My new book, Ultra-Something, is finally out, and I am very excited to share this 59-second book trailer I made to (sort of ) explain it (video)   Speaking of books: I am quite excited for Kevin Fedarko’s new book, A Walk in the Park, about his 750-mile trek across the Grand Canyon. From this excerpt, it appears it will be a much, much different book than his other Grand Canyon book, The Emerald Mile. Buc-ee’s in Sevierville, Tennessee, is the largest gas station in the world. Why wouldn’t you want to spend an entire weekend there? Oh, OK, you wouldn’t. But a couple guys did. I could not ..read more

  Today is the official publication day of my new book, Ultra-Something, an exploration of human endurance, distance running, and a lot of other stuff. *Click here for all the current options to buy the book* *Here’s a link to the 60-second book trailer*   And here’s a free sample chapter. This selection of text and illustrations is the first 11 pages of the book, or the Prologue. (If you’d prefer to listen to me read the prologue, here’s a link for that) — Prologue At the finish line of the 2015 Western States Endurance Run, arguably the most famous and most prestigious Americ ..read more

If you’re of a certain age, or just remember the movie Swingers, here’s a fun mini-documentary about how Jon Favreau wrote and produced it (on a $250,000 budget!), and why it looks the way it does (video)   I referenced the Italian term “umarell” in the video I made about the shed I converted into an office for Hilary in 2022, since our neighbor Pat is essentially head umarell of our neighborhood. So when I read about the World Umarelling Championships announced by Scope of Work, I chuckled. But then I read the text of the announcement, and I think I have to agree: “The term might be use ..read more

This film has so much going on in 16 minutes, including two heroes, joy, struggle, pain, laughter, camaraderie, scenery—the only thing I wish there was more of is: The singing. (thanks, Brendan) (video)   You know, artists choose to work in different kinds of media—some artists use paint and canvas, some artists type on keyboards, some create … I don’t even know what to say, this is a cake, I guess, but it’s just incredible. It’s actually really hard for me to not regularly share videos of Action Bronson eating and enjoying food and talking about how much he’s enjoying the food he’s eati ..read more

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If you live in Washington DC or Chicago: I will be in your city May 6 (DC) or May 8 (Chicago) delivering a goofy presentation called “30 Questions You May Or May Not Have About Ultrarunning” at your local Arcteryx store. It’s based on my new book, which is only for sale at these events until May 23. I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, but the events we’ve done in Seattle, Portland, and Boulder have all been standing room only and not a single attendee has thrown a rotten vegetable at me. Come hang out! RSVP for Washington DC, May 6: https://brendanleonardbooktourdc.splashthat.com/ RSVP fo ..read more

  The evening of September 4th, 2013, freshly zipped into my sleeping bag next to my friend Jim, inside a lightweight backpacking tent near the ridge of the north end of the Sangre de Cristo range in southern Colorado, I opened a copy of Moby-Dick, Bantam Classic edition. I read the opening line, one of the most famous in the history of western literature: “Call me Ishmael.” Then I read maybe five pages before I clicked off my headlamp and went to sleep. I had bought the book at Tattered Cover on Colfax in Denver a few days earlier, looking for a dense, lightweight book to take on a back ..read more

BOOK TOUR UPDATE: I will be signing and selling copies of my new book, Ultra-Something, at the Arc’teryx store in Boulder next week at 6 p.m. April 24. It’s full, but so were the events in Seattle and Portland, and we still had room for people who just showed up the night of the event. More info here. I’ll also be in Washington DC and Chicago, and if you can make either of those events, RSVP here: Washington DC: May 6  Chicago: May 8 The book goes on sale in mid-May, and if you want to have a sample chapter of it emailed to you and a notification when it comes out, here’s the info for tha ..read more

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). — I would guess anyone who has ever done any creative work for clients will feel som ..read more

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