the Rotating Sandwiches website with no context.

I’ve been enjoying literary agent Alia Hanna Habib’s Substack for a while now, but especially this post, Productive Terror: Ten Very Different Writers on How They Got Their Books Done, and especially this bit, from author Annie Hartnett: “I use a sticker chart and give myself a sticker for every 500 words written. It helps to have a visual representation of how much progress you’re making. We are big on sticker charts in the Accountability Workshops, and we’ll do sticker swaps in the mail. I also eat a lot of M&Ms while I write … I read a study in college that candy helps you concentrate and I haven’t questioned it since. Basically the tools I use to finish a book are the exact same ones you use to potty-train a toddler.”

We had one hot day in Missoula last weekend, sort of a warning shot/appetizer for summer. I am thankful that having a baby (and now a toddler) has precipitated a change in my running routine and made me a morning runner most days, but I’m still reminding myself that summer is about 100 days of warm temps. Two things I learned from this article about heat training from newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel & Hydration: a) your brain can basically rewire itself to make you feel more comfortable in the heat and b) heat adaptation can actually increase your psychological tolerance to heat.  I am using Precision’s PH 1000 packets in my water bottles on most of my runs since I tend to sweat a lot no matter what the temperature is, and if you’re looking for an electrolyte drink for running or biking or hiking without a ton of calories/carbs, I recommend them (either of these links will give you 15% off your first PFH order).

Did I read through this entire list of The 100 Best Sports Moments of the Quarter Century? I did not. I did make it through an embarrassingly high number of them, though, and I appreciate that The Ringer included the prompt “How would you explain this moment to someone who’s never watched sports?” for the writers explaining many, if not all of the moments.

This is a not that big of a deal but it is a very satisfying video of a new bike tunnel under Zurich.

Hilary and I have barely watched any shows since Jay was born (I’m not complaining), but we have made time for The Bear. Maybe because we both worked in restaurants for years, or maybe because it’s a good show? Anyway, Season 4 is coming soon (June 25) and the trailer dropped a couple weeks ago. (video)

If for some reason you want to read a deep dive on the technology behind and the history of air sickness bags (aka emesis bags), like I apparently did on Thursday, here you go. (Largest barf bag collection in the world, 6,290 bags, belongs to Niek Vermeulen of the Netherlands, but that number is from 2012)

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VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
We’re doing a limited-run water bottle starting today. It has my “What Does Your Urine Say About You?” Chart printed on the side. Is it a reminder to stay hydrated? (yes!) Is it a pee bottle? (up to you!) Is it a conversation piece? (yes!) Can you get one after June 20th, 2025? No. Pre-orders start today, and will close next Friday, June 30th, so if you want one, or know someone who would love one as a gift, here’s where you can order one (or several). Orders will start shipping the first week of August.

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I happened to catch this wonderful short film about the women dory boat guides of the Grand Canyon when I was at Mountainfilm a few weeks ago, and it was one of my favorites. Very excited it’s now on YouTube. (video)

I’ve been reading Michael Estrin’s substack for a while now, and I often find myself laughing at the situations and characters he encounters while doing normal things like going to Chipotle, or in the case of his most recent post, trying to check in for his appointment at the chiropractor. As my wife charitably says whenever we encounter puzzling behavior, “there are many ways of being in the world,” which is way better than my reaction, which is more of a bewildered look, throwing up my hands, and muttering some expletives.

The video for the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” came up in my YouTube feed last week, but I barely glanced at the thumbnail and didn’t click it. And then Hilary sent me the link to it a few days later, and I realized that it was a new video for a 47-year-old song. As one commenter put it: “They waited until Saoirse Ronan was born to make the video. Very professional” (video)

My neighbor poked his head over the fence a few days ago, when the high was in the low 90s here, and said he was surprised that something about me being outside in a long-sleeve shirt. I explained that yes, I am a huge fan of long sleeves in the summer since I spend so much time outside (running). They’re not for everyone, but if I have not used up my lifetime allotment of exposing my skin to the sun, I am damn close, so I prefer long sleeves to slathering on sunscreen (which, if I’m honest, I’m too lazy to do a lot of the time). So I own a lot of sun hoodies, which also protect my neck and ears. My most recent favorite is the Dunescape Mega print one I got from newsletter sponsor Janji—it’s stretchy, the arms are long enough for me to slip my thumbs into the thumb loops and cover my hands, and the pattern means I’m not going to trash it so visibly by wearing it for trail runs under my running vest. It’s available in a bunch of colors in a men’s version and in a women’s version (both M’s and W’s versions have the Dunescape Mega print if you’re into it)

She texted the wrong number asking for advice on what to wear on a first date with a guy, the wrong number guy responded and told her yes, green was as good choice, she wore green, the first date went well, they stayed in touch, and … well, I won’t ruin the ending for you.

I believe Japan does a few things (many things?) better than the United States, and creative manhole covers are one of those things. I was elated but not surprised to see that Major League Baseball collaborated with local artists to create custom manhole covers in honor of the 12 Japanese and Japanese-American players actively playing in the league right now. (thanks, Mitsu)

Look, I am not saying everyone should drink five or more cups of coffee per day, but I’m also not saying people shouldn’t. Anne Kadet, whose Substack is a treasure, interviewed a handful people who drink prodigious amounts of coffee, and it made me feel both happy, less weird, and less alone. And also validated in my choice to make a 9-cup moka pot yesterday afternoon.

Every once in a while—OK, probably every other week—there is a McSweeney’s post that captures my failure to function as a human being in a very specific way, and I read it and laugh, at the story, but more at myself. This most recent one, Welcome To My Well-Stocked Pantry Of Empty Boxes, really hit home just as I was pouring the crumbs of a box of crackers into my mouth while standing in my kitchen.

