profile

Semi-Rad

We Tried To Run A Mountain 50K On One Apple Fritter

Published 44 minutes ago • 1 min read

​
​We Tried To Run A Mountain 50K On One Apple Fritter

Joseph Campbell famously wrote about the “Hero’s Journey” as a monomyth, or template for stories we tell: A hero goes on an adventure, endures a crisis, and returns transformed.

This story is not so much a “Hero’s Journey”—more of a “Fool’s Errand,” which I think might be a whole genre of adventure story.

My friend Nick and I wanted to see if one apple fritter could power us through a 50 km day in the mountains where we live. The apple fritters are quite large (~16 ounces), but so was the route we planned: The race course for a local ultramarathon, the City to Sky 50K, 33 miles and 7700 vertical feet of climbing.

How foolish was it? Well, I interviewed a sports scientist (and founder of Precision Fuel & Hydration), Andy Blow, and asked him that, more or less. The whole story is in this video—I hope you enjoy our fools’ errand:

--

Semi-Rad

Brendan Leonard

Writer, artist, filmmaker, columnist for Outside Magazine. My newsletter about creativity, adventure, and enthusiasm goes out to 15,000+ subscribers every week.

Read more from Semi-Rad

Friday Inspiration 561 Apparently this footage is from 2016 but WOW was I emotionally invested in the completion of this human tower at a Catalonian competition (not for the faint of heart) (video). This video clip has been flying around social media this week, many times without IDing the xylophone player, Layla Clark of Thomas Jefferson High School in Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania, whose mastery of her instrument and total focus on the opening of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” is nothing short of...

6 days ago • 3 min read
thumbnail from Letter Of Recommendation - Having A Favorite Tree

Friday Inspiration 560 I discovered late yesterday afternoon that my Thursday newsletter somehow did not get sent to about 10,000 people, so please forgive the repetition for some folks, but this was the video I sent out, adapted from my original post from a while back about having a favorite tree (video). Today we are launching a new t-shirt (!) in my shop—it’s called “The $150 Running T-shirt.” I am not sure how much I need to explain it, but it’s a 100% cotton t-shirt with the words “$150...

13 days ago • 4 min read
thumbnail from Letter Of Recommendation - Having A Favorite Tree

I Went Back To Check On My Favorite Tree A few years ago, I wrote a post called "Letter Of Recommendation: My Favorite Tree," which became one of my most-read stories ever. I was thinking a few weeks ago that I hadn't been back to check on my favorite tree for quite a while. And as of last week, it's still fall in Missoula, and the larches have been changing, so I figured it was a perfect time to go have a look. I shot some video while I was there, and turned the original text of the post...

14 days ago • 1 min read