Brendan Leonard wrote my favourite book on running and this month his latest book Ultra-Something was published. The book is about “the humans’ weird proclivity for endurance, and how we express it—including, but not limited to distance running, factory work, benign masochism, improv comedy, and rooting for football teams that will never win a championship.” You can read the first chapter here or watch the author read it.

Erik Deitrich: How Developers Stop Learning - The Rise of the Expert Beginner

RIP Steve Albini who died unexpectedly this month.

Albini engineered some of my favourite records. My vinyl collection isn’t huge but Albini was involved with a large minority of them.

There are so many videos I could point to, but this short chat the late Anthony Bourdain is a good intro to the man and his approach to the world.

Simon Willison: Slop is the new name for unwanted AI-generated content.

Nearly 15,000 people have signed a petition asking for Barkley Marathons finisher Jasmin Paris to be included in BBC Sports personality of the year. Paris is the first woman to complete the notorious difficult event, getting to the finish with less than two minutes to go.

Alex Hutchinson: Most supplements don’t work. But that’s not the worst part.

Outside Run: How Trail Running Saved a Top Chef from Addiction

“Whenever I’m stressed out and dizzy, I just want to be running outside by myself or with one or two people, for as long as possible. That’s really what running has become for me. There’s a lot of reward in that, climbing or traversing a mountain.”

I’ve cooked this Donna Hay Apple Crumble a couple of times this month and it’s become my favourite apple crumble recipe. I include waaaay more rolled oats and I think salted butter works much better than unsalted.

What if you set a really hard goal and spent the best part of two decades trying, getting close and failing, while at the same time growing and developing in so many other ways? What happens to those old goals? Do they really matter? When is it ok to decide “no, I’m good” and be happy with what you have?

Sure, everyone’s already linked to this video, but maybe you’re one of the lucky ten thousand that hasn’t seen it yet.