This topic has been percolating for a bit now and will bridge between personal and work stuff.

The concept here is very simple: when you tell stories that connect with people, you win. When you don’t tell those stories, the “why” behind whatever it is you do, you don’t.

I need to remember this too. While I still take pictures, document, and tell stories in my personal life, I don’t do it like I used to. I get lazy and leave the camera at home. Photography has always been a game of plateaus for me: I spend lots of time feeling like my work is in a rut before an inevitable “level up” if I push through. Over time, those plateaus get longer and it’s easy to get lazy.

Run club is a shining, if nonlinear, example.

I’m committed to the group photos for run club and have been consistently plugging away at those for years. Many hundreds of meetups later and very few where we don’t take a picture.

Those pictures tell the story, show people what the club looks like, and directly gets new people out with us because they can see themselves included. If we didn’t post with a level of weekly (and now almost daily) consistency, the club wouldn’t grow like it does and our community wouldn’t prosper as a result.

At work, it’s a lot easier to see the effect.

We’ve always been prolific with digital storytelling at Aspire: photography, videos, and websites that tell stories—sometimes complex ones—that resonate.

Lately, there’s been a great chasm of story-doers and story-don’ters.

The brands, counties, and non-profits telling stories? Big wins.

Others that have let stories slide away or never started? Sales dropping. Slowly, the public’s awareness eroded. A bad direction and a scary one.

If you’re selling something, simply showing your products, store hours, and sign-up links has never been enough. Nobody gets excited over a “call to action”.

Put that same product or service in the hands of a customer, show the problems you solve or feeling you evoke? Magic happens then.

It doesn’t really matter what it is, either: we’ve been pointing cameras at lab equipment, silt in local streams, and banking services an awful lot lately. Those stories work wonders. It’s even easier if what you sell is more exciting.

This is my personal kick-in-the-butt.

I’ll bring the camera like I always used to, remember to tell the stories, and not let complacency and a weighty world let me forget what wins.

At my core, I’ve always told stories. Somewhere along the way, I realized the value it had and started doing it for others too. I don’t want to see other losing when there’s stories to be told. If this motivates anyone else, that’d be a swell added perk.

Here’s the context: Kristy and I go outside with our dogs a lot. Several times per week, we’re out on trails or in places with limited cell service.

Our dogs are either on leash or have excellent recall. We don’t need hunting-style collars to show us that our dogs are running a county over; we just need a secondary option in case they chase a deer and are now lost one ridge over.

So, let’s solve that problem!

Sounds fairly straightforward with all the dog collar trackers that are on the market, right? Not exactly. They all have fundamental limitations OR are exorbitantly expensive.

If you’re not a huge nerd and would rather have a quick summary instead of a write-up, here’s the TL;DR: Using a couple hundred dollars in off-the-shelf radio components, I made a dog tracker that should, in theory, work anywhere in the world without the need for any outside network.

“Anywhere in the world” is a slightly dubious statement because you’d potentially have to get components that are made for your region—but you can order those from the same companies.

Why Other Trackers Fall Short

There’s two (or maybe three) basic tiers of dog trackers on the market:

1. “Airtag” style options that are cheap but require close proximity to work. These fail even in the scale of my backyard.

2. The accessible competition: Fi, Halo, and Tractive-style options that all require cellphone network signal to actually work.

3. True GPS-enabled dog trackers made for hunting. Garmin is the head of this. To get one receiver and one collar, you’re looking at $1000+

Most of them fall short for my use for one simple reason: they require a cell phone network to operate. Even in our nearby towns, cell service can be spotty. In the places we often go hiking like Giles County, Craig County, and Monroe County, WV, these cellular trackers might as well be useless.

So, the options are cellular-based collars that won’t work when we need them or very expensive Garmin collars that are simply overkill for the occasional “maybe my dog will chase a deer” situation.

Enter, a solution!

How “Meshtastic” Works

Meshtastic is “off-grid communication for everyone”, which sounds like some doomsday HAM radio stuff—which it kinda is. You don’t need an amateur radio license, though.

As simply put as possible, Meshtastic is a project that allows you to connect many radios (nodes) together to send text messages and positioning data over LoRa radio. No cellular network or outside infrastructure required.

The goal of many Meshtastic projects is to have a bunch of people with nodes around town, to create a mesh that lets you bounce your signals by “hopping” across their nodes.

That’s tough because you first need to convince a bunch of people on this fringe technology, to buy a cheap node, and to actually turn it on.

In order to make a dog tracker, though, all I need is a small network: my node, my wife’s, and a tracker on our dog.

Implementation

While the tracking setup was a bit finicky to set up (I had to factory reset one node a couple times to get location to report), it’s about as plug-and-play as any open source projects can be.

We purchased three “nodes”:

Two Muzi Works R1 Neo nodes.

One Elecrow ThinkNode M3 Meshtastic tracker—which is a node in itself but in a smaller package and with some additional configuration and sensors.

Note: I got the R1 Neo nodes because they have built-in GPS modules. That isn’t very relevant for this project since you could just pull that data from your phone. You could get cheaper radios like a complete Heltec V3 and have this work too.

Each of these nodes have onboard GPS modules so they can connect with satellites and transmit their location data across the radio network, at a set interval. The tracker node sends its position more often (every 30 seconds) and the other nodes update every couple minutes.

Using “Channel 0” that allows you to send your precise location and an encryption key that’s shared as a QR code to add more nodes to a channel, each of these nodes is basically “paired” together and will share its location with each other.

This information is all sent to the Meshtastic app, available for iOS, Android, and desktop. The nodes interface with each of our iPhones via Bluetooth and do not require any cellular service to work.

With a node in each human’s pocket and a tracker on our dog (zip-tied with a bracket on his collar), we can plot our locations on a map, included in the Meshtastic app, and receive updates from the tracker node in “real enough” time: about every 30 seconds.

“Squeak” and “Spud” are the nodes we have in our pocket and “Trac” is the dog tracker.

After we were confident that the nodes were reporting as we walked through the Virginia Tech campus, we tried something else: I walked away and Kristy kept our dog with her.

Within the time it took me to walk a few meters onto the drillfield, the Meshtastic app updated our positions and realized I was walking away.

Note: “Squeak” and “Trac” were actually together. The “Squeak” node simply updates less often than “Trac” is set to do. While this isn’t truly real-time, it’s fast enough that we could find our dog in the woods.

There you have it!

Subscription-less, off-grid (no cell network required) GPS dog tracking for less than the cost of most competitors collars.

Limitations/Next Steps

As with any project, this isn’t without limitations:

1. The radios need to have decent line-of-site to each other.

2. Each node needs charged AND the radios that my wife and I have in our pockets need a phone as well. That’s a lot to keep charged.

3. End-of-the-day, it’s relying on an open-sourced app that isn’t nearly as clean and sleek as what Garmin has to offer. That’s still a better product at a lot higher price.

“Will this work if our dog actually runs off?” We’ll see. Airtags and cell-based collars have failed in the past. The plan is to not have him run off in the first place, using a leash.

“Is it plug-and-play? Can I do this if I’m not into tinkering?” As with all technology stuff, I think you can! But I’m often reminded that I’m a lot more willing to read and play around than most people.

This was an incredibly “plug and play” solution in regards to using off-the-shelf radios and an app with no coding required.

“Can I use this as a tracker for my child/bike/family?” You could absolutely use this to track people or things if you were going for a hike or out on your property. The limitation is battery life: the tracker node has a stated battery life of 18 hours.

This is not an Airtag replacement to hide in a camera bag or bicycle. Airtags work better for that because they stay charged for months and if something gets lost or stolen, it only has to show up once to be “found”.

This was a fun winter project with some fairly inexpensive components.

Regardless of how often we’ll actually use this, these radios and the Meshtastic project in general is very fun.

This allows me to make subscription-less things at a time when the world only wants to supply subscription-based solutions. Figuring this out felt like the “old” internet: buggy, a little confusing, and fulfilling in the end.

One thing is for certain: we’d still need to find things to complain about.

A list, lovingly assembled with my wife:

• I can’t find bike parking outside the brewery. Everyone keeps taking all the spots.

• The kids in the park down the street are too loud.

• The train left on-time and I missed it. Again.

• My car battery keeps dying. I keep forgetting to drive anywhere.

• I can’t get an appointment with my doctor until tomorrow.

• The close bakery has better muffins but the far one has better coffee.

• I keep getting lost on the local trails. There’s too many.

• All the good storefronts downtown are taken with pretty shops.

• The sidewalks are too wide. People don’t know where to walk!

• I keep tracking in too many flower petals from the yard.

• The prettier bike path is too hilly.

And some additions, assembled with the help of friends:

• The farmer’s market has too many fresh options; I don’t know what to make for dinner. (Alex Gomes)

• The rooftop solar company is backed up with too much demand. They’re hiring like crazy, but it’s hard to properly train so many employees so quickly. (Alex Gomes)

Want to add your own? Leave a comment or text me and I’ll add it (with your name too, if you want)

This blog thing is just plain fun. I’m not taking it seriously at all—just writing when and what I want. Last year, when I was taking it a big more seriously, I wrote up some 2025 Resolutions.

Now, let’s see how I did!

Regardless of these resolutions from last year, this year was amazing. We got married, biked in the Netherlands, saw freaking windmills, raised a lovely puppy, saw many old friends, and got outside a whole lot.

