Hi there! Greetings from land of three-week-old babies. My wife and I are frazzled and wee bit stressed out, but everyone is healthy and well.
I’ve a slew of ideas bouncing around for future letters, but writing will be a re-learning process over the next few months. In the meantime, here are some recent endurance and outdoorsy items I loved. (5-minute read.)
Let’s go!
Front of the pack
1. Uganda, a new running powerhouse (NY Times)
Jonathan Rosen’s survey of Uganda’s pro running scene is illuminating. Particularly interesting is the post-colonial history that shaped the sport across the boundaries of Kenya and Uganda:
“The original borders of Britain’s Uganda Protectorate, hashed out by mustachioed bureaucrats in 1894, encompassed the bulk of the Kalenjin territory that is part of Kenya today. Adjustments to the boundary in 1902, driven by the desire to unify administration of a railway from the coast, unwittingly paved the way for Kenya’s future running triumphs. Yet the new line, which cut through the crest of Elgon, severed one Kalenjin tribe, the Sabaot, in two. The descendants of those left in Uganda, who number roughly 300,000, live primarily in three districts on Elgon’s western flanks.”
2. Poison oak as teacher (Oakland Garden Club)
I recently discovered this project from Alexis Madrigal, host of KQED’s Forum. Featuring quirky dispatches about plants, many of the topics are rooted in the San Francisco Bay, but entangle with larger questions of being, history, and culture.
I especially loved Madrigal’s gloss on Erik Davis’s The Pleasure: Animist Encounters with Poison Oak:
“Davis notes that some California plant people call it guardian oak because it scares us off and ‘maintains space for other-than-human-beings.’ As Davis friend Fletcher Tucker says: ‘Maybe you don’t get to scramble down that hillside or jump into that pool. Just stop for a second and look at the beautiful view. Maybe that’s all you get.’ A profound lesson—not every part of the world is for you, even if you want it.”
3. Deconstructing trail design (99% Invisible)
I loved this set of short stories about the original designed object: the trail. The humble footpath isn’t always planned or even created by humans, but it’s rarely “natural.”
If nothing else, check out the conversation with Robert Moor, whose book On Trails explores how paths form and shape humanity’s relationship with nature (I just started Moor’s book and it’s wondrous!):
“In a curious way, a trail is something both terrestrial and liquid. Unlike roads or especially railways, which are so fixed, laid down in an almost authoritarian way, a trail is very collaborative and organic.”
What a generative idea! Considering a trail as more than a slice over the ground, helps us see collaborative interactions between people and environment across a living landscape.
Other stories in the podcast focus on how governments engineer trails for “wilderness experiences,” the origins of the Appalachian trail, and how GORPcore became mainstream fashion.
4. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows on running community
I very much appreciate the range of voices on Mario Fraioli’s running-centered Morning Shakeout podcast. His latest conversation is with Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, about her path into the clergy and running.
Fraioli and Baskerville-Burrows tease out commonalities between sport and religion through themes of belonging, group sociability, and personal conversation:
“The whole point of ministry is to be able to walk with people and to know them and to have them know that they’ve got a safe place to wrestle with the deep questions of life . . . and Sunday morning is not the time; there’s too much going on with church school and brunch. But on these Saturday rides, we had hours to know about each other and to laugh and to talk about the issues of the day.”
Quick splits
Four other stories I loved:
Why don’t our gadgets reward rest? (Culture Study)
“I want a smartwatch that does those little explosive emojis when it sees that my body was tired and I listened to it. I wish having enough time to sleep as much as you need wasn’t quietly interpreted as a sign that you clearly don’t have enough going on in your life.”
Sabbaticals for physical and emotional renewal. (NY Times)
“Part of the beauty of this vision in Leviticus is that all people — even those who are socially and economically vulnerable — had the same cosmic ‘leave policy’ commanded by God.”
To-do lists as menus. (Imperfectionist)
“Increasingly, I find myself treating my list of work projects as a menu. The contents of the menu is constrained by various goals and long-term deadlines, to be sure. But the daily practice is to pick something appetizing from the menu.”
How to dress. (Articles of Interest)
“To figure out your style, Amy recommends actually coming up with words for it. Come up with three adjectives. Think about what’s important to you. But it has to come from you.”
Weekly run
Breakfast Club meets every Thursday for an 8-mile run:
When and Where: 6:30am at Lake Temescal in Oakland, CA
Pace: ~7:00 to 7:40 pace with a few hundred feet of climbing
For updates about the run, email Katie Klymko at katieklymko at gmail.com to join Breakfast Club’s WhatsApp chat. More info on Strava
Notable event: Alameda 10-Miler
Bay Area folks can join this scenic race this weekend in Alameda, a suburban isle near Oakland.
The start/finish is in the Naval Air Station, a decommissioned air base that served as the embarkation point for the Doolittle Raid and later as an important military node in the Cold War. The massive space is being converted into condominiums, so much of the infrastructure won’t be there much longer. Register here
Tweets of the week
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading. You can follow me on Strava, Notes, and what’s left of Twitter.
Congratulations on your baby and Fatherhood, Sam. Being frazzled and stressed out is par for the course. Cherish each moment, even the challenging ones since they will be the memories you keep. :)