Welcome to my brain!
I’ve hummed and hawed over starting a Substack — is it just another platform to keep up? Will anyone read it? You know… the classic imposter syndrome feelings and whatnot. I love Instagram and will continue to share there, but it doesn’t always feel like the right platform for random thoughts and feelings, and sharing a brain dump of things cohesively. I also know that a lot of people in my life are gravitating away from Instagram and I still want to have a general place to share updates and going ons. So welcome! This is a place for updates, things I’m loving/feeling/wishing, and other writing that Instagram doesn’t want… and that won’t fit nicely into a caption.
Even if no one reads this, it will still be a nice little weekly brain dump and point of reflection for me. It’s kinda like my journal entry to myself, cataloging all the things, for your reading pleasure.
Insert cringey line like grab a coffee, get cozy, and let’s dive in.
The big headline, that occupies my brain nearly 24 hours a day, is that the countdown is ON to the Atlas Mountain Race (AMR). The TLDR if you are unfamiliar with Atlas Mountain Race, is that it is a self-supported (meaning no one can help you; you carry everything you need with you or you acquire it from publicly available resources along the way) bike race through the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. It’s ~1300km long, with lots of climbing, and just over a week time limit to complete. Most of my waking hours are spent running over my bike setup, what I will bring for a sleeping kit, asking myself how much food I want to bring to start, and the list goes on and on. There is of course the fitness piece, but for a change, I’m not stressed about being fit enough. I’ve had a consistent fall on the bike and prioritized strength training (thank you Andrea @ A Few Fun Moves) and things are building along nicely, so my body is feeling good. This might make someone out there giggle, but yesterday I spent a good 5 minutes in front of the mirror flexing my leg because for the first time in my life, I HAVE QUAD MUSCLES. THAT YOU CAN SEE. Wild. Not that what I look like matters (which is a whole other topic I want to talk about), but to see muscles, that I’ve never had… that felt pretty darn cool. If you want to know more about my AMR preparation, let me know, though this is a great opportunity to plug my podcast Detours because my cohost, Cynthia, and I will be doing a full episode on our preparation and general thoughts and feelings.
On the topic of Detours, it has been so fulfilling to launch this podcast and get it out into the world. I had wanted to create a podcast for quite some time but was hesitant to do it on my own — what would I talk about in solo episodes? How would I get top-notch guests consistently? Enter my pal and badass ultra cyclist, Cynthia (aka Watt Wagon). I floated the idea of her joining me for an episode or two and being the idea machines that we are, we got to talking and before we knew it, she had agreed to co-host with me. I love our dynamic, brainstorming guests and questions, and being able to share this ride. I’m so excited to see where we’re able to take the show in 2024 and I’m putting it out to the universe now that we would love to bring on some sponsors.
What else to tell you?
Oh! Maybe no one will care about this but it’s something I want to share. A few months ago I posted an Instagram story saying that I had reduced the amount of SSRI I’m taking, as my mental health has improved drastically, in large part due to leaving my full-time job. My doctor was reluctant to do so just because of how grey and depressing Vancouver winter can be but trusted that I was doing well enough to give it a go. While life has not been perfect (the most challenging thing of late is that it’s been an incredibly slow season as a freelancer and I’m starting to worry), the reduced prescription seems to be grooving with me quite well.
I think this is long enough for this week’s brain dump and excited to finally get this rolling. Love each and every one of you who took the time to read this. Please subscribe and come back next week!
One final parting gift! Some links and photos of things I’ve been loving.
A recipe: The recipe we make nearly weekly is Carla Lalli Music’s, Shrimpy Kimchi. It’s SO good. We’re obsessed (as if that wasn’t obvious from all the cooking splatters on the pages). At this point, we wing it instead of following the recipe and I’m pretty sure we make less shrimp than it calls for. But if you follow the recipe, I promise it will be banging.
A podcast: I listened to this episode of the Rich Roll Podcast with Alexi Pappas on the plane to California and loved it. I filled up a note on my phone with so many nuggets and would recommend this episode to everyone, but especially ultra-endurance athletes and creatives or people figuring out their place in the world.
A song: Country Roads, Take Me Home sung by Lana Del Ray. The cover I didn’t know I needed and now cannot live without.
Ok that’s all for now. See you next time.