Semi-Rad.com
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My name is Brendan Leonard, and I started this website in 2011. I am a writer, and most of my work centers around adventure, travel, and human experiences with both of those. I'm a contributing editor at Adventure Journal and a columnist at Outside. I created Semi-Rad.com as a channel for those of us who aren't elite climbers, skiers, ultrarunners, and alpinists - the folks who love to..
Semi-Rad.com
5d ago
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: I have a new book called “Ultra-Something” coming out May 23rd, but I’m doing a sort of advance book tour April 17-May 8, in Arc’teryx stores in the following cities:
Seattle: April 17
Portland: April 18
Boulder: April 24
Washington DC: May 6
Chicago: May 8
If you’re in one of those cities, here’s a page with more info and RSVP links.
If you’re not in one of those cities, and you want info about the book, here’s the basic gist (and a link to get a one-time email when the book is available).
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I would guess anyone who has ever done any creative work for clients will feel som ..read more
Semi-Rad.com
1w ago
I think it’s a testament to Beau Miles’s YouTube following that he can make a 7-minute video about sorting old screws and it gets half a million views. Did I watch the whole thing? I did. In one shot. (video)
IMPORTANT: If you missed this announcement last week, TODAY is the LAST DAY to order a limited edition Periodic Table of the Elements of Adventure Nalgene bottle. You have until midnight MST tonight. We’ve sold 200+ so far, so thanks to everyone who’s ordered.
OK this definitely doesn’t start out as what you might call “optimistic,” but I think the last quarter or so of th ..read more
Semi-Rad.com
2w ago
After 45-ish seconds of this, I was kind of thinking, “Is this just a video of a guy running to my favorite The War on Drugs song?” and then at exactly the 1:44 mark, which I have been long convinced is the greatest “woo!” in the history of recorded music, I was like Yeah, this is a video of a guy running to my favorite The War on Drugs song, and that’s why it’s so great. It’s very simple, but captures the feeling of running in a city, and I think that’s why I like it so much. (video)
ANNOUNCEMENT: There’s a longer story about this on the DFTBA store page, but we are putting my “Periodic Tabl ..read more
Semi-Rad.com
2w ago
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The post How I Became A Cruiser Bike Guy appeared first on Semi-Rad.com ..read more
Semi-Rad.com
1M ago
I Hate Running and You Can Too on Bookshop
I Hate Running and You Can Too on Amazon
I Hate Running and You Can Too at your public library
The post A Story About The Making Of My Book ‘I Hate Running and You Can Too’ appeared first on Semi-Rad.com ..read more
Semi-Rad.com
1M ago
I have a quick favor to ask: If you have two minutes, would you help me out and take this 9-question anonymous survey about this newsletter? I’ve never collected any information about anyone who reads this (I’m trying to be polite), but that also means I have no real way of knowing who is reading it. So I created a quick survey, sort of “what do you like/dislike about the newsletter” and a few demographic questions, and some optional space for additional comments. It’s totally anonymous. Thanks!
Survey link: https://forms.gle/NvCshWKEL3Fb2hAY8
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This is a super-interesting video summary of how ..read more
Semi-Rad.com
1M ago
You don’t have much time to grab people’s attention nowadays: This is one of the things I emphasize in my annual writing workshops, before we read through a handful of first sentences that do just that—grab our attention, make us sit up, engage, and dive into the rest of the story. One of them, which I have memorized:
“We are waiting in the desert to kill our dog.” (Terry Tempest Williams, “The Questions Held By Owls”)
Writing stories for readers is tough nowadays—we all have overflowing inboxes, or we’re on phones or computers where something less boring is literally two taps or clicks away ..read more
Semi-Rad.com
1M ago
You don’t have to look too far on most social media these days to find an expert on productivity giving you tips on how to live a life more optimized for … well, work, I guess? Which is why I clicked on this video, “Do less, become happier, says Yale cognitive scientist,” and it did not disappoint. (video)
This is hands-down one of the best essays I’ve ever read about anything, ever, but it also has to do with caring for dogs, raising humans, and art, which is a pretty good Venn diagram for me. (Thanks, Memory, for sending me this!)
This might be too urban-design-geeky for a lot of peo ..read more
Semi-Rad.com
1M ago
I posted the following slides to my Instagram the other day, hoping that a few other people would chime in with their own long-term jokes:
People did chime in, and I was laughing my ass off all day at all the shared stories in the comments. So I compiled some of my favorites here:
  ..read more
Semi-Rad.com
1M ago
Someone told me about the Texas Water Safari a few years ago, and I thought it sounded fun, in the way that ultramarathons are “fun.” This video I think probably captures the feeling pretty well, including but not limited to the hallucinations and chafing. (video)
LAST CHANCE: If you want to spend some time in April 2025 on a Grand Canyon river trip with myself and Dr. Len Necefer, or alternately, with Rebecca Solnit and Craig Childs, you have one more day to get it together and sign up here.
Maybe you have to know a little bit about Friends, and a little bit about Dune to enjoy this j ..read more