Anyway, these were last years’ resolutions:

(Personal) “Shirk my cellular responsibilities.” (-5/10)

Yeah, no. Failed at this one. A helpful reminder. I even downloaded Threads again after a good long break. Phones are still my problem. Gross.

(Personal) Quit buying new stuff. (8/10)

I did pretty well here. Selling my daily driver and buying a bike was a wonderful idea. It wasn’t hard and has saved an incredible amount of money. I drive the van when I need to and just don’t miss that little sedan at all.

New cars do not save you any money. Nor are they more reliable. The math doesn’t work out. I don’t spend anywhere near a car payment to keep the van rolling each month. Not even close.

Most of my clothes are approaching a decade old, too. It’s a great feeling. When I started buying quality clothes, new or thrifted, the costs hurt pretty bad. Now, they’ve paid for themselves over and over! I tend to buy secondhand for everything too. Online consignment is great.

(Personal) Eat a little smarter. (5/10)

Probably about the same. I really enjoy the farm share and I want to grow a little bit bigger garden this year. Food is food.

(Work) Only take on deeper tasks. (7/10)

Definitely a good trajectory here. We take on more, bigger projects and less small stuff. I love the small stuff; I just don’t have time for much of it. I want to find a way to do the small, fun things but can’t seem to figure that out.

(Work) Don’t worry about growth. Serve instead. (9/10)

Did I do well here, on accident? Aspire grew a lot this year, by most every metric. We have an absolutely amazing team. I can’t remember if I really worked to grow or serve more, though. I just want to do impactful work.

(Work) Work with who wants to be in the room. (7/10)

I only want to work with and work for people who want me in the room with them. Fortunately, I seem to find plenty of those people. I hope this will only improve over time.

(Run Club) Collaborate as broadly as possible. (5/10)

This is one piece I haven’t figured out yet. People and brands “want” to collaborate but, so far, we don’t fully align. I haven’t found ways that collaboration really helps out the club or its members. With a notable exception, though, from Iron Tree Brewing Company, which is an excellent home base and even put up our flag!

In terms of run community collaboration, too? It’s great. We work back-and-forth with the Blacksburg Striders a lot now and are really forming a great regional community of runners.

(Run Club) Tighten up the mission and solidify. (2/10)

This year, we might have gotten looser. I started out last year thinking we’d form the non-profit organization, have a scholarship fund going, and be “real” by now.

We’re bigger than ever, with more committed folks. But as an organization, it’s looser. Maybe that’s just community. One big, crazy family.

(Run Club) Build community affinity. (7/10)

One year better in the community. More people know about us. I hear about run club in odd places more often. People tell me they love to see it. We’re doing well here.

“The big one”: Build only for those that are open to it. (7/10)

I don’t quite remember why this one felt “big” last year. I think I was experiencing some frustration with people who were terminally unhappy with a lot in their own lives and it bled into work.

Not everyone is open to growth. Not every place, either: I’m still not sure if Christiansburg truly wants to improve or not. But time will tell and we’ll keep making friends and running in town!

Will I do some more resolutions this year? Maybe. Or maybe I’ll keep going.

The Kindness We Seem to Lack

Amsterdam and the Netherlands was amazing… and I have almost nothing to say about it. It was a beautiful trip. We walked for hours on cobblestone streets, rode bikes alongside thousands of Dutch folks, and ducked into more shops for coffee, pastries, and half-pint (“vaasje”) beers than I can count. It was a dream for several days and I’ll remember it forever.

I expected to learn a thing or two about biking while I was there. The helmet-less, beautifully chaotic city riding was incredible. I can absolutely see how it would quickly just become commonplace to be on a bike and rarely need a car.

It would never work back here, though.

There was one big takeaway: we’re not going to infrastructure or legislate our way out of our American car problem. Even if we built beautiful, safe bike lanes everywhere and separated our giant cars and trucks from bikes and pedestrians, drivers would still find a way to be terrible.

We already speed through crosswalks and spew hateful comments online about bikers and walkers whenever they come up. Those aren’t all keyboard warriors, either: I’ve taken those conversations offline and into real life and people around me will double-down on the hate.

It’s the Kindness We Seem to Lack

It’s bizarre to me that we can offer so much grace to those immediately around us and then turn around and “other” everyone else.

The bike you’re behind in the road isn’t the enemy. That’s a person, going somewhere. That’s simple. They’re not breaking laws any more often than drivers are—and I’d argue probably a lot less.

Go beyond biking too. The person in the grocery store who’s walking around, annoyingly oblivious to those around them is just a person. Their life is hard, like everyone else. Yet, we get irate.

We can extrapolate this lack of kindness into so many parts of life. I’m strapped for time today but this problem goes very deep.

I didn’t see that “otherness” when I was riding in Amsterdam

I was a random person among many thousands. Riding around walkers, trams, busses, ferries, and yes: a whole lot of cars. Like, a small American city number of cars. It wasn’t the DC Beltway or Manhattan car-packed but it felt like Roanoke or Raleigh in terms of cars.

The hate wasn’t there, though. Cars know their place. Just big, bumbling metal objects moving around all of humanity. Bikers and walkers too—sometimes people mess up or ride somewhere dumb. You divert off, maybe ring your bell if it’s especially egregious, and keep going. That’s kindness.

And it’s kindness we lack.

Thanks for the photo! I didn’t take it. Photo credit: Jace & Afsoon

Starring into our messy sewing drawer, or still-uncut lawn, or van that needs its oil changed, or the emails piling up (which is my typical excuse for not writing here), it’s easy to only see chaos and busyness.

But that sewing drawer just looks like opportunity to repair something instead of trashing it. The lawn hardly matters. The oil change will only take half an hour in the driveway and that van means freedom.

It all piles and piles but one thing is certain: I believe in you. I believe in us.

I hear so much frustration, constantly. It’s true that the world, at least if you look at any current event, is in shambles. Yesterday, as I was eating my Cook Out lunch in a dilapidated strip mall parking lot with my window down, I thought: “this is nobody’s idea of good. Look broader, at everything going on. There isn’t even one person that looks around at the world today and says “yep, we’re good!”

It’s very easy to conclude that most everyone has simply given up. But I don’t think so. I believe in you.

Take my daily, easy win: run club. I believe, so much, in this group of people who show up for themselves and each other every week. It’s just a couple hours to be together but the camaraderie compounds over time. I hope nobody feels alone, crowded together on the gravel shoulder of a busy street running or with three tables pushed together at the bar after, shoulder-to-shoulder with each other and every toddler, dog, and fragile glass pint in the mix.

I believe in you a lot more, though.

I believe that you’re pouring so much into what’s actually important every day. Getting your kids fed each morning and being present with them is more important than any work meeting you feel bad missing. Cancel the meeting. It should have been an email anyway.

I believe that we all want a better community. We want safe sidewalks to walk on and places to go. I know, too, that you don’t have time or energy to take action. Almost none of us can attend evening committee meetings or hollow “work sessions” in the name of change. If our leaders actually represented our concerns, we wouldn’t have to. We shouldn’t need to.

Even beyond that, what if your employer doesn’t agree? It’s way more important to keep a job than be vocal about progress.

I believe that we’re all striving in ways nobody else sees. Take social media, because it’s an easy example: it’s pretty dead these days. There’s anger and hate, for sure, but that doesn’t do anything good. The smart ones among us have logged off. I’m still there, of course.

We can’t worry ourselves if people don’t interact or buy our thing. I work in marketing: that often means sales—at scale.

Unless it’s essential, in ways only groceries and gas are, anybody that buys “nice to haves” now should be celebrated. It’s a statement against chaos to give someone a gift or buy a coffee out. I know we’re all doing the very best we can. You deserve that coffee, too.

I believe that your commitment to travel, to go out into nature with phones off and not a soul in sight, or that time you take away from it all to read a book—whatever you need that makes the world better for you—is essential. Those moments are probably all that’s holding you together some days, so please: take the time.

“I believe” we can offer each other so much more grace.

Be a steward to those around you. Be kind when others won’t. Hide away when you need to, so you can be the best version of you when it’s time to be there.

A lot of what I’ve written here so far comes back to community and grace. Since I wrote about Building Community in Tough Times in February, things certainly aren’t any better. But we’re still here and growing in good ways.

If we offer more grace, too, we can all be better. We might even be able to Lessen Each Others’ Burdens, when we have the strength.

I’ve been really bad about writing here lately. Life and work are busier than ever and I’m grateful to lean into all of it. Trying to write weekly over the summer just proved too much and I gave myself the grace to not force it. I’m back for now and hopeful, though.

The choice to go car-lite and get an e-bike has brought upon joy, fitness, and a rekindled connection to our hometown. We’ve sailed past the first 500 miles on our bike—when I meant to write this post—and are nearly at the first thousand.

I’ve been a bike nerd for most of my life. It’s always meant freedom, fun, and this sense of joy that I can’t quite explain unless we’re out riding together. For all those years, though, it also felt like owning a “daily driver” car was necessary. Come to find out, it wasn’t—even in our small town that’s largely deprived of any bicycle infrastructure.

Being “car-lite” is so much easier than expected.

We didn’t make any radical change with this new endeavor. Kristy and I still have cars: a Subaru Crosstrek as our reliable, modern car and an absolutely lovely camper van from the 90’s.

