Maximum Capacity: Ragnar SoCal 2026

The Maximum Capacity crew

I think most people have a fundamental understanding of what type 2 fun is.  When I Google "type 2 fun", AI defines it as "an experience that is miserable, stressful, or challenging while happening but enjoyable, rewarding, and memorable in retrospect".  To me, type 2 fun is a perfect description of how a Ragnar relay race feels.

Ragnar relay races take teamwork and team bonding to a new level.  Essentially, Ragnar is a 200-ish mile relay race that is ran by teams of twelve runners.  Ragnar has races all over the country, but this one that I was participating in was going to follow a specially designed course through Southern California from Coronado, near San Diego, to Huntington Beach.  The 200 miles are divided into thirty-six segments, with checkpoints along with way.  Each of the twelve runners runs three segments of the course, and while one team member is out running, the rest of the team drives to the next checkpoint to wait for them to arrive before the next runner takes off.  Some teams cram all twelve of their runners into one big van, but most teams have two vans carrying six runners each.  I had a lot of fun at the Ragnar races I had done in the past, so when I found out my company had a team for the Ragnar SoCal event, I jumped at the opportunity to participate.  

My colleagues and I conversed in the office breakroom during the days leading up to the race about how much "fun" it was going to be.  And indeed, Ragnar did not disappoint.  It was an experience that brought our team together in a whole new way that I will remember forever.  It was quite an eventful thirty-five hours with a wide range of feelings.  It was fun, challenging, a little hectic, a little emotional, and ultimately, quite hilarious.

It started off with a short night sleep at the house that we were all sharing in San Diego.  We woke up at 4:00 AM, drank some coffee, packed up our van with provisions, and took off for the start line in Coronado.  Our team of twelve had two vans, and we were the first van, so we were going to be starting off the race, while van two would be running later on in the day.  Our van included six runners and Blanca, our driver.  I've always thought that Ragnar van drivers had the harder job than the runners.  Being the driver involves driving the van to each checkpoint to meet the runners at the transition areas.  It's a tedious task that involves navigating through unfamiliar neighborhoods while fighting to stay awake, and making sure the van is at the checkpoint before the runner arrives so the next runner is ready to go.  Van two had two drivers, but Blanca, who works on our facilities management team, was going to be driving our asses around singlehandedly for the next day and a half.  Having been with SmartStop for several years, she's had plenty of experience being the van driver at Ragnar.  Although it's a lot to handle for one person, I knew we were in good hands.  

The start line at 6:00 AM in Coronado

We arrived at the starting area, and Proshat, our first runner, kicked off our race at 6:00 AM.  As she ran off into the pre-dawn darkness, we jumped into the van and drove to the first checkpoint.  Each team is given a special bracelet for team members to wear during their run so the rest of the team can track the runner's progress along the course on the Ragnar app.  When Proshat arrived at the checkpoint, she handed off the bracelet to Elle, our second runner.  Our third runner, Jenn, would be taking off from the next checkpoint once Elle finished her first run.  Jenn was the mastermind behind the entire SmartStop Ragnar team.  As our team captain, she spent months preparing for the event and working out all of the logistical details.  I was impressed and grateful for her dedication and hard work.  Jenn is our director of asset management, and an accomplished endurance athlete, having competed in multiple Half Ironman triathlons over the years.  She drives a Jeep with a license plate frame that reads "running is cheaper than therapy".  Her father was also an endurance athlete in his younger years, and she considers him to be her ultimate hero.  Coordinating Ragnar is really a labor of love, and the fact that she put so much time into it truly showed how passionate she is about the event.  Jenn is a fast runner and was expecting to click off between seven-and-a-half and eight-minute miles, so we knew we had to get over to the next checkpoint quickly.  Kelly, our fourth runner, awaited her arrival in the transition area while the rest of us were watching the app.  It looked like Jenn was coming in hot and we knew she'd be arriving soon.  But then something really strange happened.  According to what we were seeing on the app, it looked as if Jenn had blown right through the checkpoint and kept running.  We didn't know what was happening, but something had to have been wrong.  She should have arrived at the checkpoint already, there was no way we would have missed her.

After spending twenty minutes driving along the course trying to find Jenn, we were so close to the next checkpoint, we decided to have Blanca drive there while the rest of us searched for Jenn on foot.  We were thinking there was a chance that she was at the next checkpoint already anyways.  We weren't sure what happened, but she evidently had gone off course at some point.  We couldn't call her because she didn't have her phone on her while she was running.  All we could do was trust the app, which was clearly giving us false information since Jenn was seemingly nowhere to be found.  Things were getting hectic.  It had now been forty-five minutes since we started searching for Jenn, and we had no idea where she was.  It seemed like the best option was to contact the Ragnar staff for help.  Just then, my phone dinged and a new message appeared in our group chat that we had going.  It was a message from Blanca saying she had found Jenn.  "Guys, Blanca found her!" I announced to the others.  We turned around and ran back to where the van was parked.  When we arrived, Blanca informed us that she had spoken with Jenn on the phone and she was stranded at a Taco Bell nearby.  When we pulled up and found Jenn in the parking lot, she was crying and visibly upset.  We jumped out of the van and embraced in a group hug in an effort to console her.  She tearfully apologized to us and talked about how stupid she felt because she got lost.  My first instinct was to tell her she wasn't stupid, but something I've learned over the years, especially as a dad, is sometimes it's best to just let people feel their feelings for a minute.  The truth was Jenn made a mistake that any one of us could have made.  We reiterated to her that she was doing an awesome job, we were grateful for her, and mistakes happen.  Once she was feeling better, she filled us in on all the hoops she jumped through to get a hold of us to tell us she had gone off course.  She had to borrow a cell phone that belonged to one of the Taco Bell employees.  She didn't have any phone numbers memorized except the ones belonging to her daughter and her mother.  Neither of them answered.  She tried calling her cell phone to see if one of us would pick it up, but we didn't hear it ringing in the van.  Finally, she sent an email from the Taco Bell employee's email address to a member of her team saying it was Jenn and to call the cell phone number of the phone she was borrowing.  Thankfully, her team member saw the email immediately, called the number, and gave Jenn Blanca's cell phone number, which she then called.  In the end, we found her, and the most important thing is that she was safe.

