Let’s be honest. To much of the athletic world, deadlifts are the Rodney Dangerfield of bar movements. They are unglamorous. They aren’t particularly dramatic to the untrained eye. They seem rather brutish and utilitarian. Perhaps worst of all, deadlifts invoke the stereotypical image of the enormous, hairy, pasty, uber-perspiring, 1970s-era Soviet-block power-lifter, resplendent in his […]
E.B. Sledge We all need our sources of human inspiration. This year, I have been lucky enough to find two: E.B. Sledge and Louis Zamperini. Sledge, who died in 2001, wrote the classic Marine Corps memoir, “With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa.” Zamperini, alive and kicking at 95, is the subject of an […]
Holly and I after last year’s Warrior Dash. This morning (Sept. 22) at 11:30, Holly and I will, for the second consecutive year, tackle a Warrior Dash “mud run,” this one in Manchester, Tenn. The Dash is a 5K trail run that is rudely interrupted by 13 ugly obstacles — several of which require crawling […]
My closest cousin, Jeff, and his wife of two years, Crecia, recently welcomed their first child, Cassandra Darling Johnson, into the world. It’s a thrill for our large extended family not only to add another vibrant member to the mix, but also because we’ve spent many years impatiently waiting for Jeff — who is around […]
That’s me on the right, stumbling to the finish of my first race (a 4 miler) a couple of years ago. I’m getting ready to go run again. It’s nearly 9 p.m., the kids are in bed, the wife is away at a conference. […]
His speech? Use his voice in the writing. In preparation for a creative writing presentation I have to make in Georgia next month, I started thinking today about tone. In my work as a communications professional, I’m asked to write in a wide variety of settings. As opposed to someone like, say, a novelist who spends years […]
You’ve seen the pictures on Facebook. You’ve heard the stories from your buddies. You may have even seen reports from local news stations. Enough is enough. You’re ready to tackle the Warrior Dash. “Mud runs” like the Warrior Dash and its tougher, more-demanding older brother, the Tough Mudder, are gaining in popularity in the U.S. […]
My writing cabin, Pall Mall, Tenn. This morning, Holly and I had the honor and privilege of listening to South African cattleman and evangelist Angus Buchan speak at World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro. The main point of his sermon was that, as Christ followers, we should insist on finding daily quiet time to work on […]
Ask yourself this: How many wildly creative companies have you either visited, read about, or learned about on a TV program that didn’t mandate a fun atmosphere? The answer is easy: None. What are the companies most known for creativity? Apple and Pixar. Google. Facebook. Those jump to mind, yes? Ever peeked inside and […]
When you boil it all down, there are really only three things that matter in human life: faith, reproduction, and food. When it comes to discussing these three things — the only three things that matter in human life, mind you — there are wild inconsistencies in the whens and hows and how-oftens (a word […]