Car-lite living is so easy, though, that we still don’t drive the van enough to keep the battery reliably charged to start it.

One e- bike that we can share and cars when we need them. It’s easy.

Once I sold my Jetta, we bought a Tern Quick Haul P9 at Roanoke Mountain Adventures. It’s a compact cargo bike with a good motor. It’s designed to fit people of many sizes and Kristy and I can both ride it comfortably and only need to adjust the seatpost each time.

If you’re considering an e-bike, it’s a great option. There’s definitely cheaper bikes as well as ones that are triple this price. I wanted one that would solidly work as a “car replacement”, so I chose the Tern.

In the market? This Quick Haul has gone up in price thanks to one man’s silly tariffs but the industry has so many options. There’s used ones now, too!

We put about 100 a miles a week on our Tern.

Every weekday with decent weather, one of us rides to work. It’s around 20 miles roundtrip, which uses about 80% of the battery with our town’s relentless hills. In a flatter place, you’d get a lot more out of a single charge.

That’s 100 miles a week that we get to be outside. 100 miles that we don’t put on either car. We also drive less in general—grocery trips are easy with the cargo bike and I will definitely grab the bike to ride over to a friend’s instead of driving.

A few days of groceries isn’t hard at all to pick up on the bike. It’s stable with weight and cruises easily at 22-25mph. Going down a hill (the motor cuts off at 28mph) these little tires feel great at 35mph too.

So, should you get an e-bike?

I genuinely think most people could use one. So many car trips are short ones: to the store, over to a friend’s, or general errands like work commutes and kids to daycare.

Most people I talk to are incredibly supportive of the car-lite thing. Others share the same basic reservations about it.

• “It’s dangerous."Sure. But so is driving. And I’ve come to grips that biking in general isn’t necessarily safe. At least with this bike I can keep up with cars most of the time.

• “I live too far away from work.” This one makes perfect sense. But how about your grocery store? Daycare? Church? There’s lots of trips you could use a bike to accomplish!

• “I can’t with the kids.” This is a big one. The funny part is, the vast majority of e-bike owners I know have kids and an incredible amount of e-bike marketing and the products brands sell are designed for this very use in mind. There’s a kid-focused solution for pretty much everything associated with e-bikes!

Bottom line: I think you can e-bike! Most everyone reading this could replace a car trip with some bike rides, walks, or by simply choosing not to do the drive. They make tricycles, scooters, and so many more assistive devices now, too.

So, what have I learned? Let’s start with the frustrating parts:

You’ll need to know how to fix basic bike things like flat tires. It’s a function, mostly, that we’re simply putting a lot more miles on bikes than ever before. That being said, I’ve also changed more flats than ever before. That seems to be sorting itself out over time but it’s been a bit frustrating start.

It forces me to plan. Long-term, this will be a good thing. There’s no more “I forgot to grab something, let me pop back home in 15 minutes.” or “Can we meet in half an hour?”

The bike provided a crash course in planning. Again, this is frustrating in the moment but not a bad thing. Most work meetings can be virtual and I’ve learned to be a bit better about packing.

Brodozer trucks and SUV drivers on cell phones Cars still hate you. Being on the the bikes more now, we get yelled at more. If anything, I think the vitriol towards bikes is getting worse. I often think that even if a small percentage of people would get on bikes too, we’d all be safer just by sheer numbers.

I really don’t want idiotic drivers to scare anybody off, though. I’ve found safe routes and ways to deescalate driver interactions over the years and am more-than-happy to share my tactics.

What about all the good?

All the good parts of e-bikes far, far outweigh the frustrations. That’s why I didn’t even call anything above “bad”. They’re all just realities of life—planning is good, mechanical things break, and some drivers will simply never learn. There’s so much good:

I’ve seen the seasons change in an incredibly intimate way. Everyday, there’s new birds out chirping. Trees bloom literally overnight. The Huckleberry Trail (our local greenway system) is a vestige of green space where cars and car driver’s attitudes can’t touch.

The people are incredible. Everyday I ride, I wave at almost everyone. I’ve started to see the regulars and learn their routines. Everyone is just moving about and living their own life. Without a metal cage around us, it all feels so much closer.

More than that, my own community supports it. People have reached out, offering their cars if I ever need to borrow one. Nobody cares if I show up a little sweaty. Everyone asks questions and I can often feel the wheels turning in their own heads: “Can I do this too?”

You can do this too.

If you’re considering it, take the leap. Talk to me. I can send you information, resources, and a not-so-gentle nudge in the right direction. These first few hundred miles have been lovely. I can’t wait for more!

Years later now, it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done and a great example of a phrase that people preach all the time: “start before you’re ready.”

Run club started out because we needed to build community here in Christiansburg. Camaraderie and connection just didn’t exist for those of us moving into town, drawn in by decent housing prices and the promise of an “up-and-coming” town.

Fast-forward over five years now and it’s plain to see that we’ve built something pretty special as a community. Running is the amazing glue that holds it all together.

Thanks mostly in part to run club and my own stubborn commitment to consistency, I’m a runner now! I put down decent miles each week, race very little, and sing the merits of our regional running community to anyone who will listen. Literal olympians share our local greenways with people lacing up shoes for the first time. That’s magical.

I run for the community aspect and the day-to-day vibes. Today, I wanted to write down some of my “rules” for running: think of them more as guidelines that I’ve learned along the way.

I’m not an authority on running. I’ve learned a thing or two about community, though.

I didn’t run in high school or college. I’ve never really posted any notable times, won a race, or done anything too daring in the sport. Take this as a fun list and, please, listen to the many voices in the running world that are better than me.

Even though I’m not an expert on running, I care deeply about building communities. These “rules” mostly serve me for that side: the fun, mindful, best-sport-I’ve-ever-done part of running that have made this last half decade fly by.

I love running and I hope you’ll enjoy this little glimpse into the sport with me.

Here they are! Roberts’ Rules of Running:

There’s no “right” way to run. You’re doing it right!

Runs around the block when you have 10 minutes, track days, ultras, walks, they’re all good and they all count!

Don’t get caught up in worrying about if you’re running the right way or not. Especially when you’re starting out, lace up your shoes and head out. Go slower than you think you need to and just get used to the movement. Don’t push too hard or you’ll get hurt, especially in the beginning.

Walking is part of it.

Brendan Leonard puts this into great perspective in his book, “I Hate Running and You Can Too: How to Get Started, Keep Going, and Make Sense of an Irrational Passion” available here.

You should read his book. But this one is easy: don’t worry about walking. If you want to, walk! We do lots of runs, especially when it’s just me and Kristy, where we walk a lot. When you’re racing or trying to put up a great time, you want to try and walk instead of stopping. But walking can be really helpful, even when you’re pushing hard.

Taking this one step further, I love our run club walks. Every Monday, we meet up and walk through neighborhood streets, no running involved. Even if you never want to take that faster stride and become a “runner”, you can reap the same benefits of fitness and community by walking. It’s awesome.

You don’t have to race.

I’m really just not enamored with racing. I enjoy spectating races and love when I can cheer on friends. I love keeping up with competitive athletes and seeing them push boundaries.

But I don’t run to race. They don’t motivate me—knowing that I have a race scheduled is almost demotivating for me. Wake up early, start exactly when somebody with a starting gun tells you…it’s just not me. I probably do a handful a year.

You don’t have to race.

Everything else counts too.

Life happens. Right now, we have a lovely puppy who can’t run until he’s a year old in August. We’re running a lot less and walking him a lot more. I also sold my car and started biking, which has propelled me from a dozen or so biking miles per week to around 40.

Everything else matters. Don’t beat yourself up when you enter a season of life where you’re running less. Or the flip: don’t worry if others think you’re crazy if now’s the time to up those miles and dream big.

Eat food and bring water.

Seriously, bring snacks!! Morgan Corl, the person I co-founded run club with, taught me that. It’s more fun and you’ll feel better during and after your run. Candy is great run fuel too.

And another: bring water! There is no penalty for having a water bottle in your hand or wearing a vest. You’ll learn over time when you don’t need to bring water and it will feel like a no-brainer. If you’re ever in-doubt, just grab a water bottle.

Related: bring $20 and toilet paper with you running. You’re welcome.

Runs can be unserious.

Do not run every run with training and goals in mind. Just go run. Run with your dog. Run with your friends when they’ve had a bad day. But just go run.

If you get into this thing, you’re going to spend an incredible amount of hours doing this. Like, part-time job number of hours. Find a way to make it fun.

Remember to wave.

This goes for biking, hiking, and most anything done on a road or trail: WAVE! A simple acknowledgement that requires nothing from you builds community and lets that other person understand that they belong.

Fast friends make you faster.

Don’t be scared to run with people who you know are faster than you. I am, at my absolute best, middle of the pack. Your faster friends will teach you the ropes, explain the intricacies, and naturally make you faster over time.

And one note on “faster”: it’s a weird goal. You don’t need to get any faster than you are today. But over time and with consistency, it will happen on its own. I love when I feel fast on a run. It’s of those rare, amazing moments in this sport.

You should probably go for that run.

We all make excuses to not go for a run. There are many times you shouldn’t: if you’re too injured, sick, in a place where it isn’t safe, or in general whenever pushing your body to run would make other things worse.

But if we’re being honest with ourselves, a lot of the time we just don’t want to go. In those moments, you should go for that run.

