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​Friday Inspiration 523​
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NEXT WEEK: On Thursday, February 19, at 6:00 p.m. MST, I will be doing a YouTube livestream + Q&A session about this year’s Freeflow Institute Running to Stand Still trail running and writing workshop in June. Sign up here via this link and I’ll send you an email the morning of the webinar containing the link to the livestream and a discount code good for $250 off your course registration. Hope to see you there!

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I love that Flea (yes, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers) is still making music, is playing both the bass and the trumpet (his original childhood instrument) on said music, is putting out these funky videos on YouTube, and seems to be doing it in a very DIY style (he has less than 50,000 subscribers right now?), and that he just put out a song like this. (video)

It’s probably partly because I haven’t read that much of Charles Darwin’s actual writing, but also partly that he is such a revered titan of science, that I found these snippets from his letters so funny, including the one quoted in the title of this post, “Oh my God how I do hate species & varieties.”​

Yesterday an algorithm served me a video titled something like “how to train like [Denver Nuggets star] Aaron Gordon, and I thought, “How dare you think I, a middle-aged dad, would compare myself to a 30-year-old full-time athlete who is paid millions of dollars each year to be good at basketball.” I did not click on the video, but I did click on this link in an email from newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel & Hydration because it was titled “How to balance your training with work, family and life,” and I was not disappointed to see coach Dougal Allan pretty much say, “be reasonable,” and also to think of time commitments to work/family/fitness as investments, instead of the other way around, in which you would think of the “sacrifices” you make when choosing how to spend your time. [clicking on the link to the article will apply a 15% discount to any purchase you make from the PFH website]

I was a little uncomfortable in the first few seconds of this video of this guy who starts out very aggressively wanting justice for the theft of his bike (because that’s usually how videos on social media go), but was quite relieved to see how the situation resolved. (thanks, Joe)

Hilary wrote a Substack essay about riding the bus with our little guy, Jay, and everything she says in the piece is true. She and Jay have also converted me into a fan who is now incorporating it into many bus-there-run-home or run-there-bus-home preschool dropoff/pickup plans. But the essay is of course about bigger things.

This is a 15-second video but a very powerful take on the saying (which is also the title of the video), “Everyone’s living a life you know nothing about. Be kind” (via Kottke)

This feels like a long time ago (even though it was just last summer) but Mountain Outlaw magazine published a profile of me with photos by my friend Bobby Jahrig, and words by journalist Maggie Doherty, who was great to chat with.

My first thoughts when reading this story were 1) “I would never do that to my mom and dad” and 2) “I hope my kid never does that to me,” but thought #3 was “WOW, that’s what I call commitment. Or insanity? Or both.” (thanks, Justin)

And finally, here are some new t-shirts I designed from an idea by Patreon supporter, ultrarunner, and all-around swell guy Ned Abbott (we’re donating 50% of the profits to a nonprofit recommended by Ned):

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