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I haven’t listened to a Moth story in a long time, but I somehow found out The Moth had a YouTube channel, and this was the first story I watched. This guy isn’t famous or anything, but I love this story, and his mom sounds like a real one. File under: Suprisingly Emotional Stories About Baseball. (video)

It’s a good question: Is it possible to buy a Bob Ross painting? I mean, it should be easy, shouldn’t it? But no, in fact it is not easy, and it is possible, and there’s a reason it’s difficult. But my favorite line from this whole article is from the gallery owner who finds Bob Ross paintings and buys them from the owners, who are mostly regular folks. He says, “Most families that have these paintings are not millionaires, and the money is very impactful in their lives.”

I don’t know if someone might say this is “political,” but I kind of assume that if you read this newsletter, you probably a) think public lands are a good idea and b) would be opposed to selling them. I won’t type out the details in my own words, but the sale of public lands is essentially back on the table, and you can call your senators and encourage them to not support it. If you have never done this before, 5Calls makes it super-easy (here’s a link to their page on this specific issue: Oppose the Sale of Public Lands in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act). If you are hesitant or nervous about calling and talking to a staffer or leaving a message, here’s basically what the conversation is like when I’ve done it:

STAFFER: Senator _______’s office, this is _____.
ME: Hi, I’m a constituent and I’d like to leave a comment. Do you need my address?
STAFFER: Yes.
ME: My address is [street address, city, state, ZIP code].
STAFFER: OK, thank you, what’s your comment?
ME: I’d like to encourage Senator _______ to [oppose H.R. 1, the budget reconciliation bill, and any provisions that authorize the sale of our public lands].
STAFFER: OK, anything else?
ME: That’s all, thank you.
STAFFER: Thank you.

I don’t know how I found the Why Cheap Art Manifesto this week, but something about the typeface and the style and the very simple message of it really hit home for me, and perhaps it will hit home for you too. If you are really into it, there’s a link at the bottom where you can purchase a print of it, which, at $20, I guess is technically cheap art, which is very meta, to support artists by buying a print of a manifesto about cheap art. But of course you can just read and enjoy it for free, too.

I made a pie chart graphic for newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel & Hydration this past week titled “What’s In Your Water Bottle(s)?” and one of the pie chart slices was “stachybotrys chartarum (black mold).” Which reminded me of a trick I learned to keep black mold from growing in water bottles: Store them in the freezer. I’ve been using this method for years now, and I think it’s even more important considering the amount of PFH’s Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix I am putting in them on a weekly basis. I get home from my run, rinse out my bottles with water, and chuck them in the freezer, and voila, no mold. (If you are interested in trying PFH drink mix, here’s a link that will give you 15% off your first order)

If you are a fan of Bruce Springsteen, or a fan of Jeremy Allen White, and/or a fan of music biopics, you might be excited about the trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, which just dropped on Wednesday.

I was talking to Mike Sowden last week (on a video call, since he’s in Scotland and I am in Montana), and I have no idea what led to this, but he told me about being obsessed as a kid with the Terran Trade Authority Handbooks, and the way he described them lit up some sort of nostalgia center in my brain and took me back to the library in southwest Iowa where I’d flip through books with illustrations of spaceships, tanks, cars, bridges, whatever, and within a couple hours of getting off the call, Mike sent me this link to a scan of the Terran Trade Authority Handbook SPACECRAFT 2000 To 2100 AD book. Maybe you might enjoy it too. Maybe you, like me, will track down a used copy of the book on a website somewhere and spend $45 of your hard-earned money to own a paperback copy of it (or maybe you’re smarter/less emotional with money than I am?).

This is a very short, very simple essay about how human beings maybe don’t need to be just one thing, and I think it hit home for me because I see a lot of media about “your personal brand,” and I admittedly haven’t worked too hard on that kind of stuff, but if I had to design a business card about my personal brand, I think it might look a lot like the business card in the photo at the top of this essay, and I’m guessing yours would too.

When I put together this newsletter, I try hard to make sure it is not all links to 3,000-word essays on Substack, and does include some stuff you can digest in a minute or two, which I think is necessary in life, even if it doesn’t make us feel smarter. With that, I would like to present this 87-second video this guy made using various martial art techniques  to close a refrigerator.

Perhaps you read this newsletter last week and read that we’re putting my “What Does Your Urine Say About You?” chart on a limited-run Nalgene water bottle? You still have a few more days to order one as a helpful reminder to stay hydrated, for yourself or for someone you know and/or love. They’re available for pre-order through this link in my online DFTBA shop. I put together this fun short video using the sample bottle we made, and the full chart is below the video.

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IMPORTANT FINAL REMINDER:

If you or someone you know/love would enjoy this water bottle because you/they struggle to stay hydrated (or just enjoy the chart on the bottle), we’re in the final days of the pre-order campaign. After June 30, you will no longer be able to purchase these bottles (even during the holiday shopping season, when you remember that you need to get a gift for your friend Jeff, who probably would have loved one of these). Here’s the link (you can also click on the photo below).

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I love these kinds of sports-adjacent stories, not necessarily about the usual sports topics we think about, or necessarily about the players and/or coaches—but this guy, who got really, really good at getting on the Jumbotron at the Barclays Center, and how he cracked the code. (video)

I don’t know how this was done, but it’s super-cool—a guy mapped the geographic movements/migrations of more than 4,000 of his daughter’s ancestors, dating back to the 1600s, and put together this map animation. It’s such a cool visualization of how many lives and decisions were involved in one person being here now.