A lot of times, we’ll get done with a run club run and somebody will say, “thanks for this. I wouldn’t have run if you guys weren’t there with me.” When you choose to go for a run, you might be helping somebody else too. Just go for it.

I hope you enjoyed these! They’ll be fun to look back on in a few more years and see what’s changed. I’m planning to do one of these for biking as well, so stay tuned and subscribe if you aren’t already!

Best is a dumb word.

I write for a living. I might do a lot of other things to scrape together this career but it all comes down to writing: for myself and to get the words of others out there. Whether it’s clear communication for an email, words on a website, or putting heartfelt videos out to show emotional perspectives, words are the core of it all.

I don’t use “best”

In the world right now, we’re at a sink-or-swim moment. People are either covered up with work to the point of burnout or one day away from closing up shop. There doesn’t seem to be much in-between.

When emotions run high and desperation seeps in, people start to think in binaries. “Best” and “worst” come out when what we truly need is nuance.

Quit saying “best”

None of us are the best. I’m certainly not the pinnacle of anything that I do. If we were truly at the top heap of that thought-terminating word, we wouldn’t even be in the places we are today.

I know a few people who probably are the best at what they do. To get there, they had to carve out a niche within a niche. They were the “best” one time, in one moment, or they truly are the most studied in a focused field. But if you talk to the greats, they’ll all point to a dozen people who they think are better.

The rest of us? Not the best.

If I was the best storyteller, web designer, business owner, or marketer? I wouldn’t be around and available to serve the people I care about. Am I fairly good and studied at it? Yes. Am I among the better people regionally? I think so. But ‘best’ isn’t coming out of my mouth.

Best run club founder? Of course not. If I was even among the top 100, Nike would have called and I’d live near Beaverton, Oregon. (I’m willing, Nike.)

Best fiancé/dog dad/photographer/community builder/writer/gardener? Not a chance in hell at any of those. Doesn’t mean I can’t work to be a little bit better every day.

The truth is, none of us are the best at anything.

It’s a worthless pursuit to even try. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be the one to show up and be there when people ask. It doesn’t mean your business can’t be the place people choose to work with that day. It certainly doesn’t mean you can’t win simply because you aren’t the best.

Abandon it and tell a real story instead.

We use that bad word all the time and I’m sorry to say: none of us are the best at anything.

Best restaurant? Or even simply best burgers in your small town? For who, what day? What if they want outdoor seating or a vegan option? What if they just like the memories they made at the place down the road?

Don’t lean on best, tell me that you pride yourself on making others feel welcome. Tell me about the farmer you buy your beef from—she’s not the best either but it means a lot that you’re buying local!

Your kid’s the best on the team? What happens when they aren’t anymore? They might win a lot but are they the best teammate? Mentor to younger athletes? We can’t all be everything but we can work on each part.

Let’s focus on being what our community needs each day.

I’ll never worry about being the top of anything that I do. But I promise, I’ll show up more. I’ll be more consistent. I’ll outlast and out-help.

There are billions upon billions of people on this planet. The chances of any one of us being the top at anything for more than a fleeting moment is nonexistent. Don’t even try and lean on it. Just focus on being what you need for yourself. After that, focus on how you might help others. It’s that easy.

If you’re reading this, by now you’ve figured out that I don’t think you’re the best at anything. But I know you’re really good at a lot of things and you’re important to yourself and those around you. If you aren’t sure why that is, reach out and I can tell you. I’m happy to be your hype squad.

Last post, I said, “I hope I can look back decades from now and find that it only grew stranger from here.” I may have spoken that into existence.

Almost two weeks ago now, we drove my Volkswagen Jetta down to Greensboro, signed it away to Carvana, toured a wonderful botanical garden, and came back home in the Subaru.

I turned around a couple days later and bought a Tern e-bike for daily use. What felt like a bandaid ripped off then feels a lot less scary even just a few days later.

You see, I’ve always been a bike nerd.

Enjoy these throwback photos that Flickr still retains and will let me download in full quality decades later.

Looking back at old photos, I think I started in on bikes about 2005. At thirteen years old, bikes naturally meant freedom and fun. For me, though, they were this obsession that didn’t require anybody else’s time or input. I had a few other bike friends, a couple pretty close ones maybe, but it was mainly a solo pursuit.

Bikes taught me how to be by myself. Despite my outward community building and networking work, I’ve always felt really at-ease being alone. I still crave alone time and find a lot of comfort in it.

I was a bit of a loner kid. Not popular or remotely capable of it. I had friends, all of whom were the odd kids too—obviously all of us rebels without a cause brought up by Hot Topic and Parental Advisory CDs. I look back on those years and see how shitty many of those friends were. Times where it seems everyone bullied everyone with teachers being among the worst offenders. Half the stuff that happened would never fly today in the age of cell phone video and consequences. I’ve retained friendships with a small handful of those folks still but I can certainly see why I was drawn towards bikes.

Being alone on a bike was as fun then as it is now. Back then, I rode a lot with my dad—that was fun. Now, I ride with Kristy and on group rides or happenstance meetups on the trail. But most of my biking has always been alone.

Biking let me go far. Far away, places I’d pause at even driving to now. I wonder how many hours and miles I spent out there spinning.

I was brought up biking during the fixie age—a bike with one gear, that doesn’t coast, and often with few brakes aside from your legs resisting the pedal movement. They were made cool by bike messengers. I was a little young and far too rural to be truly part of the scene but at the same time, always welcomed. Biking introduced me to alternative folks and the things that come with that: thrifty ingenuity, fixing your own shit when it breaks, art, and all the rest.

I worked in bike shops, read bike forums, rode bikes, and didn’t really want to do anything else. It was a magical time. Even when I got a car, and then a truck, I biked as much as I could. I remember teachers and school administrators being largely unhappy with that fact. Us three bike kids were going to get hit by a car, or do drugs, or think for ourselves. Now I know, it was really that last one.

There were so many great things about that era, both in biking and in early-ish Internet culture. I’m glad this webcomic still loads: Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery.

Man, I lived for that daily comic. I’d get a tattoo of it.

20 years later, I’m so glad to be here again!

Biking is still here, welcoming me back in. I never truly left except for a few years after college where I didn’t own a bike. In recent years, though, I’ve only ridden recreationally. That’s fun too: Kristy and I have done a tour and have more planned. We can finally afford the bikes I’d have dreamed of back then.

Now, in the spring of 2025, I’m back to the lifestyle.

Bike people are my people. It’s a merry band of misfits who never truly fit in elsewhere. It’s fun to find those people other places too: in running, caving, and so many communities. Turns out, everyone in those worlds ride bikes too. If teenage, bike-obsessed me had only known what was in store he would have been a lot more optimistic about the future.

Now, we have a 1998 Burley tandem and a 1998 camper van to haul it. It’s whimsical, terrifying, and so much fun. Biking has taught me to be weird and wild and to never care what others think.

I really don’t care much about outward impressions. I love to share my view of the world but I’ve absolutely made peace with the fact that my life won’t be normal. I’m a contrarian but mostly just because I find the alternatives to be more fun.

I don’t hate cars at all. I like old cars, stick shifts, and turbos. They’re fun. What I’d like to see is a lot fewer cars on the road and a lot more people on bikes. Let the car enthusiasts and those who truly need them have the streets. If we all would simply pick up a bike or walk places more, the roads and world would be a better place.

We all have the ability to opt out of becoming more traffic.

That’s where I hope this new journey takes me: propelling myself on two wheels when I can. I’ll grab a car when I need to but I’ll head out into the rain as much as I can. I’ve already noticed that facing the wind feels pretty good.

I’m sure this won’t be the last time I talk about bikes here. I already have some writing planned. I just wanted to honor this change and talk about the context a little. I was always headed back here and I’m glad I took the leap.

I keep coming back to that question. It’s often when I’m running, walking, or doing something where my mind is elsewhere. It’s been a bit of a nagging thought, especially when I reflect on daily tasks.

The world is, has always been, and will always be, tough. Right now, we’re in a most trying time. Without a strong community around us, it would be truly hard to cope. We’re all faced with many burdens each day and I’ve started to wonder if there’s a balm for at least some of them.

One note: I find that my personal community is already doing a great job of this stuff. We work collectively to help each other, often with a sincere goal to pay the favor back or an understanding that it’s not necessary. If you read this and find that you’re already doing all these things, that’s wonderful! I’m writing in hopes that this spurs someone to action, to build their own community up and help create good.

When I think about “burdens”, I think of two types.

Most easily noticed are the serious, life-altering burdens we all encounter: sickness, death, loneliness—all the sad, assured parts of life. They shock you out of your everyday and people tend to come out to support those. Those are burdens we’re used to lending a hand through.

Then, there are burdens that get a lot less press: everyday things that we’re taught to simply tough out. I’m thinking broadly here, things like:

• The relentless need to run errands.

• Making dinner when the kids are sick, you’re exhausted, and laundry is piling up.

• Home repair tasks that are a lot easier with another set of hands.

• Lonely commutes to work through roads that seem to get worse every day.

The second type of burdens are all things that we can all mostly get through alone. Each little stress compounds, though, and often has me wondering: what if we collectively worked to help each other through?

We know to show up when something tragic happens. We’re taught to cook food for those that are mourning and I’ve received some amazing soup when I have been. Thank you.