The situation with Jenn reminded me of a similar dilemma that I had gotten myself into several years ago when I was visiting my hometown in Michigan and doing a point-to-point training run for an upcoming ultramarathon.  I was borrowing my dad's car, and I had parked it at the trailhead where I began the thirty-three mile rally from the outskirts of the city of Kalamazoo to the town of South Haven on Michigan's west coast.  My plan was to call an Uber when I arrived in South Haven to drive me back to the parking lot where I had started.  I successfully completed the thirty-three miles and enjoyed a quick solo celebration after crossing the invisible finish line.  After spending a few minutes marveling in the experience, I took out my cell phone to find an Uber.  The trailhead was in a park on the edge of town with a boat harbor and a couple of high rise apartment buildings nearby.  According to my phone, there were no Uber drivers available in my location.  Downtown South Haven was about a mile away, so I walked in that direction, trying the app again.  Still no Uber drivers.  I knew there were a couple of cab companies in South Haven from the research I had done earlier that week.  I dialed the first one, but the number was disconnected.  When I dialed the second one, it sent me to voicemail three times in a row.  Not good.  My phone battery was getting low, but I managed to pull up a website with a train and bus schedule.  Nothing was leaving town until the next day, so that wasn’t an option either.  By the way, this was late March in Michigan, so it wasn't exactly warm outside.  I was clad in running gear with no jacket, and it was started to get very cold as the late afternoon sun began to lower in the sky.  Unsure of what to do next, I decided to head into the nearest establishment to seek assistance; a Fifth Third Bank.  The staff was friendly and helpful, but they informed me that the one Uber driver they had in town was off that day.  They tried calling the cab companies as well, but no answer.  At this point, my phone was nearly dead and my mind started racing.  I asked if I could borrow their phone to call my dad.  When he answered, he was happy to hear that I had finished the run safely, but he became concerned when I explained the situation.  I told him I'd call my sister, Stacey, to come get me, and I wanted to let him know that I would be home a lot later than I had planned.  He exhaled a long breath into the receiver.  “I’ll come get you” he said.  He wasn’t angry, but he wasn’t particularly thrilled that he was going be driving three hours across the state to rescue his crazy son.  Although they were happy that I was able to get a hold of someone to rescue me, the bank staff gently informed me that they were about to close, so I had to be on my way.  I stepped back outside into the freezing cold, and headed into another nearby establishment: a Dairy Queen.  Despite the troubling situation I was in, I was starving, so I ordered some chicken strips, fries, and a chocolate malt.  As I sat in a booth enjoying my tray of deep fried heaven, I texted my dad the address.  That final text to my dad depleted my remaining phone battery power, and it went dead.  I was hoping that I could hang out for a while and wouldn’t have to wait outside in the cold.  Thankfully, the staff didn’t seem to mind that there was a crazy runner loitering in their restaurant, and I spent the next two and a half hours watching Spongebob Squarepants on the restaurant TV, laughing to myself about my debacle.

My dad finally arrived around 8:00 PM.  When he rolled up in his partner's car, he just laughed and shook his head.  I was happy as a clam.  “You’re the greatest dad of all time!” I exclaimed as I hugged him.  We talked about my adventure during the ride, and he dropped me off where I had parked his car.  We then drove home following each other on the highway and made it to my dad's house a couple of hours later.  There was no shortage of teasing from my dad for the rest of the visit about my little mishap, but all in all, he didn’t seem to mind that he had to make the trip.  We're all human.  Sometimes runners make mistakes and finding creative ways to problem solve sure makes for a fun story.  Once the dust settled, there were lots of laughs about Jenn's mishap throughout the rest of the journey.

Our fourth and fifth runners were Kelly and Matt, who had both traveled to Southern California from Colorado to run with us.  Both are district managers in their respective territories, with Matt coming on board as part of a company that SmartStop acquired in late 2025.  Kelly had been with the company for seven years and had done Ragnar a few years back.  As part of the race preparation, Jenn had asked us to give her our estimated paces so she could calculate how long it would take us to finish.  Kelly surprised us all by running quite a bit faster than her expected pace.  Matt was running Ragnar for the first time, and seemed to be enjoying it so far.  While we were driving he told me the funny story of how he was recruited into the race by Kelly.  She emailed him and said "you're a runner, right?"  He replied "kind of".  Kelly explained to him what Ragnar was, and that we needed another runner, so he checked out the link to the Ragnar website that she sent him.  Matt thought the race was 200 miles for just one runner and responded back to her that he couldn't run 200 miles, so he would probably have to pass.  Once Kelly explained that it was a 200 mile relay for the whole twelve-person team, he was relieved and told her he was in.  

I was runner number six, the last runner in our van.  Once Kelly and Matt completed their first segments, it was my turn.  I had a nice five-mile run mostly along the harbor before following the course into a local park, where I handed the bracelet off to Gerald, our first runner in van two.  Gerald works as a consultant for our operations team, and we had a shared love of hockey, although we rooted for different teams.  We had several hours of downtime while van two completed their segments, so we got some lunch at a local restaurant and then returned to the house to get some rest.  Shortly before 5:00 PM, we were at Torrey Pines, where Proshat began her second run.  Things took an unexpected turn during the drive to Torrey Pines from our house.  Jenn had gotten a call from Holly, one of the runners in van two.  One of the van two runners, Jamie, had injured herself during her first segment and had to be taken to urgent care.  She was sprinting towards the transition area at the end of her run when she was suddenly hit by a lightning bolt of excruciating pain in her calf.  She suspected it was her meniscus, but wasn't completely sure.  But one thing she knew for sure was that unfortunately, her race was over.  Jenn and Holly came up with a new game plan over the phone.  Originally, the plan was for me to run my three segments, and cover Gerald's last segment, since he only wanted to run two.  Instead, I would run Jamie's last segment, while Holly and another runner would cover her second one.  Meanwhile, Jenn called Rhonda, our vice president of marketing, to ask if she could run Gerald's last segment.  Rhonda told our team that she would be available to run on standby, so she was happy to help.  Things had gotten a bit scattered, but we seemed to have a good plan in place.  Sometimes in these types events, as is the case with real life, things can go upside very quickly and it's important to break out those problem solving skills when needed.