The folks at Injinji reached out a few weeks back, and asked if I was familiar with their socks. And of course I have been, since 2019, when I battled the most painful blisters of my life for the final 30+ miles of the Hellbender 100, and my friend Canyon said, “Yeah, you gotta get toe socks.” So I did, and I’ve been wearing them for long runs ever since, each of my toes happily in its own little compartment. Injinji is coming on as a sponsor of this newsletter, which is great because it’s a perfect fit, but also because if you’re reading this newsletter, this link will give you 20 percent off a purchase at Injinji.com if you order before midnight PST July 11. (I am a longtime fan of the Trail Midweight Crew, if you’re looking for a recommendation)

I am increasingly interested in the American loneliness epidemic, and maybe it’s not the most uplifting content, but The Pudding put together this short video breaking down the data of who Americans spend time with, and it hits pretty hard—I think in a way that inspires me to try to reach out and spend more time with friends in person. (video)

If you have ever seen Christoph Niemann’s art and design work, you will probably not be surprised at how interesting and accessible this interactive piece he put together about artists and AI for the New York Times is—the first time I read it, I scrolled through it on my phone, which honestly worked just as well as viewing it on my laptop. It really covers some ground. Here’s a gift link to see it. (thanks, Fitz)

I don’t surf, but I loved William Finnegan’s Pulitzer-winning surfing memoir, Barbarian Days, which I think will be a far different book than David Litt’s new memoir about learning to surf as an adult, It’s Only Drowning. I mean, when your book has blurbs by Laird Hamilton, Judd Apatow, and the former U.S. Treasury Secretary, it probably comes from a unique perspective. This excerpt of the book on LitHub did not disappoint.   

I missed this when it came out—just before Father’s Day—but I now wish I had seen it and sent it to everyone I know who’s a dad and would laugh at it by the time they read the fifth sentence. So I guess belated happy Father’s Day to you if you click on this McSweeney’s link: Congrats, Dipshit, You’re A Dad Now.

This is not something I’d say has, uh, depth? But it had me laughing within a second of reading it in the replies of this post on Bluesky, and then I realized I couldn’t share it with anyone who wasn’t on Bluesky, so I tracked down this 2022 tumblr post, which I’m not sure is the original, but at least it’s visible, and maybe you’ll giggle at it while reading “Donkin Dunnts: Amurica Runn No Dundun” like I did. (Also, if anyone knows the origin story of this graphic, please let me know)

Finally: If you read last week’s newsletter and called your senators to encourage them to oppose the selling off of public lands, thank you. If you’ve been following the news, you might know that the Senate parliamentarian rejected the plan to sell 3.3 million acres of public lands, which is great news. BUT, a new proposal to sell off 1.2 million acres of public land is now on the table, so, basically, we all have to call again. Here’s the link to the public lands budget reconciliation page on 5Calls.org, which makes it very easy to call your congressional representatives.

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NOTE: I’m publishing this week’s post on Thursday since this Friday is July 4th, and lots of people/Americans do other things on July 4th. Please feel free to read it on Thusrday, Friday, or whatever day suits your needs.

This is a bit longer than the videos I usually include here, but I got sucked into this guy’s adventure on “America’s Worst Rated Train,” and honestly, it delivered. About halfway through, I wasn’t sure it was good press for Amtrak, but by the end of the video, I thought, you know, yeah, maybe it is good press for Amtrak. Kind of. (Although I do think it’s a little strange that he says “There is one train route that exists all the way from Miami to Alaska,” when the final, quite significant, leg of the trip is quite obviously on a boat?) (video)

I don’t know how I found this essay on youth sports (and also about parenting and coaching), but I kept stopping while reading and going, “huh, yeah,” and wondering if over the past couple decades, we have been (at least partly unintentionally) making sports less and less fun for the kids who participate in them?

When I mention newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel & Hydration in these posts, it’s usually some sort of personal endorsement from me, a 46-year-old mid-pack ultrarunner dad, which I hope has some value (and authenticity). LIke hey, I’m a regular person training and running, and this stuff works for me, not just for super-athlete types who bound up mountains and barely break a sweat doing it. I was going to do that again this week, but then I saw the results for the Western States Endurance Run come in over the weekend, and realized that five of the top 10 men were sponsored by Precision Fuel & Hydration. (Including four of the top five, which included Missoula’s own Jeff Mogavero). So I guess take it from me, this stuff works for super-athletes too. Here’s a link to the PF 90 gels, a favorite product my both myself and Caleb Olson, who won Western States.

We are pretty lucky in Missoula to have a great local coffee roaster in Black Coffee, and maybe even luckier that Jim Chapman, one of the co-founders, is a creative guy who loves writing and photography. So when I get emails from Black Coffee (besides the ones that inform me my monthly coffee subscription just shipped), I usually open them. The most recent one—“My 5 Favorite Methods for Camp Coffee”—was an easy sell, too, because Jim knows a ton about coffee, and isn’t a snob when he discusses it (I appreciate that he includes instant coffee in his list, because in my opinion, there’s a place and time for it). Anyway, don’t take it from me, a mere coffee enthusiast—take it from someone who’s actually an expert on coffee, and camping.

I can’t even remember the first time I bought a pack of Field Notes pocket notebooks, but I vividly remember the 15 or so minutes I got to spend talking to Aaron Draplin at an event we did in Chicago in 2017. Being charismatic is one thing, and being down-to-earth and funny in tandem with being charismatic is a whole other thing. I have been rooting for Draplin for a very long time, and it’s really cool to see this article about the phenomenon that is Field Notes (as well as this link to a page showing part of Draplin’s vast collection of vintage pocket notebooks).

It’s crazy to think that it’s been 15 years (!) since The Social Network came out, and I can’t say I think the material for a sequel is exactly uplifting, I am cautiously optimistic that Aaron Sorkin will make another good movie (especially if he can convince Jesse Eisenberg to participate again?).

I’m not trying to put a link about AI in every issue of this newsletter, but I knew when John Oliver tackled the subject, it would at least be entertaining. And of course he went at it from an angle—only talking about AI slop, which, in the span of this 29-minute segment, had me laughing, a little sad, laughing, disappointed, laughing, a little angry, laughing, and then applauding at the end.

