In this week's P.O. Box:
Born To Run
Content roundup: Week 16 prep
On Tap: After Dark, Week 16 Cram & ShipCast
I’m not an ultrarunner—nor do I have any interest in running extremely long distances—but I am really enjoying Born To Run by Christopher McDougall.
The book follows his quest to uncover the secrets of the mysterious Tarahumara tribe in Mexico's Copper Canyon who are renowned for effortlessly running long distances without injury and wearing nothing but minimal sandals.
For the Tarahumara people, running is woven into the fabric of their society. They are quite literally born into it. It’s how they communicate, how they play, how they survive.
It feels almost impossible to replicate that in another environment, but if there’s one through line between the Tarahumara and extremely successful ultrarunners who do it for sport, like Scott Jurek, it’s finding joy in the process and joy in the struggle:
Strictly by accident, Scott stumbled upon the most advanced weapon in the ultrarunner’s arsenal: instead of cringing from fatigue, you embrace it. You refuse to let it go. You get to know it so well, you’re not afraid of it anymore.
Enter: the Beast…
Lisa Smith-Batchen, the amazingly sunny and pixie-tailed ultrarunner from Idaho who trained through blizzards to win a six-day race in the Sahara, talks about exhaustion as if it’s a playful pet. “I love the Beast,” she says. “I actually look forward to the Beast showing up, because every time he does, I handle him better. I get him more under control.” Once the Beast arrives, Lisa knows what she has to deal with and can get down to work. And isn’t that the reason she’s running through the desert in the first place—to put her training to work? To have a friendly little tussle with the Beast and show it who’s boss? You can’t hate the Beast and expect to beat it; the only way to truly conquer something, as every great philosopher and geneticist will tell you, is to love it.
I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten to that point with exercise—I still semi-dread it every time—but I certainly appreciate the sentiment.
I enjoyed a version of the “Beast” when I was doing a bunch of improv. When you start out, not getting a laugh is the most terrifying thing imaginable. Fortunately, that fear slowly fades away over time and with more reps. Eventually you become completely unafraid of “bombing” or failing on stage and ultimately you learn to love it and even look forward to it. Instead, it becomes a fun challenge.
I think in both of these instances it’s because you’ve already experienced the worst possible outcomes from the situation. And because of that experience, you are now better equipped to handle it going forward. You are no longer scared of the unknown because it’s known. Once that uncertainty is wiped away, you can enjoy the thing—running, improv—in its purest form.
Like so many things in life, it always comes back to enjoying the process itself.
It reminds me of the title of a post that the comedian Chris Gethard once wrote in response to someone asking for advice on getting into comedy:
I highly recommend the whole thing, but the gist really is right there in the title. Milestones are nice, but there are no finish lines. The accomplishment is the never-ending wrestling match with the Beast.
Two newsletter things on tap:
1) Next week: Highlights from the year, favorite music & more.
2) Following week: New Year’s resolutions.
💎 Week 16 Gems: My favorite sleepers on Underdog. Wide open slate with tons of scroll options. YouTube members can grab it here and Masterclass subs go here.
⏰ OFF & ON THE CLOCK: Top Plays & Best Scrolls In Week 16 Drafts. This is the greatest scroll QB slate of the year. Btw, we used our “gimme” pick on this bad boy.
🤯 BLOCK PARTY & BULLY THE SIMS: Week 16 DFS Strategy: Top Plays & GPP Angles. JMToWin and Youdacao both share some contrarian angles for tournaments.
🔮 FANTASY LIFE: Roundtable - Trevor Lawrence, the Rams RBs, Best Christmas Movies, and More! April has discovered Frozen, uh oh…
🤓 FANTASY LIFE: Newsletter Roundup. This week in the newsletter we got back on the Bill train (and then off again), became DvP-pilled with Darren Waller, and lamented the return of Marvin Harrison Jr.
I regularly write the Fantasy Life Newsletter. Get it in your inbox free every morning:
☣ LOLZ: Barstool’s Netflix Deal & Prediction Markets. We have a very different definition of “selling out.”
🎉 BATTLE ROYALE BASH: A Legend Is Born. You gotta see ChunkTheDeuce’s debut here.
💪 THE SWOLECAST: Week 16 NFL DFS Picks. The lineup we made last week would have finished 2nd in the Spy for $40,000. Lol.
📈 STAT CHASING: Week 16 DFS Plays & New Playoff Best Ball Targets. Sack and Drico sift through the latest trends and spin it into actionable info going forward.
☕ POURTFOLIO REVIEW: Cope, Sweats & Tears After Week 15. The best ball semifinals are here.
After Dark is back tonight (8pm ET). I’m going to draft some teams while watching Bears/Packers…
For After Dark shows, you can become a YT member for access or subscribe on Spotify for a private RSS feed (I post the video/audio there directly after the show).
Then we’ve got the Week 16 DFS Cram at 10:30 am ET on Sunday:
And then we’ll have the ShipCast at 4pm ET:
🏃 Book #10 for December (50%): Born To Run by Christopher McDougall
⛪ Book #9 for November (ABANDONED): The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson.
🏃 Book #8 for September (COMPLETED): Endure by Alex Hutchinson.
🤼 Book #7 for August (COMPLETED): Playworld: A Novel by Adam Ross.
🚶 Book #6 for July (COMPLETED): Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir by Craig Mod.
☁ Book #5 for June (COMPLETED): Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
🐊 Book #4 for May (COMPLETED): Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades by Rebecca Renner
🍌 Book #3 for April (COMPLETED): The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King by Rich Cohen
💉 Book #2 for March (FINISHED): Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe.
🐃 Book #1 for February (FINISHED): The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry
Got a question for me? Reply to this e-mail and I’ll get back to you…