Torrey Pines

Once Proshat finished up her second run, It was Elle's turn again.  As we drove to the next checkpoint, we passed her as she ran up a massive hill.  We honked and cheered as we drove by.  Elle was Kelly's daughter, and a freshman in college studying nursing.  She was going to school in a town in Wyoming that was over a mile high in elevation, which I'm sure helped her run stronger here at sea level.  As we drove by her and cheered, I was sure that Kelly had a proud mom moment as she watched Elle tackle that hill.  After Elle arrived at the checkpoint, Jenn took off again, going strong.  About halfway through her run, Proshat got a call from her.  She sounded frantic and told us over speaker phone that she had taken another wrong turn.  We were trying to help Proshat pinpoint Jenn's location by looking at the app and checking Google maps.  We heard a lot of wind in the background, and it sounded like Jenn was running as she was talking.  It was hard to understand what she was trying to tell us.  Proshat handed me her phone and walked over to the transition area, and after a brief pause, Jenn said something to the effect of "I know where I am.  I'm just going to have to get back on course and book it.  Bye."  And then she hung up.  I walked over to Proshat and told her everything was okay, and that Jenn just had to get back on course and book it to the checkpoint.  Proshat looked confused.  "What do you mean?" she asked.  "She's good" I answered.  "She just has to get back on course and book it".  Now she looked worried.  "What do you mean?" she asked.  "Is she okay?".  Again, I said yes.  "She's booking it.  She'll be here soon".  Proshat then looked at me as if she was going to say "if you don't tell me what's going on right now, I'm going to beat the words out of you".  "Liam, I don't know what you're saying." she said. "Book what?  What is she booking?".  I finally saw where the confusion was.  Proshat was a native Farsi speaker, having grown up in Iran.  She had been living in the United States for eight years, but some of these odd English slang expressions were still unfamiliar to her.  Once I realized her confusion, I explained that "book it" just means move quickly.  I was essentially telling her that Jenn just had to get back on course and run fast.  Once this was cleared up, we both laughed hysterically.  Proshat thought I was saying something like Jenn needing to book an appointment or a hotel or flight, so she was relieved once she understood what I meant to say.  It went back and forth three times before the right message was delivered.  Proshat works on our property accounting team and is pursuing a PhD in Accounting.  With the exception of Jenn, has done more SmartStop Ragnar races than any of us.  Her and I are cubicle neighbors at the office, and we still laugh together about that exchange we had at the transition area to this day.

Van One

Hours passed, miles were covered, and I completed my second run and handed the bracelet off to Gerald at around 11:00 PM.  After getting some carryout sandwiches, our van headed back to the house again for some more downtime.  I was able to get a shower and a nap in during the three hours we were at the house, which felt luxurious.  Our van had completed two full running segments and everyone was doing a great job and having fun.  Through all of this, Blanca was doing a fantastic job with driving us around and navigating from checkpoint to checkpoint.  I'm glad that she was able to get some much needed rest.  At 3:00 AM, we found ourselves at the next checkpoint.  Once the final runner for van two arrived, Proshat took off for her third and final segment.  It was the middle of the night and we were running through a sketchy part of town, so I ran the first mile and a half of Proshat's segment with her until the course continued into a safer neighborhood.  The next checkpoint was pulsing with energy when we arrived.  There was music, lights, bonfires, and a coffee food truck.  It was quite lively for 3:30 AM.  Because of the sleep deprivation and the chilly early morning air, that cup of coffee from the coffee truck was really hitting the spot.  The bonfires were a nice addition to the ambiance.  It was marvelous.  The sun eventually came up, and as more miles were covered, we found ourselves at a park near Doheny Beach in Dana Point.  I waited for Matt to arrive before I began my final segment.  From there, the course would continue through Dana Point, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods and then into Irvine, and eventually, Huntington Beach, where we would cross the finish line.  We were getting close with each step that our team took.  

As I completed my run, I entered the parking lot of Dana Hills High School, where I handed the Bracelet off to Rhonda, who had shown up earlier that morning to run Gerald's final segment.  At this point, I said farewell to my fellow van mates, gathered my stuff, and jumped into van two, since I would be covering Jamie's final segment that afternoon.  Jamie, or "JJ" as we called her, had spent some time in the hospital, but was now back in the van wearing a boot and using crutches.  Despite the unfortunate circumstances, she was in good spirit.  In addition to running, she was super into cycling.  It's never fun to have to work through an injury, but I knew she'd be back to her active lifestyle before too long.  Her and her husband, Josh, were joining us from British Columbia, Canada.  Josh, our legal council for our Canadian operations, was the only guy I had ever met who was born and raised in the Yukon territory of Canada.  If you're not sure where it is on the map, check it out.  It's way up there.  Also accompanying us in van two was Bliss, our executive vice president of our Canada operations, who I shared a couple of miles with for motivational support.  She had traveled the farthest out of all of us, all the way from Toronto, to be part of this wild adventure.  We ran up a big hill together, and she finished strong, handing the bracelet off to Holly, our next runner.  Our van two drivers, Todd and Jeff, who worked on our facilities and marketing teams, drove us to our next checkpoint.  When Holly arrived, she would be handing the bracelet off to me to run JJ's final segment.  As we waited for her in the transition area, I was chatting with Michael.  Michael and Holly are husband and wife, with him serving as the CEO of our company and Holly serving as the executive vice president of our sister company.  I thought it was really awesome that they both participated in Ragnar every year together.  It sets a really good tone for the culture of SmartStop and it was cool interacting with them outside of work.  

My pace throughout JJ's final segment was considerably slower than my earlier segments.  I only slept a total of three hours in the past thirty-six hours, and I had already covered twenty-three miles.  I wasn't hurting, but exhaustion was setting in pretty hard.  I finally made it back to the transition area and handed the bracelet off to Josh.  He was running the final segment of the race, so our next stop would be the finish line.  My teammates greeted me with cheers and high fives.  Much to my delight, they had a double cheeseburger from the Habit waiting for me in the van.  After running a total of thirty-one miles over the past day and a half, it tasted heavenly.  "Thank you guys, I'm so obsessed with this cheeseburger right now" I told them.  