What if, though, we simply dropped off food to make someone’s Tuesday a little brighter? What if we made it a habit to buy a coffee if we know someone had a rough night?

Those are the burdens I’m looking to ease. It requires us all to look around a little more proactively and ask, “how can I help?” more often. It also requires a good amount of give-and-take: this only really works if those that ease burdens have their own eased as well.

More just piles on more and so much of what we’re asked to do simply keeps us busy. Reflecting on each day, I plainly see that many things simply exist to create more: the easiest examples are in our professional lives. “Networking events” being among the most egregious offenses, so much business is there to make more money, to buy more things, to truly form a hamster wheel of burdens like cars, houses, and clothes.

Removing the question of how we can financially or socially benefit from something and simply giving because it helps someone’s day be a little bit better is a mindset shift that’s out of the norm.

Ideas to ease our burdens

So, just like in my ideas for community building in tough times, writing is cheap without action. So how might you reduce the burdens of those around you?

Show up in small ways. Go for a walk with friends. Attend a birthday party and be the one to help clean up. Help someone take their car to the mechanic. Don’t be afraid to help with the little things that pile up.

Give freely among those around you. If you bake, bring some to your neighbors. If you garden, share your bounty. If you’re handy, repair things to help your community save money.

Giving to a little free food pantry is another great way to ease a burden. It takes very little time out of your day and costs only as much as you’re comfortable giving. You stand a wonderful chance to give to someone you might not know, whose burdens might be truly great.

Don’t wait to start. Too many of us are well-meaning but never take the leap. Please, don’t hesitate! If it’s clear that your friend or neighbor could benefit and you’re in a position to help, do so. Till their garden, cut up a tree, do something to build them up.

Don’t just give someone more work. When you refer work to someone, ask permission first. Make sure it’s something they want, where they can truly benefit. I see this a lot in the small business world: we drum up work for each other that might not be what someone’s needs in that moment. Always ask and honor a “no” if that’s what you’re given.

Often, we’re taught to put others in front of ourselves. It’s noble, of course, but a lot more good can be done by first focusing on your immediate community and those that return the favor back to you. When your needs are truly met, it’s a lot easier to dream bigger.

I really want to make our community a better place. I’d love if these ideas made it out broadly, helping others as well. It all requires reciprocity: if you receive help, it becomes your task to help someone else—once you’re not spread so thin, that is.

We’re all faced with burdens everyday. If we collectively work to pull ourselves out of the tasks that simply keep us busy and work to ease each other’s days a bit, we’ll all be much better for it.

It’s fun and very heartening to have an outlet full of people who don’t mind reading something a little longer, where I’m able to explain myself more completely and use words that might be too “collegiate” for some ears. Most of my writing work is commercial, focused on explaining things with the simplest and shortest language possible. In that world, we know people won’t read it anyway. Here, I know the words get through.

Thank you all.

I’ve been reflecting on joy lately. In a world that seems systematically set on robbing us of so many good moments, it feels like rebellion to look at my time and realize that there is truly so much that brings me happiness each week.

Today, I thought I’d talk about what I look forward to often.

Evenings spent in nature

While our adventures are consistently less epic than they were in the past, we are spending so much more time outside than ever before. Every moment feels precious, so even just a half hour outside on a trail with the dogs adds so much happiness.

We are all so busy. I’m as guilty of it as anyone: saying yes because I want to help and want to impact so much. I’ve grown far more careful of any “yes”, making sure that anything I do is aligned alongside people with shared visions and goals.

So many evenings, most of them in-fact, are spoken for. It’s a nearly automatic “no” anymore for anything else. Weekends are even worse. So when we have a chance to get outside one evening, we take it. I really don’t want to out-busy my life to any extent that would prevent that.

Little adventures bring me close to the world. I’ve gone out in every season and in most any weather, observing things few others make the time to see. That’s important to me.

Storytelling work

Most of my job is storytelling work, in one way or the other.

I’m really grateful to enjoy my job. That wasn’t always the case, even after learning that I’m bad at being an employee and starting on my own thing. Chasing work to “scale” was never at the core of what I wanted to do and I’m extremely grateful to feel like I’m on the other side: telling stories and helping organizations grow where I can have true impact.

I start every week excited to jump in. Whether I’m behind a computer organizing work or behind a camera, it’s easy to see now that I’m where I belong. All the rest that we do at Aspire serves to tell the stories: the websites, the strategies we write, and all the technical issues we solve are just there to forward someone’s story and bring a dream to life.

With a hearty workload now, that’s allowing us to hire some and grow again. I can’t wait to see where it takes us and I’m looking forward to that.

Run Club. Oh, Run Club!

I can safely admit it now: Christiansburg Run Club is monumentally bigger than I ever thought it could be. Our numbers and each member’s commitment to each other is incredible. A dozen of us ran a freaking ultra this weekend together.

Run club forms the basis for a community that I truly value and could not be as happy here without. Like many clubs, it’s about more than the activity itself. We get dinner together, babysit each others kids, go for bike rides, and move furniture together. I could go on for a very long time about how much joy that brings me.

Monday and Thursday evenings, every single week, are joyous.

Adventures, chickens, and this wonderfully strange life we lead.

This final section will be “all the rest”: Kristy (who is reflected in all the rest too), chickens, tandem bikes, our rambunctious dogs, a camper van nearly as old as we are, and all the adventures and misadventures we find ourselves on.

Looking at the present, I can’t say I’m surprised exactly by where I am. I’ve always leaned into what feels good and never worried too much if it’s typical or not. Chasing status or things was never part of my plan and never will be. All these simple things bring me joy.

I hope I can look back decades from now and find that it only grew stranger from here.

Thanks for reading this, you people with actual attention spans! I’m glad you’re here and support this work. If it wasn’t for your kind words, I’d probably still be writing—that’s the kind of stubborn person that I am. But your words do truly help and I’m grateful for them in more ways than you know.

Compelled to write more now, it’s clear that one of the best things I can do is be a little dose of joy instead of another harbinger of dread and sadness—we have plenty of that in the world.

Today, I thought I’d bring you on our last little hike.

Kristy and I are pretty good about devoting time for what matters intensely to us: spending time with each other and doing the things that bring us joy. It takes a lot of intention and balance-that-feels-odd to pull this off.

Often, our adventures aren’t big endeavors. Yesterday, it just meant leaving town an hour before a wintertime sunset to take a slippery drive to Poverty Creek, head down a fire road, and park at a gate we’ve been to hundreds of times before now.

We did the “Mayapple loop”, a flat-ish two mile loop that takes us through pine forest, beaver-dammed marshland, and across a couple creek crossings.

I love having access to nature so close here. There’s very few places I’ve been to that let you find a dozen hikes 20 minutes from home. The only similar places I’ve been to are on the front range in Colorado and the Adirondacks in upstate New York.

A tangent but stay with me: while there wasn’t much wildlife out in the sleet yesterday, this is a great loop for nature spotting. A Barred Owl resides in the marshy stretch and has followed us around like a sentinel in the past. Owls do that to us—more than I think is normal. I like to think it means something.

Samwise, our new puppy, is doing great. As effortless as off-leash training felt with Maggie, he’s learning just the same—from her this time.

I’m looking forward to Samwise’s graduation from puppyhood but trying to remember that I’ll earnestly miss these moments too. If we don’t give time to things like this, we’ll only look back on missed memories.

Taking a couple hours to escape to the woods with our dogs is more important to me than most things.

A simple hike and time feeling reasonably present in the woods is one of things that brings me the most joy. Yesterday, I was skipping around, knocking wet snow off pine branches, and smiling much more than usual.

We stay so busy that it’s easy to just let life go by on the way to appointments, meetings, or all the rest we’re told is important. To me, those aren’t going to matter later on. Endless hours in the woods will feel good, though.

Communities show us that there’s so much good in those around us. Once you notice that and can lean in on your friends and neighbors for support, your mindset shifts. Building community is like many things: it takes consistency and stubbornness. Once you commit to the practices of community, though, you build inertia too.

Today, I thought I’d talk about how to simply start. The same way you became a runner the first time you laced up your shoes and went for a run, you start building community the first time you take an intentional step towards it.

Pretty soon, you’ll notice the connections and momentum build.

You don’t have to start a run club

It would be easy to simply write about run club for this whole thing but I know that’s not everyone’s idea of a good time. Start in a way that feels good to you, that helps you feel less isolated and more connected. Like any practice, it gets easier as you go.

Here are some ways to start building community:

Share: with neighbors, coworkers, and friends

Probably the easiest on this list and something we’ve been told to do since before preschool: share!

Make a consistent practice of giving. Share widely and often, in small ways. Don’t worry too much about cost—try to keep money out of this equation if you can.

Having chickens or a garden creates a scenario that makes sharing easy. Add to that our farmshare subscription and we share a ton. It’s fun to text with neighbors and tell them that there will be sweet potatoes on their porch or that you just baked cookies. I know for a fact that we live in a more neighborly ‘hood than most but a large part of what makes my neighborhood great is our tendency to share in the first place.

Start with a walk

Walking is a community activity, whether you’re by yourself or not. Heading out your door instantly immerses you in your community, good or bad. With others, you add richness to the experience through conversation and togetherness.

I wanted to include walking here because it’s great, no matter what company you have. Even if you live away from others or aren’t social by nature, a walk is wonderful.

