I spent today at rest, my tired body embraced by the stirrings of a deeply embodied cognition of mountains, muscles, and memory from the past few days, dozens of kilometres and thousands of metres of ascent. As a mountain runner of some decades now, my legs have steadily become a topography of the ranges I’ve … Continue reading Mountains and memory: philosophy and physiology
On Sunday, 4 October, more than 200 people (at last count) will be starting out on foot for a shared adventure -- the 2020 Climate Marathon. From our homes on six continents, in different climates and in different seasons, we are coming together to walk and run 26 miles each week throughout the month -- … Continue reading Our Climate Marathon
Down Tor with Lowery Tor, Leather Tor, and Sharpitor in the distance Finding wildness depends not just upon where you look, but how you learn to see. Last weekend, I took train and bus to the far western edge of Dartmoor. A drizzly jog of three miles between sharply squared hedgerows took me from Yelverton … Continue reading lessons from the moor
This has been a busy year for me -- busy with keeping up with the 400,000 vertical foot challenge (130,000 as of this afternoon!) -- busy with a semester full of new classes, creative curriculum conversations, writing of all sorts -- busy with family adventures -- and busy finishing up EMT, WFR, and WEMT certifications. … Continue reading Bodies and Terrain
It's hard to believe that we’re already halfway through the fall semester, snow has fallen every day this week here in northern Vermont, and only now do I feel like I’ve gained enough distance and perspective on the incredible days I spent in the Faroe Islands at the end of July. How fleeting the weeks, … Continue reading Faroes Seven Summits
It was getting warm. We were running a little low on water, and the slope was unrelentingly down and down and down -- from the top of one of Vermont's highest peaks to a mere 350 ft above sea level on the banks of the Winooski River. This past Tuesday, the 7th day of this … Continue reading Limits
I realized last week that we're within 80 days of the 2018 summer solstice! That means that as of today, there are only 73 days until I plan to get on my bike at the Vermont/Canadian border in North Troy, VT at 4:30 am on June 20th and head south along VT Route 100. … Continue reading Planning!
I'm teaching an environmental philosophy senior seminar at Sterling College this semester titled Posthumanism. The premise of the course is to think about how it might change our relationship with both one another and with the non-human world if we reframed our perspective to no longer see humans at the center of the world. We begin … Continue reading philosophy
At midday on August 3rd, day 3 of my Arctic Trail Run, I emerged from what felt like an interminable 25 km stretch that alternated between cruising through acres of fjellbjørkeskog -- forests of gnarled mountain birch, stumbling through thickets of overgrown willow canes, and feeling the bounce underfoot of sunken bridges crossing bogs nearly without … Continue reading What does success look like?
Under a low gray sky and into a steady soaking rain at 9:30 on the morning of August 1st, I set off from the Den Norske Turistforening / DNT hut at Ny Sulitjelma, planning a run of 50k by day's end. After climbing the 400 meters to a high pass between Norway and Sweden, I soon … Continue reading The Resolution of Experience: The 2017 Arctic Trail Run
Climate Run 