Shortly before 5:00 PM, Josh emerged in the distance from the finish line in Huntington Beach, and our whole team, including our drivers, crossed the finish line all together.  We high fived and embraced each other in celebration as if we were a hockey team who had just won a playoff series.  After thirty-four and a half hours of battling the obstacles, including runners going off course, runners getting injured, getting three hours of sleep, eating room temperature hamburgers in the van at 3:00 AM, consuming lots of coffee, and sitting around in our own sweat for hours, we were Ragnar SoCal finishers!  All of the runners did an awesome job, and we couldn't have done it without our amazing van drivers.  Matt's wife had flown in that morning from Denver, and met us at the finish line, much to our excitement.  My heart was full as we sat around a big plastic table in folding chairs, beers in hand, sharing stories and laughs about our adventure.  

Our badass van drivers, Blanca, Todd, and Jeff

The whole crew at the finish line

At 7:30 PM, I finally arrived at home.  Coincidentally, Samantha had driven down to San Diego to see some friends who were in town, so my in laws were babysitting Aidan.  Once they took off, I had a hot shower, and Aidan and I ordered some Raising Cane's on Uber Eats.  I always look forward to being home with my family after finishing races.  I ran lots of miles, helped my team to the finish line, and gained a lot of great memories with some super cool people.  Now that I was back home resting with people I love, there was nothing more I could have wanted.  

Life Lessons From The Winter Olympics Part 2

In my last piece I discussed the 2026 Winter Olympics and a couple of takeaways up to that point that I believed taught some valuable life lessons.  Being a skier and snowboarder as a kid is what gave me confidence.  And that confidence helped me feel better about myself, it helped me improve myself academically, and helped me build better social skills.  Winter sports have always drawn me in, and I look forward to following the Winter Olympics every four years.  The 2026 edition of the Winter Olympics has now come to a close, and a lot has happened since the last piece I wrote.  And with all that activity came a couple more takeaways and life lessons.

Let me start off by saying congratulations to the women's and men's USA hockey teams for winning the gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina.  It's an incredible accomplishment and an excellent thing for American Olympic sports.  But those gold medals didn't come without controversy.  Since the men's team achieved their victory in overtime against Canada last weekend, there has been criticism from the public over the fact that Donald Trump mocked the women's team, despite their achievement, and the way the men's team responded to the incident.  I wasn't pleased with Trump's joke, nor was I happy about how the men's team responded to it.  Since then, some of the members of the men's team have publicly expressed regret over their behavior.  They reiterated their support for the women's team, and referred to their reaction to Trump's distasteful joke as a lapse in judgment, which made me feel a little better.

The life lesson here is everyone should be acknowledged, celebrated, and recognized for their achievements regardless of their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.  An accomplishment such as winning an Olympic gold medal should be lauded by our leaders.  They shouldn't diminish these achievements by making jokes at a certain group of people's expense.  The USA women's hockey team should have gotten the same level of recognition for their accomplishment as the men's team.  Unfortunately that didn't happen.  Hopefully the next presidential administration sets a better example for this principle.

Now let's talk about Eileen Gu.  I didn't know much about her until this year's Olympics, but I'm glad I learned more about her.  For those who don't know, she's a twenty-two year old skier born raised in San Francisco.  He father is an American guy who has never been publicly identified, and her mother is a Chinese immigrant, former collegiate speed skater, and former ski instructor at Northstar in Lake Tahoe.  Eileen discovered her skiing talent at an early age, and after winning two silver medals and one gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics, she now has a total of six Olympic medals on her resume.  And that's only one of the hats she wears.  She also attends Stanford University, and has a pretty thriving modeling career.  Despite her success, I've come to understand that Eileen is a pretty polarizing figure in the United States due to her decision to represent China at the Olympics instead of the United States.  To me, it seems like the people who criticize her for this decision are getting the wrong message, or they're twisting it into what they want it to be.  Eileen has said many times that she hopes to inspire young kids in China and create unity through competitive skiing.  Since the conclusion of the Olympics, she has given more interviews on her psychological approach to daily life.  She has talked about "rewiring her brain" on a daily basis and how people can control what they think, how they think, and who they are.  She was quoted saying "I spend a lot of time in my own head.  Yes, I think a lot".    

The life lesson here is being in your own head and thinking a lot is a good thing.  I feel like I think a lot and spend a lot of time in my own head too.  I'm not sure if there's a scientific term for a person who is half introvert half extrovert, but that describes me perfectly.  Having alone time to think and reflect on things represents the more introverted side.  A lot of people don't like thinking a lot or spending time in their own heads.  They don't like silence or being alone.  Silence, solitude, and being in one's own head are sometimes associated with anti-social behavior and loneliness.  They're viewed as negative things.  But they're really not.  It's good to spend time alone.  It's good to spend time in silence.  And it's good to spend time in our own heads reflecting on things and breaking down our thought processes.  It's a good reset button for going about our daily lives and it makes us into more successful people.  Maybe if more people shared this sentiment, the world would be a better place.

I love Alyssa Liu's story as well.  Shout out to her for winning the gold medal for the United States and representing California!  Overall, it was a really cool Winter Olympics.  I've never written about the Olympics before, but I felt like I should this year because I probably learned more from this year's Winter Olympics than any sporting event I've followed in the past.  We'll see what it brings in 2030. 

Life Lessons From The Winter Olympics

Winter sports have drawn me in ever since I was a little kid growing up in Michigan.  I've been a hockey fan all my life, and skiing and snowboarding were my sports throughout my childhood.  When I got into snow sports as a young teenager, life got better for me.  I had finally discovered sports that I enjoyed and in which I excelled.  My self confidence improved, I started doing better in school, and I became better at connecting with people.  The Winter Olympics have always been cool to watch.  I'm not a religious watcher because I'm not much of a TV person in general.  Plus I'd rather be participating in the sports than watching other people do them on TV, but nevertheless, I enjoy watching the athletes tear it up.  