Because that’s how the PhotoshopRequests Subreddit works, you have to scroll through the replies here to see all the wacky edits people did to this photo of this guy tossing his baby in the air, but I think it’s pretty rewarding scrolling per centimeter of thumb travel.

Last weekend, I was in Wisconsin for my niece’s graduation party, and the morning of the party, I ran down the street from their house to a county park and ran three 1.05-mile loops around the road that circles the park before heading back to the house to pick up my nephew to run a couple more laps around the park with me. To my great surprise and mild entertainment, I got an email from Strava informing me that the first three laps had given me the “Local Legend” title for the most reps on that loop in a 90-day period. I have always found Strava’s Local Legend feature to be humorous, because I every time I’ve gotten a notification that I’ve become a Local Legend of something, it’s always some obscure short segment that I’ve never consciously tried to run a lot of reps of. And it’s usually called something like “Unnamed Rd Climb,” which for some reason is really popular in the Missoula area (and I guess a few other places). So, that’s a long story, but: We made a coffee mug. For me, I guess, and you, if you’ve ever been a Local Legend of Unnamed Rd Climb or something else obscure. OR, even better, if you’d like a gift for your spouse or friend or running partner who would get a good chuckle out of having a dubious honor displayed on a coffee mug. Here’s a photo, which you can click on for more information:

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I am a big fan of Luke Nelson, who is a dad, husband, physician’s assistant, sponsored trail runner, ski patroller, race director, and just a swell guy in general. I remember seeing his “Pocatello Round” come through my Strava feed in the summer of 2024, and thinking, “Well, of course he did that.” Luke dreamed up a 72-mile route around his hometown of Pocatello, Idaho, and ran it with friends, and this short film documents the effort and people that made it possible. (video)

(Also, here’s the Strava map and details of his run, if you’re interested in seeing what it looks like on a map)

The Hardrock Endurance Run starts about an hour after this newsletter publishes on July 11 (6 a.m. Mountain Time), and I wanted to share a couple relevant links—one is the interview Zoë Rom and I did with Katie Schide, the UTMB and Western States Endurance Run champion who is definitely favored to do well at Hardrock. We talked a little bit about her college job hauling giant pack loads up trails to the White Mountain huts in New Hampshire, how she has trained for Hardrock by spending time in Leadville, Ouray, and Silverton, and her PhD thesis. Here’s a link to listen on Apple Podcasts, and here’s a link to listen on Spotify.

Second: I loved this preview of Hardrock from longtime runner and writer Sarah Lavender Smith, who finally got into Hardrock this year in her mid-50s. It’s a great breakdown of how she’s prepared, what she’s expecting, and how she feels about running the race in her mid-50s as opposed to her mid-40s. If you’re following the race and want to root for someone, you can root for Sarah—and/or some of the other Hardrock women competitors in their 60s she lists in her Substack piece.

It’s sunny here in Western Montana right now, and f I am not wearing a sun hoody on my trail runs, I have been wearing the new Trekker Snappy Shirt from newsletter sponsor Janji. The high collar is great for covering the back of my neck on days when putting up a full hood is just too hot for me. The shirt is 10% off in the two remaining colors (I am a fan of the Reverse Paisley because I think it’s fun and also hopefully doesn’t show stains as much?). It’s listed as a “men’s” product but as you can see in the pics, it’s not necessarily just for men. And of course you could wear it for things other than running.

I wouldn’t say I’m much of a horror fan—I can’t say the last time I watched scary movie, and I’ve read very few horror books. But I am Patreon pen pals with Wendy Wagner, and got to chat with her at my Portland book event last May, so when I heard she had a new book coming out, I thought, “Wendy’s so nice! Maybe I should broaden my horizons.” She was kind enough to send me an advance copy of Girl in the Creek, and I am pleased to report that it was a fun, engaging read that didn’t give me nightmares. As I said, I don’t know anything about the horror genre, but if you had told me Wendy’s book was classified as something like “supernatural murder mystery,” I would say that sounds accurate too. It’s set in a fictional small town on the slopes of Mount Hood, and if you’re interested, here’s the link to the publisher’s page. If you’d like to support a local bookstore, here’s an affiliate link to the Bookshop page.

I have to agree with this sentiment, but I also don’t think I need AI to do my laundry and dishes, since I get a lot of good thinking done while hanging laundry and doing dishes.

I think I might have shared something about this a few months ago when I first heard about it, but Mustard, who was arguably made even more famous when Kendrick Lamar yelled his name during TV Off (and even more during the Super Bowl performance), now has a mustard collaboration with Heinz—Chipotle Honey Mustaaaaaard. (I have no financial interest or otherwise in this venture—I just think it’s entertaining. Also, did they argue about how many As they wanted to put in the name? “6!” “No, 5!”)

Why are frogs in kids’ books usually male? The Pudding did an amazing analysis of children’s books, and which animals we tend to characterize as male, and which animals we tend to characterize as female (including an experiment in which they asked 1,300 participants to finish a story that begins, “And then the bear said, ‘I must go to the river.’ Upon arriving…” to see which gender the participants assigned the bear.

Also, if you missed it last week, this is an actual coffee mug we just started making (clicking the link will take you to the shop page for the mug):

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I got quite a few responses to my post “A Regular Person’s Guide To Surviving An Ultramarathon” a few weeks back, so I decided to try to turn it into a YouTube video—which I just published yesterday. (video)

I might be a little late to the party here, but I finally finished Orbital by Samantha Harvey, and I was just telling a friend I regretted listening to the audiobook because it was so beautifully written that I wanted to spend more time with the sentences (which is kind of impossible unless you’re really skilled at rewinding an audiobook app). But if a short literary novel—ahem, award-winning, bestselling novel—about astronauts orbiting Earth sounds good to you, I highly recommend it. (Also, I have a theory that most books will eventually settle at about a 3.8-4.0 average rating on Goodreads, and I think I have to amend that to say that any book that’s nominated for the Man Booker Prize will settle at somewhere around 3.4-3.7, since just as many people seem to hate those books as love them). Here’s a link to the publisher’s page for Orbital, and here’s a link to the Bookshop page if you have a local bookstore you’d like to support.