I think the most important part of run club has been the walking element. Not only is it an easy barrier-to-entry, it’s the more social activity too. Folks that often run will decide to walk sometimes—maybe you’re not feeling like it or you couldn’t get changed in time after work. That gives you a chance to talk casually and make connections in ways that is a little tougher when your heart is pumping hard on a run.

Work (or read!) together

Workplace community is huge but you don’t have to stop there. If your job allows some flexibility, go to a coffee shop or coworking space and work around others. It’s a great way to share ideas or change your landscape for a little bit. These places can also be “third places”, that I talk about below.

If your work isn’t flexible—as most aren’t—don’t feel like you’re stuck. Joining a book club might sound cliche but they’re a wonderful way to meet new people and share ideas. Communities built around ideas are very powerful.

Our local bookstore, Blacksburg Books, hosts a book club with meetups at Moon Hollow Brewing. Check it out! If your town doesn’t have a bookstore yet, reach out to your local library or join one online!

Look for your “Third Place”

Although not exactly a new term, Third Places feel very trendy right now—with good reason. They’re crucial to a lot of a community’s success while also being what many places lack.

A third place is “where you relax in public, where you encounter familiar faces and make new acquaintances.” It’s after your “first” place, home. And second place, “work”.

Third places can be many things—including other groups of people and not a physical space.

Whether you find your third place in a coffee shop, church pew, or with a group of people, you’ll know when you find it. You probably know this feeling but maybe not since college or even childhood. It’s a feeling of easy acceptance without many expectations.

Don’t be scared to make your own community

I’ll get around to writing specifically about starting a run club but I want to make sure I get this point across now: YOU can start your own community around whatever you want. Don’t wait for others or feel defeated in your town just because what you want to exist hasn’t been created yet.

One of the most surprising parts of community building is how fast it happens each time. You’ll be surprised how many people around you will be looking for exactly what you want to do.

Some ways to get started: reach out online and see if anybody wants to meet at the dog park. See if your local brewery would be willing to host and advertise a game night. Start your own book club online. The list goes on!

Find some joy with others

No matter how you choose to build your community, always bring it back to finding joy. Be silly, playful, and full of wonder with those around you. We shroud ourselves too often in professionalism and forget that we can have fun. Don’t be scared to ask someone to play frisbee or just go shopping with you on a Saturday.

Building community through all this chaos will help get us through. It shields those most vulnerable a little too, by offering them a refuge from a world that’s not so welcoming. If you’re looking for ways to put any of these ideas into action, reach out!

What should I say when I shouldn’t be silent?

I’ll keep this brief.

I don’t want to write. I would rather hide, doomscrolling away and coping badly while looking at—and tearing myself away from—the news.

Hiding is cowardice, though. It is, on every side of this thing.

If you love all that’s happening, I wish you’d scream it out for the whole world to see. Show me an alternative where this isn’t all ending badly. Give me hope and give all those who are even more poignantly terrified a reason to believe that there’s good intentions behind all of this.

I don’t understand the hate towards people I love. I love lots of people and they all look different. I have absolutely no hate in my heart for people who don’t look like me, don’t love like me, or don’t live the way I choose to. Addressing those that might love all this that’s happening: I don’t understand but I’m ready to forgive and move on if you decide you can love again. Because this isn’t love that’s happening right now.

What can I do?

Nothing, I’m pretty sure. We’ll fight, yes. And we’ll adjust to make the best of any of this. We have before. And we’ll hug those around us and offer refuge from a world that is so terrifying.

On the large scale, though, I’m nothing. What I can offer is community and not much else.

In my community and around me, you’re welcomed. I don’t know that any of us now can keep each other safe but we can try.

To all those around me who are scared for their whole existence: I am profoundly sad that we’re here. It appears that we’ll have to keep going down this terrible hole of hate to get through. With me, at least, you’re always welcome.

As a community, we’ve lost livelihoods already. We’ve lost autonomy and choice and given in—complying early, it seems—to a regime that is filled with hate and loving of control.

I don’t have answers and I wonder if these words just become part of the noise. But saying nothing would be even less worthwhile.

If I can do something to help, please let me know. And know that I’ll keep welcoming everyone in, building this community and holding on tight to the love around me.

Provided I can find the words, I’ll write about what we can do through all of this. I know we can love each other and I know that we can share and show that we’re not all like the leaders who hate so many of us.

Thank you for being part of all this with me.

Share

Consistently, and usually among those who don’t know us too well, we receive many words similar to: “that’s dangerous”, “don’t do that", “why are you doing that?”, etcetera.

Most weekends we spend outside and we try to carve out time, best we can, to go out and do fun, challenging things. Hikes without worry for bad weather, van trips in a vehicle nearly as old as us, long runs in silly places, you name it.

Kristy and I have been doing these sorts of things as long as we’ve been together—and both of us long before then too.

Despite some experience, we get a good amount of well-meaning and unsolicited advice along the way.

What feels reckless and unprepared isn’t truly.

A lot is definitely unplanned, though. We head out without much direction often, with a few key items that help us stay safe, comfortable, and sleeping in warm beds most nights.

I want to go through some key items that really help us out.

I’ll talk a little about each thing, why I like it, and where I think you might find one. I’ll link to a “new” version but encourage you to buy used. All of this stuff can be found cheap and secondhand. There’s no reason to buy any of this new. It should all last or be easily replaceable for cheap.

None of these are affiliate links.

Jug of Water

Easily the most versatile item on this list, a jug of water in each of your vehicles and a couple at home is key. Sometimes you need a bunch of water after a long run, clean water to rinse an injury, or just a little more to put out a campfire.

Don’t bother buying reusable jugs. They’re great too but gallon milk-style jugs last and you can always cut them up to make a water bowl for dogs or simple scoop. Just be sure you can get another before you start cutting.

Where to get one: any grocery store
Link to one I like: the cheap flimsy plastic kind—because it’s versatile.

Capilene (Patagonia baselayer)

I first bought these working for Baseline Solar. I needed lightweight layers to be outside and these are amazing. I bring one with me anytime I think I might need a light jacket. They’re warm when wet and make awesome running layers too.

Everybody should have at least a couple of these. I’ve almost entirely abandoned waterproof clothing and accept getting wet. These will keep you very comfortable even if you’re soaked on a chilly day.

Where to get one: check out Roanoke Mountain Adventures for any secondhand clothing and outdoors equipment. You can fully equip yourself for adventures for 75% off new prices. It’s an awesome store.
Link to one I like, if you want to buy new: patagonia.com

Jumper cables AND jump box

Talking adventures: we’ve frequently out far away from cell phone coverage, in bad weather, and often in a 1990’s Ford Van we converted during Covid.

Engines don’t always start and even if yours does, it’s cool to help others too.

Follow this simple rule: jumper cables to help others. Jump box to help yourself.

Don’t use the jump box to help others. You might need it.

Where to get one: probably prudent to buy these new or gently used. Oversize them both: bigger gauge wires and a higher rated battery box than your current vehicle needs.
Link to one I like: Jump Box, Jumper Cables

First Aid Kit

Your first aid kit should be a variety of items that you understand how to use and enough of them to get yourself and a small group out of a bind. We end up with a lot more small cuts, scrapes, and headaches than anything else. Some really good things to have:

• Antihistamine (Benadryl): more tablets than seems reasonable. If you end up in a yellow jacket nest with yourself and all your buddies, you’ll want them. Ask me how I know.

• Spray antiseptic: find this in a grocery store or online. We carry a vet-specific one too (and have used it on humans, they just end up blue!)

• Tape, a lighter, safety pins: any little odds-and-ends that might make repairs easier. First aids kits are a good place to carry these.

• Basic painkillers, and multiple kinds: people have preferences, allergies, and know what works best. Headaches, menstrual cramps, and back pain are more common than any injury.

It’s good to have a “main” kit, kits in cars, and a significantly smaller version for fanny packs. Make it easy to carry your first aid kit all the time.

Where to get one: build your own based on your expertise and capabilities. Put it in an appropriately-sized Ziplock. Look up basic lists online.
Link to one I like: Ready-made ones are lame and won’t have what you need when you need it. Experience makes good first aid kits.

Snacks, always

This one is easy. Bring snacks. Just a Snickers bar at least. Being hungry isn’t fun. Make sure you have something to eat whenever you’re heading out the door.

Where to get one: again, the grocery store!
Link to one I like: You can choose your own snacks. If you don’t know what to eat when you’re outside, follow Alyssa Leib and Morgan Corl!

Headlamp

Bring a headlamp even when you don’t think it will get dark on you. In our world, it gets dark on us often.

Where to get one: keeping with the theme, Roanoke Mountain Adventures!
Link to one I like: Buy-if-for-life Amazing Headlamps

Knife

This isn’t some “everyday carry” alpha blog but a good knife is essential. A pocket knife is a perfect tool and everyone should carry one except to the airport and courthouse. If you get in the habit, you’ll start to understand how useful they truly are.

I’ve had various knives since I was a small child. Choose what works best for you and won’t make you cry if you lose it.

Where to get one: your odds and ends drawer or local sporting goods store. Buy a brand you’ve heard of before.
Link to one I like: This one is good. But don’t break the bank on a knife.

‘Nam shovel

An entrenching tool is a mil-jargon word for folding shovel and digging tool. Ours is stamped “1965” and affectionately known as ‘Nam shovel.