The world has produced some exceptionally talented winter sport athletes over the decades, and so far, the 2026 Winter Olympics have been eventful.  I'd like to discuss two takeaways from the Winter Olympics so far that hit close to home with me, and I believe showcase some valuable life lessons.  First of all, I love the story about Chloe Kim and Choi Ga-on.  For those who don't know who they are, Chloe Kim is a 25-year-old professional snowboarder from Southern California.  She spent her early years snowboarding at Mountain High, Big Bear, and in the Swiss Alps before returning to California and training at Mammoth Mountain.  She has won two Olympic gold medals and several other awards.  Despite dislocating her shoulder during training season, she was heavily favored to win a third consecutive gold medal at this year's Winter Olympics in Cortina.  Now, let's bring Choi Ga-on into the picture.  Choi is a 17-year-old professional snowboarder from South Korea.  She arrived in Cortina for the Olympics with a Winter X Games gold medal and a couple of wins in halfpipe World Cup events on her resume.  In the end, Chloe Kim ended up taking home the silver medal and Choi Ga-on clinched the gold medal for women's halfpipe snowboarding.  Some media outlets spun the story into Chloe Kim getting 'beaten' by Choi Ga-on and 'settling for a silver medal'.  But Chloe and Choi set the record straight pretty quickly.  After Choi won, videos and pictures surfaced of the two of them hugging each other and taking photos together with their medals.  It turned out Choi regarded Chloe as her idol and Chloe had mentored Choi for many years.  Despite the only 8-year age gap, Chloe said she felt like a proud mom.

To me, the Chloe Kim and Choi Ga-on story was the feelgood story of the whole Olympics, and quite possibly the whole year so far.  It was really cool to see the mutual love and respect they had for each other.  In a world where people are constantly tearing each other down and trying to one-up each other, this story was a big breath of fresh air.  The life lesson here is it is generally a good thing when your mentees out-do you.  If you mentor someone and they compete against you and win, that should be the best possible outcome.  As a dad of a toddler, I feel like this also applies to parents and their kids.  Why wouldn't parents want their kids to be better than them?  I've heard too many stories about mentors talking shit about their mentees and saying they were never worth a damn when they become their competition and too many parents becoming resentful towards their kids if they do better than them.  It's hard for me to understand.  I love seeing people I've mentored succeed, and I hope that my son, Aidan, out-does me in every way possible.  

                        Chloe Kim and Choi Ga-on sharing a hug after Choi won the gold medal

My second takeaway so far for me from the Winter Olympics is the story of Ilia Malinin.  For those who don't know who he is, Ilia is an American professional figure skater from Virginia.  Both of his parents are former professional figure skaters from Russia who completed for Uzbekistan.  Ilia holds several records in the world of professional figure skating, and at only 21-years-old, he is the only skater to successfully land a quadruple axel on numerous occasions.  That's really freaking hard.  These achievements have earned him the nick name 'The Quad God' in some circles.  Ilia participated in this year's winter Olympics, and was heavily favored to win the gold medal for the men's free skate competition.  Unfortunately, he had several mishaps during his performance, including two falls while attempting various quadruple stunts.  He fell in the ranks to 8th place, and didn't end up taking home a medal as an individual athlete.  This sent a wave of shock through his fan base.  No one faulted him for what happened, but it was a major upset.  Ilia would state after the event that he felt like he crumbled under the pressure of being placed so high on a pedestal as the favored gold medal winner.  He stated that the pressure was overwhelming and his mistakes on the ice were caused by psychological factors as opposed to not having enough training.  To quote him, he further drove his point home by saying "it's not like any other competition.  It's the Olympics".  

As Ilia continues to process what happened to him on the ice, I have some thoughts of my own.  The life lesson here is one bad performance doesn't define who you are as an athlete.  And this even goes beyond sports.  You can be a professional violinist in an orchestra and give a flawed performance.  It doesn't mean your still not a talented violinist.  Or you could be a professional chef and have a rough night in the kitchen.  It doesn't mean you still aren't a great chef.  Good parents make mistakes with their kids sometimes.  It doesn't mean they aren't good parents.  Sometimes the constant pressure of being the best can create a lot of negative psychological thoughts of potential failure that can send people into a tailspin.  No matter what their craft is, professionals have off days, just like the rest of us.  I don't always have my best performance when I run races.  In fact, just about all the times that I've DNF'ed an ultramarathon or had bad races were the end result of not only having an off day, but also the negative thoughts taking over my mind because I was having an off day.  We can't always be at our best.  And clearly, Ilia wasn't at his best at this year's Winter Olympics.  It doesn't mean that a bad skating performance makes him a bad skater.  

That being said, I'm excited for what the final week of the 2026 Winter Olympics has in store for us.  I'm hoping for more feelgood stories because we need more of those in the media these days.  And when this is all over, I'm pretty sure that Chloe, Choi, and Ilia will be back in 2030 to kick some more ass.

Ilia Malinin tearing it up at the Olympics

The New Jam

It's pretty wild what the world can throw at you when you keep your mind open and live an adventurous life.  Back in June, I decided to do something that I never thought I would do.  I signed up for a spin class.  It was something new, and I didn't know what to expect or how it would go.  It's good to try new things, but there's always the risk of that new thing not clicking.  At least not right away.  But spin class drew me in pretty quickly, and I've been finding myself at the studio more and more often these days.  

So, what exactly is spin class?  Before I signed up, I wasn't completely sure.  At a high level, it's essentially rhythmic indoor cycling.  The style varies across classes and studios, but the studio that I go to in Huntington Beach offers classes that adopt a club-like setting.  Classes are fifty minutes long and are taught in the dark with light shows.  EDM and hip-hop tunes are cranked at a high volume, and participants engage in choreography that follows the beat of the music, while simultaneously peddling a stationary bike.  The instructor demos each move before the class joins in, and spinners are free to do their own version of the choreography based on their preference.  The studio is called bike2thebeat, which sums it up pretty brilliantly.

