First foray into the BWCA – Day 1
We got to spend a nice quiet night in the Sawbill Lake campground before our shuttle the next morning. We awoke early, with the sun, and started packing up our things into our new rental portage packs. The portage packs were WAY bigger than we had anticipated and so we were able rearrange gear in […]
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First foray into the BWCA – Day 0
Growing up in Minnesota you would always hear about people taking trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) in northern Minnesota. Even the church I grew up in would do a yearly men’s trip up there to fish and camp for a week. However, I was a nerdy little kid who preferred books and […]
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Race Report: Le Grand du Nord – 50 mile
Last weekend we headed to the far north to do our second gravel race of the season, the Le Grand du Nord 50 mile. My wife has participated in this event in the past, and I decided to give it a shot this year as it traverses some of the most beautiful landscape in the […]
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Race Report: Granny’s Gravel Grinder – 50 mile
In an effort to expand my experiences beyond just trail running I’ve been doing a few more bike races in recent years. I’ve enjoyed my experiences at races like Freedhem and Heck of the North, and this year I’ve got two more on the docket. The first was this past weekend, the Granny’s Gravel Grinder. […]
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A little Sandlot Marathon fun
I shoot a bunch of races around the upper midwest, and one of the most unique ones to photograph is the Sandlot Marathon. People run around the bases almost 400 times to reach a marathon distance, all within a ball field. It’s a hilariously dumb idea but super fun and cool to watch (I’ve also […]
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My thoughts on Severance
We finished watching season two of Severance tonight and as expected, things are set up for season 3 (which was also announced today). I’m not going to do a review of the show per se, but I do want to talk about my thoughts about it, and more specifically about some of the philosophical questions […]
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Navigating spring and fitness
Here in Minnesota we’re now solidly in early spring weather and that poses unique challenges for people who like to be active outside. In the dead of winter you know what to expect… it’s cold, possibly windy, and there’s most likely snow. You dress appropriately and go get it done. In summer it’s also somewhat […]
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Let’s do a fitness stat geek-out!
Even though I’m a Liberal Arts guy, I’m a collector at heart and stats fill that inner need to acquire new information all the time. I’ve been a subscriber to a service called VeloViewer for many years, which is a website that ingests all your Strava workout data and lets you slice and dice it […]
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Some Superior Waves
This past weekend when we were up on the North Shore the wind was blowing hard and the lake was ready for surfers (yes a few crazy people do surf Lake Superior in the winter). The waves were high and crashing into the shore right outside our hotel, so I took a few moments to […]
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A Bambi Encounter
I’ve lived in Minnesota for 48 years, and have been driving here my entire adult life. Despite having spent a large amount of time on country roads and outstate highways I’ve never hit an animal bigger than a rabbit or raccoon. Last night that changed when we were driving up to Beaver Bay for a […]
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Winter’s failure to launch
Over the past two years Minnesota winters have been… “weird”. Between seasons with so much snow that we lost massive amounts of trees from heavy snow, to two years in a row with almost no snow on the ground. It’s been troubling to say the least. I believe what science is telling us about our […]
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Trying out Zwift
I’ve never been much of a fan of indoor workout machines, preferring to be outside if I’m going to run or bike. I can’t stand treadmills and avoid them at pretty much all cost. They actually tend to make me a bit dizzy with the running motion, but not really going anywhere. I’m less opposed […]
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Second Runnings 