‘Nam shovel usually rides under the seat in the van, across from the jumper cables. It’s gotten us unstuck, although never in the van—we’ve never gotten those big tires stuck—and is good for so much else: digging fire pits, putting out campfires, emergency bathroom breaks…the list goes on!

An honorary mention for our Boy’s Axe as well. It’s not with us all the time but always while camping. It’s what you actually want when you think you want to buy a hatchet. It’s the right size and splits campground-purchased firewood into appropriate sized pieces for small fires.

Where to get one: A yard sale, your parent’s garage, or a military surplus store.
Link to one I like: I’m sure they aren’t made like they used to be…but…

Sleeping bags

Blankets and sheets keep you comfortable, sleeping bags keep you alive. We keep them in our cars and always in the van. Buy a 20-degree bag and you’ll be good, at least in the southeast US.

Where to get one: another great item to find at Roanoke Mountain Adventures
Link to one I like: The Cat’s Meow

And if all else fails…$20

What single item goes with me on every run, walk, and outing there is? A $20 bill.

If everything else goes wrong in your day, twenty bucks can usually bail you out. That’s some cheap, hot food. It’s water at a gas station or a way to thank the nice person who gives you a ride back to your car.

Where to get one: It’s $20
Link to one I like: I like every $20 bill I’ve ever had.

I hope this was a fun and informative list! I promise, we aren’t crazy. It’s not that we don’t sweat it if plans don’t go our way: we don’t often have a plan in the first place.

Unplanning works for us day-to-day in this reasonably hospitable place we live. Of course when we do bigger things or go wilder places, we plan. But these items really help us make what we do possible.

“I have no idea what you do.”

It’s nothing new but very hard to explain in-the-moment. Where would I start? Despite being chronically online since my teenage years, writing and taking photos of my world, and generally not being scared to speak my mind, I hear the same thing.

It’s not that I’m in any way mysterious or want to be—truthfully, I’m average in most regards and an open book if you simply ask. I’ve heard that I’m “intense” and quite possibly overwhelming. That’s ok, although I try to think of myself as more calm and relaxed.

But in the spirit of this longer-form writing again…

There’s a few things I’d love for the people around me to know.

In no particular order, separated out by “work” or “personal” this time:

(Work) I own a media and marketing company, Aspire. People are often confused by what we do but it’s pretty simple: we build websites for small businesses, take photos and create videos, and optimize stuff so businesses grow and your customers are happier. It’s 1000 small tasks, rolled into the umbrella of “marketing”.

(Personal) I co-founded a run club five years ago, Christiansburg Run Club. It’s grown a lot and is pretty big now. I wasn’t a committed runner before starting a run club. The club was simply a way to build community. It’s led me on a path to consistent running and incredible growth.

(Personal) Nothing I do is to build a “personal brand”, become influential, or as a runup for elected office of any kind. No, I will not run for town council. I’m sorry. It sounds thankless and I’m interested in building in different ways.

(Work) Lately, “marketing” tasks are burning me out…but not because of the work. Too many businesses are broken in ways that the marketing they expect won’t fix. Half of the contact forms I see are broken. Other times, leads are coming in but your sales guy doesn’t actually answer the phone. People aren’t ready to hear those things, though. I want to work more on testing systems and fixing problems—not making video campaigns when your business isn’t ready yet.

(Personal) Mental health is really important to me and I’m glad that I started going to therapy years ago. I make a point to talk about going to therapy and managing my mental health whenever I can. It’s fun to see people react when I do. There shouldn’t be the stigma around it but it’s truly pervasive. If you’re scared to take that leap, reach out. It really helped me. And coping with the impending chaos of 2025 without professional help? I don’t recommend it.

(Personal) I don’t really like racing. I love other parts of running: the inane conversations runners have on mile 8 when we’re just trying to get through. Running hard in a group, when I know I can’t actually hang on for long. The “can we run today?” texts that mean you’re having the worst day of your life and don’t want to say it. And yes, we can. I’m lacing up my shoes.

(Work) As I keep going into my career, I hope I can really have more people start believing that I’m doing all this for our community. It’s not out of personal interest or hopeful gain, I promise. It’s not a facade and I know a lot of people think that it is. I just want to improve where I live, build a career, and scale that so that other communities might be better too.

(This was my fiancé, Kristy’s, request) I’ve never had a good plan going into something. I have no idea how far a run will be, how long a drive is, or if we’ll get back by dark. I correct for that by being very prepared and overthinking so whatever happens, we deal just fine. This irritates people to no end—like my fiancé, Kristy.

(Work?) Consistency and execution are why I’ve found the career-oriented success that I have. I’m not scared to launch something before it’s perfect and I absolutely promise you that I’m more stubborn. I think in the scale of years, not days or months, and am willing to keep going a lot longer than most people.

(Who knows) I am very frustrated with the place that I live: Christiansburg, Virginia. We’re trying. We’re consistent. The people around me are amazing. Some are far more hopeful than I am. But it’s hard to walk on nonexistent sidewalks, get yelled at every time we bike, have a mostly shuttered downtown, and understand that this is exactly what a lot of people want.

I’m very thankful for the people who have reached out with the express mission to keep us here, building this place. While we’re here, I hope to build the community and create a lasting, positive legacy that benefits this place I call home.

(Personal) The “camera thing” isn’t an occupation, although I do it professionally. It’s how my brain works and something I can’t imagine going a day without. I’d take photos, even for other people, for free if I didn’t have bills to pay. I truly love it.

(Personal?) Win the lottery, stack enough money to live on investments, or otherwise never have to work again? I’m disappearing to some small, snowy, tourist-adjacent town and opening an outdoors store—the kind with actual equipment and not just cute fleece jackets. We’ll have hot coffee ready at all hours and it will be my mission to help people fall in love with being outside like I did.

That was fun! Like doing those Facebook Notes surveys when we were 16—when social media wasn’t work. I hope this gives some people a little deeper glimpse into who I am. I know I’m always doing something else and dreaming up some new thing. I understand why people don’t keep up. But I love this and hope it resonates.

Next up with this blog, I want to work on some photo essays, interviews, and dives into my world. Right now, I’m catching up on writing and concepts that have been in my head for years. Stay with me and I’ll keep writing.

I learned a lot. I’m grateful for those lessons. Last year was very hard. Looking back on it all, it prepared me well for what’s to come and I’m not sure I’d be where I am without all the turmoil, tears, and terrifying moments of chaos.

Through everything, I feel more motivated than ever. I really want to keep pushing and grow in all these multiple directions.

I’m at peace with it all.

Truly, I feel more at-peace than I have in a long time. I may have just reached a capacity in August for overthinking and finally cracked. I don’t know.

I feel more unapologetic now. Much more. I hug a little closer and remember that any goodbye might be for good.

And I care a whole lot less too. Less about what doesn’t matter. Less about what I can never control—and that’s most things.

So what do I resolve to do when it’s time to put a year behind me and move towards the present?

That’s what I asked myself.

I’m deeply excited for this new year. It’s winter, which is the perfect season. Snow’s coming. The inside warmth is easy to savor. It’s a good time of year.

I have some resolutions, sure. I’ll share those below. In general, though, it’s about what it has been for years: consistency. I have a lot of good things going and it’s impossible to see those through without a stubborn sense of consistency.

I’ll keep running all year. I’ll keep building this community and this business. I’ll spend more time outside and more time present with my loved ones.

Some change is good too.

While I’m impressed by you all that have attention spans left in this world, who have read this far, I’ll condense to some lists now. Breaking into the three basic categories: personal life, work life, and run club, let’s talk resolutions!

If you don’t want to read too much, though, they all sum up to this: be present with the people I’m around at the time, don’t focus on the stupid and small things, and keep pushing.

Personal Life

• Shirk my cellular responsibilities. I still hate the damn phones. I’m on it too much. It dings too often despite having every notification turned off. Use it less. Reply slower. It’ll be ok.

• Quit buying stuff new. I’m not a big consumer. I love limping along old items and having quality clothes that are mostly going on a decade old. The less I buy, though, the more conscience I am of how much I still don’t need. Buy less and buy used.

• Eat a little smarter. I get away with a lot of bad eating habits just by being immensely active. I don’t have to be the raccoon-of-a-human that I am, though. I’d like to eat a lot less meat this year and waste less.

Work Life

• Only take on deeper tasks. I already wrote about this in October and I’m so glad that I’ve already put it into practice. More was never more. Focus on the work that matters.

• Don’t worry about growth. Serve instead. Growing for the sake of growth was a stressful strategy. I’m capable of more—everyone is capable of more. Lean on what I’m able to do and don’t worry about the rest.

• Work with who wants to be in the room. This isn’t a knock at anyone; instead, it’s something I’ve been deeply impressed by this year. I want to work for the people who want to show up themselves and work alongside those that want to be doing what we’re doing. Many people don’t fit either of those categories and the ones who do are capable of magic.

Run Club

(This is community too)

• Collaborate as broadly as possible. There are no rivalries. We’re a bunch of people who want to build connections, move together, and feel safe doing so in our communities. Let’s keep building this allied force for good.

• Tighten up the mission and solidify. I started this one with the website already. We’re five years old as a club and have pivoted a lot in that time. We’re at a really good place now. This is the moment to cement our systems.