                                               Spinny Friends crew

Throughout my many months of frequenting Philz Coffee in Dana Point, I've gotten to know the baristas and staff pretty well.  A little over a year ago, I met Sean, one of the team leads.  We connected pretty quickly over shared interests.  Sean enjoys strength training, swimming, and occasional running, along with cycling and spin.  Not only does he love spin, but he loves teaching it and seeing other people kick ass at it.  As I sipped a piping hot Campfire blend at Philz one morning, Sean introduced me to bike2thebeat and told me what spin class was all about.  I decided to look into it further for myself and sign up for a class.  I figured I didn't have a whole lot to lose, especially since the first class was free.  I ended up really enjoying it.  I started off going once a month after that first class, but now I find myself going just about every other weekend and sometimes taking two classes back-to-back.  

It's safe to say that spin has become my new jam over the last few months.  There are several things I like about it.  First off, it's great cross training for running.  It's low impact and works different muscles, which improves strength and reduces the risk of injury.  Spin focuses heavily on cardiovascular activity, and the choreography provides a great opportunity to work out the upper body.  I also find it fun because it presents a whole new vibe for physical exercise.  I've had my fair share of visits to clubs and bars when I was younger, and I've always liked the idea of moving to a beat.  I need a lot of practice as a dancer, but I enjoy doing it.  Dancing is a great way to be fit, and doing spin class reminds me of dancing in a club.  Moving to the beat of EDM and hip-hop music on a bike in a dark studio with a light show releases a different kind of energy than running outside while listening to punk rock.  It's a different scene than the trail running scene.  It exercises a different side of my brain and creates a whole other mood.  I like where it takes me psychologically. 

                                      We all need this reminder sometimes

Another really cool thing about spin is the community and the people.  The studio itself provides a really chill and welcoming atmosphere.  Everyone is celebrated at bike2thebeat.  They celebrate people's milestone rides and birthdays.  They also make everyone, especially new people, feel welcome.  I always go on Sunday mornings to take Sean's class at 8:00 AM, and I occasionally do a "double" where I'll take another class right after Sean's, led by Ann, another instructor.  Most of the people who show up to those two classes are regulars at the studio and there's a strong sense of community.  I've met some super rad people at these classes.  It's great to hear people's stories and how they got into spin.  A lot of people have stories about losing weight, improving their physical condition, becoming more athletic, and finding their people and communities through spin.  I, for one, and damn glad to see it. 

                                                            The studio

All this being said, I would highly recommend checking out spin class to anyone who is physically active and enjoys looking for new ways to cross train and meet people.  Even if a night club setting isn't exactly what you're looking for, another spin studio should be able to provide the setting that you're into.  If you check out spin class, you're almost guaranteed to find positivity, motivation, and hear some inspiring stories, especially if you go somewhere like bike2thebeat.  I never thought I'd get into spin class because it's such a different scene, but I'm glad I did.  I think I'm almost to the point where I'll actually buy my own spin shoes instead of renting from the studio!

November Awareness

November is a pretty cool month.  Halloween kicks off the holiday season on the last day of October, which means when November comes around, people are starting to get into the holiday spirit.  I'm a big fan of the holiday season, so I think of it as a fun time of year.  But for me personally, November is significant in a couple of other ways.

This past November marked the twentieth anniversary of my mother's death.  The day we lost her, November 10th, 2005, was one of the hardest days of my life.  I felt like my family had been destroyed and I wasn't sure if I would ever be okay again.  It was a lot for my teenage brain to process.  Now, twenty years later, I can sincerely say that I am okay and at peace.  That doesn't mean I've forgotten about all the pain I've felt.  I still cry about it once in a while.  I miss my mom dearly, and I think of her all the time.  I'm at peace because I've come to terms with the situation and I've managed to find a way to cope with it.  Every year when November 10th comes, it's hard to not think about the significance of what happened on that day in 2005.  My thoughts and feelings about the anniversary of my mom's death have varied over the years, but in recent years, I've chosen to reflect on how far I've come.  It's been one hell of a journey over the last twenty years.  

Here's an idea of what the state of my life was like on the day my mom died:  I was nineteen years old, living in an apartment with my two friends.  I had just kicked off my sophomore year at Western Michigan University.  Sounds pretty cool, right?  At the time, I thought it was, but looking back, I can say that it wasn't as cool as it could have or should have been.  I was unfulfilled.  I didn't have any health issues, but I wasn't in good physical shape.  I had some extra body fat.  I was drinking quite a bit, especially on weekends.  Most days, my diet only consisted of two trips to the McDonald's down the street: one in the afternoon for lunch, and another late at night for dinner.  Besides alcohol, I only drank soda and coffee.  I didn't even drink water to try to prevent hangovers.  I rarely exercised.  The only running I did was running away from the cops when they broke up the house parties that I frequented.  In other words, I was living the typical debauchery filled college kid lifestyle.       

The day my mom died was the beginning of a long healing  journey.  My brain didn't know how to work through such a life-altering situation, so I dealt with it the best way I knew how.  At first, I tried to heal by simply downplaying the situation.  "It happened.  Why should I be upset about it?" I thought.  I tried to carry on as nonchalantly as possible, but my friends and family were freaked out by how normal I was acting.  They knew something wasn't right.  As time went on and reality sank in more, I went through other grieving phases.  After the "trying to play it cool" phase came the "haze" phase.  My whole reality seemed as if it were a dream, and it was like I was here but not here.  It was weird.  I eventually began to think more clearly and observe the world from a different perspective than I had for the past nineteen years.  I started being nicer to people and not taking things for granted.  When I went to a party or the bar, I prioritized social interaction over drinking to get drunk.  I started taking better care of myself physically and psychologically.  I had lukewarm feelings towards therapy, but I'm glad I decided to go as an adult.  I learned a hell of a lot in five years of weekly therapy sessions.  

My journey took me from Michigan to Chicago, and eventually to California.  I faced several obstacles along the way, and had many ups and downs.  The ups were lots of fun and the downs were good learning opportunities.  It's wild to think how different my life is today compared to twenty years ago.  I knew there was no way I could keep up that lifestyle forever, but I don't have any regrets about my life before my mom's passing.  There's a time and a place for every phase of life.  My mom's death was one of the biggest tragedies of my life, but it made me who I am today.  I'm grateful for that.

