A weekly letter about running across countries, aging without slowing down, dogs who changed my life, and the people and places along the way.
Movement is a Privilege
I measure my pace by whether I can still hold a conversation. Then I heard a woman living with ALS explain what she recorded into a text to speech app so her real voice would say it out loud. Two men came back to me at once: Jamey, who crewed my Brazil 135, and my Uncle Walter, who kept running marathons from a wheelchair.
Want to Run in China?
The Mt. Gaoligong Ultra in Yunnan is looking for international runners for March 2027, and for some it comes with airfare, hotel and cultural tours paid. I raced it this year with my son and left wanting to go back, which almost never happens to me.
Fatherhood, Failure and Freakin’ Old Age
In March, I lined up at the Mt. Gaoligong Ultra in Tengchong, China, a 104 miler through the Yunnan mountains, alongside my 31-year-old son Gabriel. It was our first race together. Five miles in I went down on the rocks, and somewhere in that fall was the realization that I am getting freakin' old. Twenty-four hours later my lungs put me in an ambulance and my race was over. Gabe's was not.
Staying Alive
Five years ago, I reached Sedan, Nebraska right on schedule and knocked on a trailer door to ask permission to park for the night. Here's what was on the other side, and why I still run toward uncertainty instead of away from it.
Vikings on The Camino
On a torrential day on the Camino de Santiago, David meets Kasper and Janne, two Danish pilgrims whose journey out of addiction became a love story. Their answer to the rain and mud: stop fighting what you can't control.
Sport: A Language We All Speak
Twelve countries on foot across Europe, and a lesson in how sport connects strangers who share no words.
