Watch, Read, Listen...
Running (and running adjacent) treats for your eyes, ears and soul.
Watch
Short
This clip from Salomon’s YouTube channel called Trail Dog.
It’s moving, inspirational, quite beautiful, and full of simple wisdom that’s hard to ignore but easy to forget. It’s well worth 4 minutes of your time.
Long
I’m a huge fan of Courtney Dauwalter. I love everything about her attitude and aesthetic, and she’s simply one of the best endurance runners on the planet, regardless of gender.
This YouTube doc is just under 40 mins and is a good insight into her character and toughness as she runs the Tahoe 200 (205 miles, 40,000 ft of elevation gain) in under 50 hours.
I’m staggered by people who can push their limits and just keep smiling. It takes a remarkable character to stay positive and gracious in the face of such stress, pain and exhaustion. Courtney Dauwalter is that character.
Honourable mention
I left this out because I thought it would be more useful to include things you can watch right now for free, but if any film is worth paying for, it’s this one.
Visually stunning and incredibly moving. It’ll make you re-evaluate your life choices and attitude, one way or another.
Read
Short
This profile of Eliud Kipchoge is great.
It’s well written, free of hyperbole, and reveals that despite clearly having a preternatural gift for running, Kipchoge’s true superpower is unwavering humility in the face of astounding success.
Read it then watch him run.
Long
The Overstory by Richard Powers reminded me not only that I should read fiction more often, but just how powerful stories can be.
It’s no exaggeration to say that it profoundly altered my view of the world.
Don’t bother with reviews or trying to figure out if you might like it. No synopsis could do it justice. Just buy it and read it.
It’s the kind of book that could save the world.
Listen
Short
Music and running are made for each other. I don’t listen to music for all runs, but it can definitely enhance the experience. And it’s a great shortcut to a bit of flow.
For running I listen almost exclusively to EDM and rap, and often genre bending things that lie somewhere in between.
These are three tunes that feature regularly on my running playlists:
Long
This episode of the Outside podcast is called Can Humans Outrun Antelope? and is the story of two brothers who went to find out.
It’s a captivating story about theories of persistence hunting and one brother’s drive to prove them. If your interest was at all piqued by my Born to Run? post, you’ll love this.
News and notes…
Thanks to Matt Barr, proprietor of the Looking Sideways podcast, for the shout out recently in his newsletter.
Some recommendations mean more than others and I’ve been a fan of Looking Sideways since the beginning. Matt is bright, bookish and thoughtful, and has been involved in the world of action sports and other related endeavours for an awful long time, wearing various hats.
He’s commentating on Natural Selection as I write and his back catalogue of podcasts is a veritable who’s who of surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding.
I was delighted that the writer who inspired my essay a couple of weeks ago read it.
And finally, in surf news…
I’m about to launch headfirst into a writing assignment that might be in equal parts joyous and painful.
The 2022 WCT kicks off at the Banzai Pipeline on Oahu’s north shore on January 29th. I’ll be reporting on this competition daily for Beachgrit (and perhaps the rest of the season, too, if I can hack it).
The pain comes from awkward time zones, unsociable hours, and the dull ache that can be professional surfing. That might sound like a joke, but honestly it can be deeply boring. Surfing is just one of those things that doesn’t translate through a screen.
However, the joy comes from two things:
Firstly, I’ve got carte blanche to be as loose as I like, so I’m looking forward to the creative challenge and having a bit of fun with it. Steve Shearer, nee Longtom, had this gig for the past few seasons and was both a joy to read and universally lauded, so it’s bit of a poisoned chalice. But like I said, I’m up for it.
Secondly: Robert Kelly Slater.
Slater will be 50 years old a few days after this comp ends. Digest that for a moment. Fifty. Five-O. And he’s still in the mix at the highest level of his sport. I’d say the chances of him taking a 12th title after half a century on earth are pretty slim, but if the waves are big and barrelling he’ll be one of 4 or 5 guys capable of taking out an event along the way.
Anyone familiar with my surf writing will know that I’ve almost created a sub-genre just ragging on Kelly, but at the end of the day he’s still making history, and I’m pleased to be witnessing that. If he makes a final this year in serious waves I’ll be cheering him as loud as anyone.
For all his lunacy on land, he’s still capable of genius on the water.