There’s a lot of interesting info in this post from newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel & Hydration about how frequently you should take in carbs during exercise, including the breakdown of five different strategies from small, frequent doses to large, infrequent doses, but I was very excited to find my own strategy validated by a very fast runner: “Ultrarunner Robbie Britton hits 90g/h by consuming a PF 90 Gel in two separate doses. ‘My method is a big gulp initially and then I finish whatever is left in another hit by the end of the hour.'” [Reminder: Clicking the above link gives you 25% off your first Precision Fuel & Hydration]

I started laughing my ass off at the 00:09 mark of this video, and then thought, “this video is 63 seconds long, what else could happen in the next 50 seconds to make it better?” and I gotta tell you, I did not expect this lady to walk up to this guy, and get the reaction she got from him, which made me laugh even harder, and also sort of restore my faith in humans.

I have now known Ed Roberson for seven or eight years, and in that time watched him go from “guy trying out podcasting” to full-time podcaster and emcee/public speaker. He told me years later that the first time we met in person in 2018, at our little condo in Denver, that it was the first time he’d ever used the recording equipment he’d set up on our kitchen table to interview me. Ed has been visiting Missoula the past three years in advance of the Old Salt Festival, where he interviews people on stage and leads panel discussions, and before the festival, he stays at our house for a couple nights. Since 2018, he’s interviewed a lot of big (and/or big-to-me) names, including Nick Offerman, Kristine Tompkins, Hampton Sides, and others, so there’s been a lot of water under the bridge, so to speak, between that first interview and the interview we did at my kitchen table a few weeks ago. Which of course is just two friends chatting about the same stuff we’d been talking about while Ed was helping me build Jay’s playhouse in the backyard the day before—creativity, learning to teach, making my Seven Summits of My Neighborhood film, and the male loneliness epidemic.

We’ve all been there, clicking on one new (wrong) thing and then the algorithm makes all sorts of assumptions about our interests, and, well, “Now my feed is 50% dudes with perfectly groomed beards explaining why modern society has emasculated men, 30% videos of people blending vegetables while talking about ‘ancestral nutrition,’ and 20% ads for supplements with names like ‘Alpha Beast Mode’ and ‘Primal Warrior Stack.’” —Michelle J, “I Followed a Life Coach on Instagram and Now My Algorithm Thinks I’m a Men’s Rights Activist With a Juicing Problem”

This is a brand anthem video for HOKA, which I guess is essentially a sort of ad, but I gotta say, it’s fucking great. Made me think I actually do love running, partly because of exactly what they depict in the video: community. Anyway, it’s two minutes, and I’ve watched it three times this week.

I was talking to my mom a few weeks ago about my feeling that my brother and I had one of the last small-town/suburban childhoods in America where kids rode their bikes around to each other’s houses to hang out (which ended in 1993 when we moved across the state into a house on a highway with a 55 mph speed limit). So I’m probably the target market for this nostalgic collection of photos of kids jumping bikes over each other, many of which look like they probably ended with some scraped elbows/chins/knees. (via Kottke. org)

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Wow did I love this 15-minute film about three L.A. cyclists who come from diverse cycling backgrounds and found each other to enjoy, as Dante Young puts it, “riding around in tight-ass clothes all day.” (video) (thanks, Brody)

This one-minute video was simply titled “Researchers react to first-ever photos” on the youseeingthisshit subreddit, and I watched it three or four times before I poked around to try to find more info on why these guys were so excited about this bird. The video is from 2022, shot on Fergusson Island, off the east coast of Papua New Guinea, and the bird is a Black-naped Pheasant Pigeon, which is a bird species that hadn’t been documented by scientists since it was first described in 1882—it was one of 20 “lost” birds that hadn’t been documented for more than 100 years. The guy with the camera is Cornell researcher Jordan Boersma, and he’s showing the video of the bird to local biologist Doka Nason. More info in this Audubon article, but the video itself is just a moment of joy. Like I am not what I would call a big “bird person” but I loooooove this video.

A few weeks ago, Zoë and I got to chat with Mike Ko, aka Kofuzi, for The Trailhead podcast, about his journey from regular guy to YouTube running celebrity, including the evolution from a “not that fast” runner (other people’s words, not mine) to sub-3-hour marathoner. In a move that was maybe kind of like wearing the band t-shirt to the concert or the bar t-shirt to the bar, I wore my “Non-Elite” hat for the video call (which was designed by Kofuzi and the folks at PATH Projects), which is still one of my favorite hats.
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify

I am starting to increase the distance of my longer trail runs to prepare for a big 5-day-long effort in early September, and the folks from newsletter sponsor Injinji thankfully sent me a pair of their Ultra Run Crew socks, which I am loving because of the extra padding for those longer-mileage days here in Missoula. If you’re looking for socks for running or hiking, clicking this link will give you a code for 20 percent off your purchase at the Injinji website.

There are only a few instances of profanity in this Substack piece about a really weird Airbnb experience, but if I were going to teach a class on how to use a few rated-R words exactly enough in your writing to be funny but not *too much *, I would use this essay as an example. (I think being able to write dialogue with a Scottish accent probably helps too)

This My Modern Met story is really just kind of a summary of a CBS Evening News story, but DAMN. Molly Shafer, a high school senior in a small town near Madison, Wisconsin, had friends when she was younger, but lost touch with many of them during high school, as she became a “loner.” But during her senior year, she decided to try to reconnect with them by painting portraits of 44 classmates. She spent about 13 hours on each one. The news crew interviewed many of the classmates for the short segment, and Molly, who said: “You can’t go through life thinking that you don’t have friends because they don’t like you, because that’s not the case. People aren’t thinking that hard about you. It’s all in your head. You just have to try.”

