Every time I’m on FB it seems like there’s a brand new ad for a (brand new) fun run that looks a lot like all the other (brand new) fun runs. With seemingly no barriers to entry in the booming mob-and-mud run industries, you don’t necessarily need a business plan these days. Hell, you don’t [...]
As a die hard fan of 60 Minutes, I’m pretty well humbled (and proud) to present a segment I helped develop with producers Gabrielle Schonder and Ira Rosen. It premiered earlier this month on the new Showtime series, 60 Minutes Sports. Not only did I make inspiring new friends through this experience, but it led [...]
As my friends and family know, I’ve been working with 60 Minutes on a segment about obstacle racing. I connected with them when my Tough Mudder exposé hit newsstands and was hired as a consultant. This is obviously very exciting as I LOVE 60 MINUTES! (#understatement) There’s more to say about this, of course. But in [...]
More thoughts to follow in a national magazine. Stay tuned…
Call me crazy, call me quixotic, but I always assumed that my investigative feature would help change the narrative about Tough Mudder. I figured that other national journalists on this beat would read my piece and perhaps reconsider writing (yet) another breathless puff piece about the company. So I was rather incensed when I read [...]
Let’s start with the obvious… I’m no Bear Grylls. I mean, he eats things that I wouldn’t touch with a stick. He and I share little more in common than two ‘L’s in our last name. BUT… as I move into middle age – with nothing but orange headbands and obstacle race medals to show [...]
I’m heading to England at the end of the month to run the Tough Guy. But more importantly, I’m going there to meet that man for the first time. What a privilege. Forget once in a generation. Mr. Mouse is a once-in-an-era kind of character… the creator/catalyst of what will soon be a half-billion dollar [...]
Earlier this month, a Houston law firm assigned my Outside feature in their workshop on Intellectual Property. Admittedly, when I was first asked to speak to the 20 or so students about Tough Mudder, I imagined it would be in person. And with that came the requisite delusions of grandeur: 1st class ticket to Texas, [...]
Thanks to the overwhelming response to yesterday’s FB post about my stolen iPhone (and success in tracking the thief down!!), I whipped up a pitch that I hope will catch the attention of an editor at Wired or GQ or Slate, or say… a producer at This American Life. Oh, to dream.
Last fall, I journeyed to Tahoe with hopes of writing a funny, experiential essay about doing my first Tough Mudder. After reading up on the company however, I chanced upon a riveting scandal in the comments sections of various news stories, blogs and YouTube clips. Tough Mudder was being slammed for stealing the idea from [...]