• Build community affinity. Let’s all love this place. We might as well. I have several friends who are better at this than me. I’ll be talking about the bad and they’ll tell me three things they love about our community. I’ll try to be more positive.

And one thing final that bridges them all…

Build only for those that are open to it.

This is for my community builder friends, frustrated leaders, and all the other visionaries among us.

A lot of the conversations I’m having boil down to the fact that a lot of us want things to be better. A lot of other people work against those same good things.

I’m telling myself as much as I’m telling others: this year, let’s let them. Let’s not argue. Let’s not even care about those detractors. Together, we can build the communities and raise the money and make our places the wonderful ones we want them to be.

When we do that, every naysayer can look around and miss out if they want. They can join too—please welcome them if they take that leap. But let’s not let them steal the joy we work so hard to make. Let’s build only where we’re valued.

Resolutions are easy to make, which is why I don’t love making them. They’re just as easy to break. But it’s nice to reflect and live with some intention beyond consistency too. I hope you all found some ideas in all these words.

I hope it makes it a little easier to piece together the chaos of what I am, if you’re trying to do so. I never explain myself well and go a dozen directions at any time. If this was fun, subscribe for more!

This Year…was immensely bad.

A lot of me wants to remark on the good that also happened this year. For now, I want to rejoice in the fact that this year is nearly over and a beautiful psychological starting-over point is almost here. 2025 is looking up. It better damn well.

I’ll save the long recap since most people reading this know me and have seen it all happen.

To sum up 2024: a lot of death. A lot. I’ve been around the block with death in my life and this year held it in excess in a way that uniquely broke me.

A family member passed way, expectedly. A pet too, which continues to hurt. A couple friends and acquaintances. And my business partner, unexpectedly, which had the effect of upending everything.

Sinister too, each was spaced out. Coming out of one when you thought you might be treading water, just slapped with another.

By default when bad things happen, we learn.

That’s what I want to talk about today. Just a few lessons that I’ve taken from this year that will stick with me.

Life moves only as fast as you let it.

Probably the best new thing I’ve learned and then put into practice this year: slow down.

Looking back, there were only two days out of the last few months where I actually had to make a quick decision and move on it. Both were business related.

We’re so programmed to think we have to make quick decisions. Psychologically, that gives others control over us. So much of our lives are set up so someone else can profit, financially or otherwise.

Slowing down has been the best thing I’ve learned to do this year. It’s even fun: start putting into practice being slow and watch people look at you incredulously when you do it. We’re wired to be fast and reactive. I’m fighting back.

The things you’re anxious about aren’t what are coming for you.

As a lifelong anxious person, this is a truth I’ve held for many years. It’s uncomfortable at first to realize; however, the stuff you worry about isn’t what will blindside you one day.

What really happens will happen when you least expect it. When you’re having a good day and your mind is elsewhere, it’ll hit. You prepare and plan for what you’re anxious over. It’s something else that will get you. I find that freeing.

Your support network is already around you.

I’ve been truly surprised by support this year. There’s the community I know I had going in and the connections that have become deeper this year. Part of me was initially surprised when some people “close” to me didn’t reach out—and still haven’t—but that feeling left quickly. They have their own stuff going on.

Everyone that’s going to be there for you in crisis is likely already around you. You might be surprised who the best of them are (see Lesson #5).

Beware, though: your community is already around you. Outsiders coming in might have their own motives. Take time to figure that part out. (See Lesson #1)

I, personally, need nature more than I’ve ever known before this year.

Kristy and I have held nature to be a sacred place for many years. We carve out time. Adventure Friday is non-negotiable.

This year, something changed. Nature has become significantly more spiritual. Places have more meaning and I crave them more. Practices like laying in a creek and looking up feel entirely new—something that Kristy forced me to do on one of my worst days this year, of which there were many.

I’m so willing to never let life and work get in the way of getting out in nature now. I’ve been “outdoorsy” my whole life and this year has changed that relationship entirely for the better.

People around you have been through so much. Anything but kindness and love is ridiculous.

Maybe the most straightforward of all of these: everyone around you has been through so much more than they let on. I’ve known this for a long time but this year really drove it home. There are many people among us whose life has really hit the fan. Multiple times, in horrible ways. When you have your own moment, some people will take the time to share theirs with you.

I’ve cried with so many people this year. The things people walk around everyday holding in is immense—and I know I only know a fraction of it.

All that said, I can’t imagine being anything but kind. I don’t understand how the world can be so mean when it takes nothing to understand how much we’re all going through. And yet, we fight. It all feels so cowardly and frail.

I hope these help someone, someday. I don’t have many answers myself and I’m still learning things daily. I’m glad I wrote this and I’m glad I’m writing this newsletter.

We’ll see where this all ends up. I’m looking forward to a new year, with deeper connections and deeper work. It’s time to build in ways I couldn’t have dreamed of a year ago.

Share

Every self-help author, preacher, politician, and influencer the world over has a vested interest in convincing you that change is the answer.

Not happy with life? Read my book. Read the next one too. Tell all your friends.

Seeking fulfillment that’s so far escaped you? Join this church; not the one down the road. Give me money. Give me your time.

Not enough in the bank? The other side caused that. Vote for me.

Want to do that cool thing I’m doing? Buy this jacket. Buy those boots. Throw them out, buy this one. It’s better, I swear.

Consider, for a moment, a tree.

The average tree has done more good in the world than the average human ever will. Creating no harm in its wake—unless it falls over into your house—it’s provided shelter for creatures large and microscopic. It creates shade for many. When leaves, needles, and seeds fall, it creates soil and food for others.

At the end of its life, it can create firewood, building materials, and so much more. What’s not used decomposes to sustain the next generation and it all decomposes eventually.

A tree has never needed a self-help book.

A tree never needs someone to tell it to change its ways. It spends no time looking for better answers. It makes changes over its lifetime, based on the sunlight it has available, the nutrients its roots can locate, and the things that happens to it that it might have to heal from.

Subscribe now

A tree is unwavering in its consistency. Some seasons, it will grow faster than others but through consistent growth, the tree manages to do more good in the world than most.

But we aren’t trees.

We can learn from trees, though: to remain consistent over time.

When you find yourself presented with new ideas, consider the cost and potential benefits. Some times, we need the change. Maybe we change our diets so we feel better or quit drinking so our health improves. A few times in life, a monumental change might make all the difference.

In many cases, though, the advice-giver stands to benefit more than you. The author can sell more books. The preacher gains an audience, money, and influence to expand. The politician is elected and rewarded by the industries they prop up. The influencer sells the jacket, turns a profit, and does it again with not much worry about the negative impact.

Others benefit when we waver.

The gym needs new members, so they tell you they have the answers. Pay $70 a month, attend classes (those cost more, by the way!), and listen to what they say. It’s hard to leave too. They want change (when you sign up) but only to their benefit—so you aren’t allowed to leave.

Never mind that running might have all the benefits at a fraction of the cost or impact of a gym.

Your business needs to grow, so you consider changes. People come out on all sides promising miracles if only you’ll sign up for what they’re selling.

What if all you needed to grow was to keep doing what you’re doing, with a better sense of consistency? You might only be a year away from your goals if only you stay the course.

You save money by keeping it in the bank, spending only when you need to, and investing over time. Of course, though, others benefit when you spend. Buy that car you don’t need and some executive wins. Buy that coffee maker that will somehow make better coffee than what you have now. Buy three more like it. You’re out that money, given to someone else to invest.

Quit selling yourself short.

You have spent years, decades, in this life making decisions. Some have been good, some bad, but you’ve learned everyday. Give yourself credit that you’ve built wisdom and a lot of it. You know your situation more intimately than any guru or “leader” ever can.

Don’t be entirely resistant to change—but consider the downsides before you lean in.

How can we grow through into consistency instead?

Some practical options:

1. Want to get in shape? Don’t join the latest craze gym, the supplements they sell, or the latest and greatest equipment. Commit to working out three days a week, forever. Buy a decent pair of shoes when you need them. Set a reminder for three years from now and then look back on how far you’ve come.

2. Want to eat better and reap those benefits? Don’t buy a diet plan. Sign up for food from your local farmer, delivered weekly. Commit to eating good food everyday. Eat McDonald’s sometimes too—don’t let somebody tell you that’s bad.

3. Lonely and want to find your people? Don’t reach for the people who promise salvation if only you’ll join them. Meet your neighbors. Pick up trash. Learn about the community around you. Start a garden and give what you grow. Commit to this practice and see where it goes.

4. Need to grow your business? Find good folks that want to help you grow over time and commit to a plan—whatever plan that is. Don’t get dragged around by every empty promise and “expert” that tells you to change. They’re asking you to change by paying them for it, not helping you.

Don’t buy the shiny things that you’ve lived for 32 years without. You’ve made it this long. Unless it’s water on a very hot day, you probably don’t need it. Someone else is selling you an idea to benefit themselves.

I’ll never tell you to change but I will press you to stay consistent. If you do make a change, I’ll remind you to stay the course. Don’t run blindly into change—ask yourself first if consistency will get you farther.

This blog is part of my consistent practice. I write every week whether I want to or not. A few weeks in, I really want to be writing. In a year, I’ll have 52 of these under my belt. I’ll look back and see where I’ve been. I won’t switch platforms in that time. I won’t decide something else is shinier.

I’ll be consistent.