The Brave Monkeys Speak | Adventure and the Science of Stoked

    Matthew Lee created a monster of a bike ride - the 2,745 mile Tour Divide. Starting in Canada and ending on the U.S.-Mexico border, the route climbs enough quad-burning vertical to be equivalent to summiting Mount Everest seven times.     At some point Brendan Leonard interviewed Matt, asking why for so many years he took a month off his job as a maitre’d in North Carolina to come out West and ride his bike an insane number of miles. “Have you heard of The [...]

Are you ready to stop settling and start living? To stop constantly 'playing defense' in life? Are you ready to play to go for audacious goals? Health guru and men's coach Clark Danger and I discuss the value of personal development in creating a freaking awesome life for yourself. Stop waiting for that magical day to come when you are allowed to start living the epic life you have dreamed of. Create it now. Stop settling, start living in Episode 024. Make sure to connect with Clark at [...]

Are you ready to stop settling and start living? To stop constantly 'playing defense' in life? Are you ready to play to go for audacious goals? Health guru and men's coach Clark Danger and I discuss the value of personal development in creating a freaking awesome life for yourself. Stop waiting for that magical day to come when you are allowed to start living the epic life you have dreamed of. Create it now. Stop settling, start living in Episode 024. Make sure to connect with Clark at [...]

    Call me crazy, call me masochistic, call me just plain stupid, but I decided to go on a run with Michaeline. That’s right - the Michaeline I spoke of last week - the ultrarunner who only seems to get stronger as she goes. Uhh, just hearing her name is a formidable challenge.     My alarm clock rang at 6:03 (I don’t like to set alarms for even numbers), and almost immediately I heard Mikey stirring in the other room. Not 30 seconds passed before she had her [...]

    Call me crazy, call me masochistic, call me just plain stupid, but I decided to go on a run with Michaeline. That’s right - the Michaeline I spoke of last week - the ultrarunner who only seems to get stronger as she goes. Uhh, just hearing her name is a formidable challenge.     My alarm clock rang at 6:03 (I don’t like to set alarms for even numbers), and almost immediately I heard Mikey stirring in the other room. Not 30 seconds passed before she had her [...]

Life's a lot like a wintertime night trail run. The dangers out there are real - very real. But if we act like a Boy Scout, plan ahead and prepare (and act accordingly), most things just aren't as serious as our minds can make them out to be. That's my hope for the current environmental crisis. If we can plan ahead, prepare, and change our actions to reflect greater human health and environmental sustainability, we can turn this ship around, and make these issues less serious than they are loo [...]

Life's a lot like a wintertime night trail run. The dangers out there are real - very real. But if we act like a Boy Scout, plan ahead and prepare (and act accordingly), most things just aren't as serious as our minds can make them out to be. That's my hope for the current environmental crisis. If we can plan ahead, prepare, and change our actions to reflect greater human health and environmental sustainability, we can turn this ship around, and make these issues less serious than they are loo [...]

How many of us have this story: we tried running for years and kept getting hurt? Or we stopped because we felt beat-up physically even though we still had energy? This was my story until I read Born to Run and found Barefoot Ted's journey (check out the photos below!). Similarly, this was Barefoot Ted's story until he uncovered the discovery - or rediscovery - of barefoot running. What he found was this: "Hey! Human being! You know what? You evolved on this planet, and you happen to be the [...]

How many of us have this story: we tried running for years and kept getting hurt? Or we stopped because we felt beat-up physically even though we still had energy? This was my story until I read Born to Run and found Barefoot Ted's journey (check out the photos below!). Similarly, this was Barefoot Ted's story until he uncovered the discovery - or rediscovery - of barefoot running. What he found was this: "Hey! Human being! You know what? You evolved on this planet, and you happen to be the [...]

"What's the American Dream anymore? Do I have to buy a house, settle down? Will I ever find that girl? Do I want kids? What is home, anyway? A guy told me once that everybody needs a grand tour - some times away from the walls you have constructed around yourself, to shake you out of your routine, show you your real dreams, to show you your story. I found a story. Maybe the only one I really needed" -Brendan Leonard We get into this and more in Episode 020: Make sure to pick up a copy of Th [...]

"What's the American Dream anymore? Do I have to buy a house, settle down? Will I ever find that girl? Do I want kids? What is home, anyway? A guy told me once that everybody needs a grand tour - some times away from the walls you have constructed around yourself, to shake you out of your routine, show you your real dreams, to show you your story. I found a story. Maybe the only one I really needed" -Brendan Leonard We get into this and more in Episode 020: Make sure to pick up a copy of Th [...]

Brendan Leonard is the author of The New American Road Trip Mixtape and writes enthusiastically about things regular folks can do at Semi-Rad. Semi-Rad is what can be done with 52 weekends and a few weeks of vacation a year. It’s adventures for the everyman and woman. It’s a web site for those of us crushing it, kind of. We had a conversation about the struggles of finding work you love, his creative process, and the awesomeness of being passionately mediocre. Check this sample of his wri [...]

Brendan Leonard is the author of The New American Road Trip Mixtape and writes enthusiastically about things regular folks can do at Semi-Rad. Semi-Rad is what can be done with 52 weekends and a few weeks of vacation a year. It’s adventures for the everyman and woman. It’s a web site for those of us crushing it, kind of. We had a conversation about the struggles of finding work you love, his creative process, and the awesomeness of being passionately mediocre. Check this sample of his wri [...]

Depression has been described as like being trapped in a deep dungeon to which you have the key, but never think you can look for it - or from which you can climb out, but you don't believe you can do it. This is Garrett's story of using adventure to begin to climb out of those depths - both metaphorically and literally. Episode 018: Music today by Zach Schmidt who recently has a new album out! Check it out here. #mc_embed_signup{background:clear; clear:left; 18px font: [...]

Depression has been described as like being trapped in a deep dungeon to which you have the key, but never think you can look for it - or from which you can climb out, but you don't believe you can do it. This is Garrett's story of using adventure to begin to climb out of those depths - both metaphorically and literally. Episode 018: Music today by Zach Schmidt who recently has a new album out! Check it out here. #mc_embed_signup{background:clear; clear:left; 18px font: [...]