Other reason why November has been important to me in recent years is because November is Alzheimer's awareness month.  My father has been struggling with this awful disease for the last few years.  At first, we thought it was just memory loss from old age.  But as time went on, and his dementia became more prominent, we knew it was something more serious.  It took me some time to get my head around what my dad was dealing with.  Thanks to therapy and research, I've been able to accept the reality of what's going on.  Alzheimer's sucks.  There's no other way to put it.  There's no cure for it, and the cause is largely unknown.  Depression, lack of physical activity, and smoking have all been linked to Alzheimer's disease, but there's still lots of research to be done on what causes it and how it can be cured.  The symptoms can be treated, but sadly, treatments usually don't have a major impact.  The last time I saw my dad in person, we kept it light and casual.  Everything was pretty matter of fact.  There were no deep conversations, no catching up, no conversations about past times.  We sat together, watched movies, had some laughs, and made some small talk.  That was about the extent of our interaction.

What happens with Alzheimer's is a disproportionate amount of microproteins are deposited into the prefrontal cortex of the brain.  Eventually, the accumulation causes disruptions in normal brain cell activity and causes motor neurons to malfunction.  This results in memory loss, the diminished ability to speak, eat, move, and eventually, the inability to breathe.  So, it's not that my dad didn't want to have conversations with me.  He just couldn't.  It's hard because we've created a lot of great memories together over the years, but I know those memories live within my dad's mind somewhere.  Educating myself on Alzheimer's and psychologically processing what's happening has helped me accept my dad's situation.  Unfortunately, it's not going to get better, but the more I understand, the more at peace I am with what's going on.  It's gotten to the point now where just being in my dad's presence is enough for he and I to spend time together.  I'll aways be grateful to him for all that he's done for me.

November is about fun and holiday vibes, but for me, it's also been about acceptance, awareness, and reflection.  Accepting the fact that my mom is gone and my dad has Alzheimer's disease.  Being aware of what Alzheimer's is and knowing how it works.  And, reflecting on how far I've come since my mom's death twenty years ago.  Overall, it's a very positive time of year.  And of course, it's also a great time to be thankful for all that I have, especially on turkey day.      

Gratitude

Yes, this post is about gratitude.  And I'm not talking about the delicious blend at Philz Coffee that comes out every year during the holiday season, although, I'm really looking forward to it.  "Gratitude" is a word that has been on my mind a lot lately.  About a month or so ago, the CEO of my new company held a company wide town hall meeting.  As he spoke to us over Zoom through his laptop in a New York City hotel room, he briefed us on the current events and all the exciting things happening within the organization.  Then he concluded with this:  "Remember Team, it's important to be thankful for what you have, and remember about how far you've come".  I enjoyed hearing all the exciting news about my company, but those closing remarks are what I remember the most about that town hall meeting.

In mid-September, Samantha, Aidan, and I went on a cruise with my in laws.  It was a week-long adventure that departed from the port in Seattle, made three stops in Alaska, and one stop in British Columbia before returning to Seattle.  Although I take a couple of days off work here and there for long weekend trips, I hadn't had a longer vacation with a week off work for quite some time.  I can't remember the last time I had a week where I could just relax and I didn't have to be preoccupied with work.  It turned out having a week-long vacation gave me a lot of time and opportunities to express gratitude.  For me, those moments tend to come naturally when my mind is calm and I'm in a chill setting.  It's been nearly twenty years since my mother's death.  For those who don't know the story, she struggled with alcoholism for quite some time and died during my teenage years.  It was the hardest thing I've ever dealt with.  It's been a roller coaster of experiences since then, but the biggest takeaway I had was this:  don't take shit for granted, and be grateful for what you have.  My life is far from perfect, but I have so much to be grateful for.  Taking the time during our vacation to remind myself of everything good I have in my life was just what I needed in my otherwise fast paced reality. 

One of those moments was when we were in Seattle.  We were staying in a hotel in the downtown area the night before we were supposed to board the cruise ship and head for Alaska.  I woke up early and walked to a local coffee shop down the street.  It was a small joint with only a couple of tables inside.  The barista wore thick glasses and gave off a friendly, but also a kind of reserved vibe.  Grunge music played on the coffee shop stereo, and the coffee was piping hot and delicious.  Outside, the temperature was chilly and the sky was grey and overcast.  In other words, the whole experience felt very "Seattle" to me.  As I sipped my coffee, I took a twenty-minute or so walk through the surrounding neighborhood.  It was one of those moments where everything just seemed super chill, and I naturally thought about all the things that I was grateful for.

The trip was a success.  It was my first time going on a cruise, and our first time on a proper vacation with Aidan.  Of course that made it different from when we traveled without a kid, but we just rolled with it and had a good time.  We had stops in Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria.  Unfortunately, we had to bypass our scheduled stop in Juneau due to there being a dangerous storm in the area.  I enjoyed our on-shore adventures, but being on the cruise ship and just hanging out was very rejuvenating for me.  I loved going up on the top deck of the ship, sipping some hot coffee, and just looking out over the ocean.  The surrounding scenery varied depending on where we were.  Some of the time, all I could see was ocean in every direction as far out as the horizon would go.  Other times, some distant mountains and land were visible.  There was a mini-golf course on the top deck of the ship, which Aidan and I visited every day.  Having that time to not have to think about anything and just play mini-golf with Aidan or sip coffee and look out over the ocean was another opportunity to reflect on how far I've come.  Sometimes the simplest things in life bring the most gratitude.        

Samantha and I love Aidan to pieces, but when we have quiet time when he's either asleep or not with us, it gives us time to just chill and think about what we have to be grateful for.  One evening, when we were docked in Ketchikan, my in-laws were kind enough to watch Aidan for a few hours while Samantha and I went on-shore and into town for dinner.  We chatted with some locals and found a great restaurant with super cool servers, and delicious Alaskan crab.  It was the best crab I had ever tasted.  Another stretch of time when things were so nice and chill that we could just reflect on life.  We were grateful for the experience.  

