Fender Kingman v2 Acoustic Bass
I realize I don’t talk about it much on the blog, but I’ve played music for most of my life. I started learning band instruments when I was 7 years old and have done various school bands and orchestras. In college I moved over to more contemporary instruments and adopted the bass guitar as my […]
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The Arrowhead that wasn’t
When I said the odds weren’t in my favor for completing Arrowhead, I at least assumed I’d be starting the race. However, the universe had other ideas, and unfortunately I didn’t set foot on the race course at all this year. We drove up to International Falls on Saturday, enduring a hundred miles or so […]
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The next big adventure!
If all goes according to plan, next Monday morning I will begin the Arrowhead 135 race in far northern Minnesota. This is a 135 mile journey from International Falls, MN to Tower, MN on what is typically the coldest week of the winter. The event can be done on foot, bike, or ski, but no […]
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Timp 5 GTX Hiker (mid-height) – another Altra failure
As long-time readers of this blog will attest, I’ve had a pained relationship with Altra shoes. When I was first introduced to the Timp 1.5 I fell in love with it and the Timp 2s became my go-to shoe for many years. I skipped the 3’s, and had a struggle with the 4s before Altra […]
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Skeleton Crew – a fun pirate romp
We just finished watching the finale of Skeleton Crew tonight, and I wanted to share just a couple thoughts on what I enjoyed, and overall where I’m at with the current Star Wars universe. In an attempt to keep this spoiler-free I’ll summarize my thoughts about Skeleton Crew by saying that if you grew up […]
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Reflecting on seven years of race directing
This past weekend we completed our sixth annual St Croix 40 Winter Ultra event. We started this journey seven years ago (one year off for COVID) and have since added a second race to our stable, as well as contemplated others. What began as an idle question has now developed into something that has provided […]
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Authenticity
As someone who grew up in the entertainment spectacle of the 80’s, endured the brooding alternative scene and ennui of the 90’s, and then dove into the new social media/influencer culture of our current day, I’ve started to have a strong distaste for a lack of authenticity. It’s not so much that authenticity hasn’t been […]
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Some warm flowers in the winter cold
Took a visit to the Como Conservatory this past week and basked in the warmth of plants and flowers. Also visited the tropical area and got a few brightly colored birds. The flowers were mostly done using my Tamron 24mm f/2.8, which does an adequate job of macro work. The rest were on my Sony […]
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It’s time to come back
It’s been a full year since I’ve put pen to paper and blogged here. I’ve thought about coming back a few times over the past dozen months, but never pulled the trigger. However, I feel like it’s finally time to get back to blogging. I used to be a regular blogger, and for a couple […]
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2023 Running year in review
2023 ended up not being quite the year I had planned when it came to running. I had some goals that I set at the beginning of the year, and unfortunately, only a few of them were accomplished in the way that I wanted. I had set a goal of three gravel trail based races […]
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2023 Biking year in review
It’s time once again for my annual review of how I did in the biking and running endeavors that I do, and first up is a review of my year in biking. After completing the Tuscobia 80 on foot last New Year’s Eve, I took a break from all workouts. It was nice to let […]
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Exploring bike paths in my home town
Over the past few years the suburb that I live in, Fridley, MN, has slowly been adding more and more infrastructure for biking. The past three years has seen a large increase in the number of miles of bike paths available to people, and it’s been wonderful to start to see more amenities that don’t […]
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Second Runnings 