Boy did this Longreads story end up being way different than I thought it would be—the headline “Eight Limes, No More: The Accidental Poetry of Found Lists” really doesn’t even hint at the depth than you get when reading it. I particularly loved the list writing/writing exercise the author describes near the end of the essay. Also this bit: “Lists are how we fight chaos with ballpoint pens.“

Jason Chatfield has a wonderful Substack newsletter called New York Cartoons, and it was an honor for me to do a Substack Live discussion with him last week, as I consider him to be a real cartoonist (for the New Yorker and others), a real artist, and a real comedian. Also a really nice guy, in my experience meeting him for a quick coffee the last time I was in New York, which turned into, if I remember correctly, a several-hour, multi-coffee discussion with maybe some lunch too? Anyway, hell of a guy, loves to create and dig into the creative process, and we talked about everything from self-publishing books to road trips (he’s on one right now, in an RV somewhere south of Portland), to failure. If you’d like to watch our chat, here’s a link (we both decided to wear glasses for the interview, without discussing it beforehand?).

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NEWS FROM ME: As of today, August 1, we are opening up 25 more spots for the next session of my How To Tell One Story online writing course. So far, 180+ people have taken the course, and I’ve gotten tons of positive feedback from them. It’s six weeks, two emails per week (Mondays and Thursdays), each email containing a lesson, short video, and writing exercise that takes between five and 30 minutes. You complete the lessons at your own pace, and you have access to the lessons and videos as long as you want them. We’ll close registration after August 8th, or when the 25 spots fill up. (and psssst, right now it’s $50 off the regular price). Here’s a link if you’d like to check it out. 

I watched this video and thought, “maybe too weird for the newsletter,” and then I thought, “nah, maybe I’ll just share it anyway and the weird people will like it,” and then I watched it a second time and noticed the end credit that said “characters (and trumpet) by my son,” and the source drawings, and thought, “OK, maybe it’s not so weird, and just sort of cute in that little kid way.” But that’s me assuming the son is a little kid, so who knows. (video)

I was aware that people hike to all 48 of the 4,000-foot summits in the White Mountains, and I was also aware that people do all 48 of the summits, each one in each of the 12 months of the calendar year, but I honestly was not aware that people hammered out all 48 summits in one push until Gary C. sent me an email with this link to Andrew Drummond’s write-up of his latest attempt, which he finished in just under five days (!!!). Apparently people have been doing this since Reverend Henry Folsom put a route together in 1970, and did it over 19 hiking days (not consecutive). Anyway, the numbers to do it in less than five days are jaw-dropping (especially the final day, 59.53 miles and 19,678 feet of elevation gain).

We’ve been having Black Sabbath dance parties with our toddler since Ozzy Osbourne died July 22, and I saw a Popular Mechanics story (paywalled) about Ozzy’s genome sequencing showing that he was predisposed to hard partying and also surviving said hard partying, AND that he had some Neanderthal lineage. Which was pretty interesting, but this Psychology Today article explaining why his DNA won’t produce “another Ozzy” was even more interesting. So, RIP Ozzy.

I have, until this week, sort of assumed that a blood sugar crash during exercise was the same as “bonking,” and it took reading this article from newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel & Hydration to realize that no, they’re not the same. If you take anything away from What happens when you ‘bonk’? (And how to avoid it!) by Andy Blow, let it be that you should not only enjoy eating more carbs in the days leading up to a big effort, but that it is actually, as my junior high basketball coach used to say, prior proper preparation preventing poor performance. (also note that clicking the above link will give you 25% off your first purchase on the PFH site)

I just realized this week that endurance cyclist Alexandera Houchin has a Substack, and the first thing I read—her reflections on her many experiences racing Tour Divide over the years—did not let me down. My favorite part: “In a society obsessed with finish line narratives, we mustn’t forget the starting line stories, too. For I believe the distance from the starting line is where the true spirit lies; where did you come from to get to that race start line? Now, maybe more than ever, I urge people to dream impossible things, to line up at starting lines, and tell their stories.”

I had such a blast talking to my friend Fitz Cahall a few weeks ago, and having a bit of a return to The Dirtbag Diaries after several years. This conversation, and what I guess is really my first poetry reading, started when I published the “Reminder To Touch Grass” poem back in February and Fitz messaged me and asked if I’d like to read it on the Diaries. (Which I of course said yes to)

Did I need NPR to tell me that the word “dude” is useful? No, but I did need NPR to tell me that scholars spent 20 years trying to pin down its origin, and published a 261-page book about it. Also, “even with the rise of ‘bro,’ “dude” still reigns supreme, according to a recent survey linguistics professor Scott Kiesling conducted.”

This is just a short video I found on the Maybe Maybe Maybe subreddit, of a guy being very good at his job, and having fun with showing tourists a good time, and also kind of showing off a little bit.

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Today is the last day to sign up for my How To Tell One Story online writing course! As of my typing this (Thursday afternoon), we still had eight spots available. Since I kind of messed up a funny video promotion I did for it on Instagram that had a discount code on it (long story), it’s $199 for everyone instead of $249. But, again, today is the last day to sign up, and the spots are filling. Here’s the link for more info. (We’ll open up another 25 spots the week of October 3-10).

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As a huge fan of independent movie theaters, I really enjoyed this breakdown of how they make it work financially—although no one featured in the video mentioned memberships, which our local indie theater uses to keep the lights on (I am of course a member). (video)

Great headline on this short piece from Steve Magness and Brad Stulberg’s newsletter: “The Most Underrated Performance Enhancer: Having Fun,” which is in the same vein of something I’ve told a lot of people when they mention the idea of starting writing a newsletter: have fun with it, or you’ll find yourself abandoning it because it feels like work. I believe Steve and Brad are writing more about success/winning, but I think we’re on the same wavelength (isn’t fun its own kind of success?).