Since returning from our trip, I've made a genuine effort to create more time to express gratitude and reflect on my life journey.  It doesn't necessarily have to be when I'm on vacation.  I have plenty of time during the day when I'm alone.  In the shower, driving to and from work, my morning run, etc.  Expressing gratitude while I'm in the shower has been my thing lately.  It really just makes the rest of my day better all around.  I'm a morning person, and I like to use my mornings to have quiet time and go for a nice run.  Expressing gratitude while in the shower has been a nice addition to my morning routine.  Life is cool and exciting, but let's face it, today's world is busy and full of noise.  It's very easy to get overstimulated.  Stepping back, expressing gratitude, being thankful for all we've been through and how far we've come is exactly what I think the world needs.  It's certainly been beneficial to me.  If we stop and think, there really are a lot of good things in the world.  Sometimes we just need to slow things down in order to find them. 

When Life Comes At You Fast, Run An Ultra

Change is unavoidable in life.  It can be a great thing because change often means moving forward.  It means it's time to move on to the next chapter in life and become a better version of ourselves.  But change can also be hard because it can be overwhelming.  When things change abruptly, it can take a big psychological toll on us.  Our brains use a lot of energy to adapt to a new routine which can leave us exhausted and drained.  Even for people who embrace change, it can be a lot to handle.  People cope with change in different ways, often by doing things that relax them.  This is why I believe it's important to have hobbies.  We all need something we enjoy doing as a way of hitting the psychological reset button and decluttering our minds.  With the changes that have been going on in my life lately, I thought what better way to clear my mind then to run a 50K ultramarathon?

Noble Canyon 50K start

In the early morning hours of September 6th, 2025, I found myself driving down the 5 freeway to the start line of the Noble Canyon 50K.  The race takes place in the town of Pine Valley, about an hour east of San Diego in the Cuyamaca Mountains.  I had just passed through San Clemente, and I was enjoying the tranquility of the quiet, dark freeway, with the Pacific Ocean to my right, and the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains to my left.  I always enjoy the car rides to ultramarathon start lines.  The ride there is quiet and calm, while the ride home is often more rambunctious with music playing in the car and a lot of reflecting on how the day went.  I stopped at a remote 7-Eleven store for a second cup of coffee and a package of Pop Tarts for pre-race fuel before arriving at the start area shortly before sunrise.  It was a good day out on the course.  I reflected a lot on the last couple of months and unloaded a lot of thoughts on the trail that had been taking up too much space in my mind.  More on that in a little while, but I got what I wanted out of this race:  a finish, and a chance to declutter my mind.  But I got more than just that, because every ultramarathon has a story.  The course was beautiful and was mostly on single track trails.  This race had a little bit of everything in terms of scenery:  A little alpine forest, a little high desert, some small ponds, and lots of great views.  The weather in this area of California can get quite hot at this time of the year.  Fortunately, on this day, it was warm but not sweltering.  Most of the runners were from the San Diego area, but I met one guy who was from the Chicago suburbs.  He was in Southern California for a work conference, and we traded stories about living in Chicago.  Those were some pretty fun years of my life.  I found myself reflecting on some of those memories as I continued along after we parted ways at an aid station.  

Approaching the halfway point

At around mile twenty-one, I came up behind a runner who was standing still in the middle of the trail.  I asked him if everything was okay, and he just laughed and said "dude, this fucking snake will not move".  I looked, and sure enough, there was a small rattlesnake coiled up right in the middle of the trail about six feet in front of us.  Rattlesnakes normally avoid humans as much as possible, and with two-hundred runners out there, I was surprised he was just hanging out in an open area like that.  I grabbed a small rock off the trailside and tossed it in the snake's direction.  The goal was not to hit the snake, but to get his attention.  It usually works and they slither off the trail shortly afterwards.  But this guy wasn't moving.  "I tried everything man, he just doesn't want to move" the other guy said.  It seems silly for two grown men to be standing on a trail, too scared to run past a snake, but trust me, it's not a good ideal to screw around with rattlers.  They normally only bite if they feel like they need to, but we don't know what they're thinking.  Not only do their bites hurt like hell, but the venom that they release into your system can produce short term symptoms such as swelling, nausea, dizziness, and other fun symptoms.  And if bites are left untreated with antivenom, you could risk doing long term damage to your body.  I tried tossing one more small rock towards the snake, but he was unphased.  He just looked at us as if to say "is that all you got?".  Within a few minutes, another runner came up, and then a fourth one.  The fourth guy had an idea that none of us thought to try.  "Hey bro, let me borrow your trekking poles real fast" he said to the first guy.  He took the trekking poles, reached forward, and picked the snake up off the trail, like two giant chop sticks picking up a giant chow mein noodle.  The snake protested instantly.  He hissed and rattled as he was forced to the trailside.  Even though we knew it wouldn't do any good, we apologized to the snake.  "Sorry buddy" we all said.  "We know this is your home, but you gotta move".  After the runner released him into the brush with the trekking poles, he slithered away passive aggressively and rattled some more just to drive his point home.  He may have been pissed, but he didn't get hurt and neither did any of us.  

Big smiles while approaching the finish line

After that brief although entertaining episode, the course was mostly downhill to the finish line.  I was feeling pretty good up about around mile twenty-six.  At that point, the course because steeper and more technical.  Going downhill is usually a good thing during races, however when the downhill is steep with rocks and tree roots cluttering the trail, downhill isn't so good.  Every step required heightened concentration to avoid tripping and falling.  Just when it seemed like the trail would never end, it finally deposited me onto a remote paved road, which I followed for a mile-and-a-half to the finish line.  I rallied along, and crossed the finish in seven hours and forty-eight minutes.  It certainly wasn't one of my faster 50Ks, but every finish is worth celebrating.  I had some pretty painful muscle cramping afterwards, but after a post race beer and some stretching, my muscles slowly stopped tying themselves in knots.  No amount of cramping could erase the journey I went on that day.  I may have had cramped muscles and been covered in dry sweat, but my mind was at peace.  Thirty-one miles, and almost eight hours on the trail had left me feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.  That morning before the race, I had a lot on my mind.  I arrived home that day ready to spend the rest of the weekend with my family and tackle my second week of work at my new job.  As long as I can run, I will use it to mellow things out when my brain is ready to go kablooey.  When life comes at you fast, run an ultra.  Everything will make sense afterwards!