Eight years ago today I was a self defense instructor, waking up after a long workshop throwing punches. I headed to my “day job” at an ad agency. I wrote things that were too dramatic, but still important. I read this stuff and cringe. But it’s important as a marker.  I was a self-defense instructor and [...]

We used to race from the gut. At least that’s how it seemed. We didn’t know about macronutrients or sports nutrition or myofascial release. We didn’t get massages or wear compression tights to bed or have fancy tools to measure our output. We had a coach. His name was Storksen. He yelled at us while hanging out [...]

I planned my emotional breakdown in advance. It would happen in the bathroom at home. Turn on a pounding tap, as if to run a bath. Sob into the white noise. Sal is none the wiser.  I’ve done it before. I would have preferred to unleash the floodgates as we climbed the final mile of Thomspon, but [...]

Ham on Thanksgiving The Thanksgiving day ride is a tradition. An early morning offering to the calorie gods. A sacrifice at the alter of Impending Gluttony. A pre-emptive strike Usually we ride down the big expressway and off into the hills that take us to Los Gatos. The climb up Kennedy is short, but hearty enough [...]

This year has been long. And really hard. I’ll just come right out and say that. Hard. I’ve worked more than I can stand to remember, with the sort of urgency that perhaps only mortgage-laden, non-salaried, self-employed folk with laid-off significant others can appreciate. It was good and hard. Really. People close to me got sick and then [...]

Ten minutes is a long time when you’re riding at threshold for the first time in a month. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that my random acts of fitness may be all I can get out of myself for a few years. It’s not that I’m giving up, it’s more like I’m calming down. It’s going [...]