Category: Uncategorized

I THOUGHT YOU WERE CRAZY

I got a DM today from a reader of Social Media Escape Club:

“When I first started reading your posts I thought you were crazy. Honestly.”

They went on to tell me how they’ve been ignoring social media for any sort of promoting for their project, and – SHOCKER – it had no effect.

I’ve talked to a lot of artists about all this social media / “having a newsletter” thing, and I’m telling you, people have been beating their heads against a wall with this stuff, but also suffering from a bit of Stockholm Syndrome.

“A proposed condition or theory that tries to explain why hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors.”

Yes, there are folks who have a positive or neutral relationship with social media. If that’s you, fantastic.

Just because you don’t have a problem with social media, does not mean people experience the platform in the same way.

For some, social media is dreadful, which is then made worse by the idea that without it you’re doomed. And that’s a horrible place to be.

BREATH TAKING

Some inspiring videos I’ve watched recently.

Tracksmith is a running brand that’s a little more racing / roadie vibes for me, but I love their photography, branding, and videos. And writing, dear lord:

What can a place really show us? Can we discover a new way of life? Can it open us up to a new part of ourselves? In sports, hardship, strain, and suffering are a given. But can the idyllic nature of training in paradise ease some of that tension and allow an athlete to improve at an accelerated rate?

I love that sorta stuff, and I’m so glad it exists on a website, and YouTube. I’m so tired of “consuming” these amazing things on my phone.

Mind you, I did discover Lachlan Morton doing his Alt Tour a few years back on social media, but again, I’m so glad there’s this 37 minute video to watch. I followed the clips here and there on Instagram stories, but you know how that is – 15 and 30 second blips, all between our friends and the other brands we follow.

I saw some Instagram stories (again) of Lael Wilcox riding to the start of a big race again, so I looked her up on YouTube and found this wonderful video of her riding the Alaska Pipeline – 800 miles in 3 days, 18 hours, and 47 minutes.

Again.. as I ween myself from social media, I feel like watching these sorts of videos is better for my soul, because they’re more like a nourishing meal, rather than some junk from the dollar menu at the food court.

DO LITTLE BIG THINGS

It’s all about the mini versions of the big thing you wanna do.

I can’t always drive to the closest mountain here and go for a run, but there’s a park nearby that gets about 200′ of elevation. Run it a few times, I can get close to 1000′ of climbing in one run.

Can’t play MSG quite yet? Well, book a show a little closer to home. Play a 25 minute set. Write better songs. Over and over again.

Yeah, quitting work and ditching every responsibility sounds nice, but we’ve got rent to pay.

Do small versions of the big things you wanna do, then when the big thing arrives, you’re ready.

RUNNING IN THE SEVENTIES

Saw a recent Twitter thread from Jimmy Watkins / Running Punks.

Note: I’ll be so happy when someday I can say “saw a great post from so and so’s blog” instead of Twitter, but hey, we’ll get there.

Anyways, Jimmy / Running Punks was not feeling great mentally, be he went out for a run and had this amazing interaction with an older runner.

The part that really got me was this:

“We had a great chat. He was 73 years old, and we ran 10km in 59 minutes together. The route we took was one I take nearly every day.”

In my peak fitness a few years ago I ran a 10K in about 54 minutes or so, and that’s in my early 40s. I hope and dream that I’m able to run a sub hour 10K by the time I’m in my 70s.

But seriously – read that thread (here) while Twitter is still operational.

THE TODDLER

This is America.

“I don’t understand why Biden is not on TV every single night talking about this – it’s terrorism. It’s decades of killing social and civic fabrics. It’s fixable,” from another of Melody’s Tweets.

SOMETIMES, ALL THE TIME, NEVER

I love this from Joe Holder:

Absolutely something I’ve wrestled with.

Don’t think of RUNNING HARD as an “all the time” activity – just don’t let sometimes become never. I’ve been taking it REAL easy with running. Staying WAY too comfortable. So once a week usually I plan out a hard run. Force myself into the paces I know I’m capable of, just to feel it again.

And that junk food thing – oooph. I’d have a bag of cookies in the house, to help make working on the computer all day better. But it never helps, of course. Sure, for a few seconds it’s nice, but in the long run I eat a bag of cookies in two days and feel like shit.