I follow the PerfectFit subreddit, and it’s usually just mildly satisfying stuff that happens to fit together, but this photo delivers a whole story, and you can just imagine the relief: A woman lost her engagement ring on a cross country trip, found a month later in husband’s deodorant

I am sure there is more to this story of the late musician and Harvard mathematician Tom Lehrer writing a letter to representatives for 2 Chainz in reply to their request for his permission to sample his song “The Old Dope Peddler,” but I think the writing itself is just *chef’s kiss*.

This is maybe not “inspirational” in the typical mostly-positive sense this newsletter usually embraces, but I have been thinking about it since I watched and saved it on Tuesday—I sometimes wonder if in 10 years, we’ll have retreated more into digital living, or if we’ll collectively say, “wow, this kind of sucks,” and rebel against it, doing more things in the “real world.”

Sometimes I look at certain pieces of art and wonder if they’d be as well-known if they were, you know, smaller—like Picasso’s Guernica, but 11 inches by 25 inches, instead of 11 feet by 25 feet. I’m not saying this hyper-realistic pigeon on NYC’s High Line is Guernica, but it is huge. (via Kottke)

The morning of my friend Nick Triolo’s book launch party at the library in Missoula a few weeks back, I invited him to join me on one of my twice-weekly runs on Mount Sentinel, since he hadn’t been in town for a while and we were due for a catchup. I of course totally forgot that a) his new book, The Way Around, was about circumambulation, which is kind of the opposite of summiting a peak, and b) my regular run route goes to the summit of Mount Sentinel. I of course remembered during the Q&A when he mentioned it in a sort of “hey, nothing against peak bagging” joke. We had interviewed him a few weeks prior for The Trailhead podcast, in which we talked about his book, and his 30-plus-race-finish ultrarunning career. Links to listen here:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Speaking of the Trailhead podcast, if you’ve been listening the past few months and would like to help us out by taking a quick 2-minute survey and share your opinions and/or recommendations, here’s a link to it.

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I had a lot of fun figuring out how to make this 2-minute YouTube video about “the creative process,” which involved a) digging an actual hole, b) rigging a ring light in our shower just to shoot 10-seconds of GoPro footage of my feet, and c) spending way too long hand-writing all the subtitles. But I hope it hits home. (video)

 I was talking to a friend the other day about writers who can create great writing out of the smallest events. I was thinking of Bill Bryson, in one of my favorite passages he wrote, where he’s on a road trip, staying in a hotel in a small town in South Dakota (I think?) and he makes this incredibly funny essay about all the restaurants in town being closed, as well as the hotel dining room being closed for some private event, and he ends up just buying a bunch of candy bars from a vending machine and eating them on the hotel bed. And then yesterday I read this essay on Substack, about a barista writing someone’s name on a coffee cup, and the reaction the writer had, and it’s the same exact skill. So, my hat is off to Michelle? for this one. (Also, this video was mentioned in the comments, and I somehow had never seen it before.)

My friend Ed sent me this short blog from Seth Godin, Scarcity and Abundance, and it partly captures something I have been thinking about often, which is a mindset of scarcity vs. a mindset of abundance, and how much more I gravitate toward other people who believe they can “win” without other people having to “lose”—and of course, vice versa, how I’d rather just avoid people who think the only way they can be happy is if they somehow “beat” other people. And how we should all think about that sort of thing more (especially when driving automobiles?).

I am starting to make a packing list for a bigger adventure I’ll mention here in a few weeks (and in my next update for Patreon supporters), but I am psyched to be going somewhere I hope to have to pack a layer or two, including this 4.4-ounce wind jacket from newsletter sponsor Janji that I have scarcely worn all summer but am excited to potentially pull out of my vest when a cool mountain breeze picks up, fingers crossed. (Here’s a link the women’s fit version)

A while back, I started looking more and more to Reddit for interesting things to include in this newsletter, and I am not sure why I like it so much more than social media—maybe it feels more likely that I’m goign to find weird stuff, instead of things the algorithm(s) decide are successful? Anyway, it seems like every few weeks I find a new subreddit that I think is hilarious, and I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve encountered the WhyWomenLiveLonger subreddit, which appears to be mostly comprised of videos of men doing dumb things (which seem like they must quite often end in personal injury), but also this screenshot of a post that I think is hilarious, and doesn’t need a trigger warning.

Maybe you’re not in the space today that you want to look at a bunch of breathtaking astronomy photos in the shortlist of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, but I’m going to share the link here and mention that a) experiencing awe is good for you, b) the universe is incredible, and c) people who have mastered their craft to the extent that they can photograph things like comets, blood moons, and solar eruptions are inspiring.

I am not a running streak person, but I’m impressed by people who are, and even if I wasn’t, I think I’d have to admit that the presentation of the data of this person’s 10-plus-year running streak is kind of amazing.

Is this level of research about the best way to dice an onion necessary? It is absolutely not, but I love it when people go this hard on math and science for something as non-essential as dicing an onion, and then put some love into the presentation of it.

Finally, I posted these two poems to my Strava a few days apart, then realized that together they kind of made a fun little saga, so I created some image slides to put on Instagram. I thought I’d include them here, just in case you’d like to read about my attempt to get rid of an old radiator that had been partially buried in my backyard (which is the kind of content I assume everyone needs nowadays).

I saw this video somewhere on Reddit a few weeks ago and would have shared it here but I couldn’t verify that these folks actually went and retrieved the tire afterward—but it appears they answered that question in the comments on YouTube, so please enjoy this very satisfying three minutes. (thanks, Hannah and Dan) (video)

Hilary is a huge fan of Blackbird Spyplane, and I am a fan of the writing voice and general presence, although I am not as regular a reader as she is since it’s more about fashion. But this piece from two years ago, The End of Cool Small Cars, really resonated with me, as the owner of a 1979 Toyota Pickup and a person who has tremendous nostalgia for the old Chevy S10s and Ford Rangers of the late 1980s and early 1990s (not to mention my piece-of-shit two-door manual transmission Pontiac Sunbird). Especially this line:  “We can of course sense that, whereas road trips do rock, when it comes to daily commutes, etc., cars are prison cells masquerading as tickets to freedom.”

I am very susceptible to the formula of “Topic X written in the voice of a famous author,” and this piece, which published the same day Dune: Part Two was released, is right up my alley (and I don’t think you need to be that familiar with Bukowski’s work to enjoy it?): Charles Bukowski’s Dune

This is the third month of Injinji sponsoring this newsletter, and I am thankful for their financial support, but more than that, I am grateful for the many pairs of toe socks they sent me, which I have now subbed into my regular running sock rotation, which has increased morale on my long runs as much as a pair of socks can. The most recent addition was the tie-dye Courtney Crew socks designed by ultrarunning GOAT Courtney Dauwalter herself, who will be running UTMB starting next Friday and looking for her fourth win there. As far as these socks go, my thinking is, good enough for the GOAT, good enough for me. Here’s a link to the socks, and the code SEMIRADUTMB will get you 20% off all Injinji toesocks through September 5th.

I love artist Mike Monteiro’s newsletter—in every post, he answers a question from a reader, in an essay, and I don’t read every post, but for whatever reason last week, the subject line “How to Stay Hopeful” grabbed me. And I was delighted to find that his answer had a lot to do with walking, bikes, neighbors, and cities.

This is a long read, but I found it incredibly thoughtful, interesting, and insightful: Piers Gelly, an English professor at the University of Virginia, designed a course around the using AI to write, let his students decide and debate whether to use it in class, and to also decide if they’d rather learn from an actual human-taught class or by AI. A couple of the quotes from the piece that really hit home:

“We depend on a calculator to produce identical results no matter who uses it, but identical results in a writing context are boring at best.”

“ … because it’s exhausting to give a shit. My point wasn’t that they should give a shit, only that they could. The choice was theirs, as always.”

—Piers Gelly, What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom

The point of the DiWHY subreddit, you might assume, is to question why (some) people would spend time creating things that are (maybe subjectively) ridiculous, but I’d argue that all creative works could be viewed as ridiculous, and certainly a ridiculous way to spend one’s time. But come on, look at these customizable ripped jeans and tell me they were a waste of anyone’s time.

I believe I found Matthew M. Evans’ Fog Chaser substack a few weeks ago through a post by my friend Anna Brones, and I was just thinking about how much I liked the last song he’d put out, when I saw the new one from last week, and the story behind it: night sketch (for jd)

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I kind of think this idea—having kids dream up fairytale characters and then having those characters professionally designed—should happen more often? (video)

We are hopefully getting toward the end of fire season here soon-ish in the western U.S., but I thought it might be useful to share the app I use to track wildfires around Missoula during the summer and early fall. I’m sure many people have heard of it, but Watch Duty is a free app (which you can support for $25/year or even more if you want Pro features) and it is so far my favorite app for seeing fire info as soon as it’s available.

I got stung by a bee three times a couple weekends ago, which led to me doing some research on newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel & Hydration’s website (seems unrelated, but stay with me): I was thinking back to the last time I got stung by a bee, the first day of a backpacking trip in the Sierras in August 2008, and I remembered that I also had woken up with a splitting headache that morning. I was concerned about altitude sickness, so I’d bought a gallon jug of water to drink on the long drive to the trailhead from the Bay Area, and as I maybe suspected but hadn’t confirmed, that was not the correct strategy. I read this piece, How to START hydrated and why that’s so important, and now realize I probably drank myself into some mild hyponatremia. I was fine, but I would have rather not had the headache, if I’d known better. Anyway, within the PFH article are guidelines for pre-hydrating (with proper amounts of sodium, thanks to research, including some NASA research), and if you shop at the PFH site through that link, you will get 25% off your first order.

This is so cool—this photographer used Google Street View to locate 250+ signs hand painted around Detroit by Ron Miller of Ron Signs, who has been doing it since 1978, still doesn’t have a website or email address, and works entirely by word of mouth around the city. (Here’s a page on Andrew’s website for better viewing, and here’s the post he put on his Instagram)

I have not eaten many Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supremes, but I do kind of love how it’s influenced chefs at non-fast-food restaurants to create their own version of the dish. As Eater writer Khushbu Shah puts it: “Trends tend to trickle down from fine dining to fast food  … the Crunchwrap Supreme is one of the few, rare examples where a trend traveled the other way, working its way, over the past 20 years, to the menus of beloved independent restaurants.”

I don’t know how these bumper stickers about Tacoma ended up in my feed, but I particularly love the “TACOMA: Come for the rain, stay because your car got stolen” one, as well as some of the more r-rated ones.

I am not trying openly hate on AI (although I am a little weary of hearing about it so much for the past couple years), but as an avid em dash user, I did take it kind of personally when I found out people were saying that usage of em dashes was a sure sign something was written by AI. I have no authority to say that’s bullshit, but I have to say this essay by Brian Phillips warmed my little em dash-loving heart: Stop AI-Shaming Our Precious, Kindly Em Dashes—Please

There’s a really great bit about the carnival vs. the circus in this piece Marty Brodsky wrote about going to the county fair, and I’d just excerpt it here but I think you’ll be way happier if you just read the whole piece instead. Also, semi-related, since Marty talks about the demolition derby at the beginning of the piece: My friend Nick’s uncle won two different demolition derbies in northwest Iowa back in the day with the same car. Consider that for a minute—not that the car actually survived one demolition derby and was still drivable afterward, but that he WON both of them.

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