(Fastest Known) Time “Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire.” - Jorge Luis Borges

After sleeping for a couple of hours, the runners prepared their breakfasts and jumped into their morning rituals while the Road Crew loaded up the sprinter van and tour bus. The race was to begin at 4am, so around 3:45, everyone who wasn’t starting in either vehicle began walking over to the Santa Monica pier. Thai lit some sage to set the tone and clear the air. Lucie was chosen to start the race. With Adam Voidoid as her pacer and navigational guide, they stood with their hands folded by the pier as they worked through their pre-race nerves together. Real change only begins through disruption of a whole, and once the start was announced, Lucie and Adam charged down Colorado Ave from the pier, separating from the group in a real way for the first time and commencing the immeasurable change that would follow. The strategy for the race was to split the six runners into two groups of three. Team A, comprised of Lucie, Thai, and Aric, were to alternate every 10 minutes until they got the team out of LA, which was approximately a marathon. As Lucie and Adam ran, Aric waited in the cramped sprinter van eagerly for his first leg as Remi and Hakim took them to the first rendezvous point. He hopped out for Lucie’s high-five and was off. His perfect running form and incomprehensibly fast clip quickly earned him the name “The Float God.” Adam Talan and Moe followed the runners on bikes, providing entertainment and navigation for the runners. Adam T would step out of the sprinter every so often to sprint ahead to where they might be confused on where to turn or go. As Thai began his intervals, it was clear he would bring unrelenting confidence and grit to the group for the duration. Adam T was locked into his camera view and he took a gnarly spill biking into a parked car. Ignoring his own pain, he put his camera back together with tape. The runners alternated efficiently as they made their way out of Los Angeles while Team B waited in the early morning for their shift. Team A covered the marathon out of LA in 2.5 hours. Once they reached Pasadena, Team B (Leigh, Alex, Brad) tapped in. Remi had been driving all morning, so Hakim took over at this point. Crouched between them, Adam V had a map and timer going to assist with navigation and facilitate runner swap outs. With Team B’s shorter 3-minute intervals, this would now require a lot more attention and energy. Because the entirety of Team Satisfy’s participation in The Speed Project was formed over just a one-month period—including assembling the actual team and crew—Adam V and Remi only had been able to scout the LA portion of the route. So at this point, they were quite actually heading into the unknown. The LA route had required heavy attention to navigation detail, making turns every half-mile and making sure runners knew what to do in time. They hoped this section would be simpler. Alex, Leigh and Brad were flying. The 3-minute intervals allowed them to push and sustain a fast clip. Each of them looked strong and fresh every time they high-fived in. With their backgrounds in city running and cycling, it was entertaining watching them weave through traffic, often incredulously gesticulating at cars when they wouldn’t stop for them. The interplay of honking and body-signing revealed a new and amusing kind of communication. The suburban sprawl of traffic intersections often interfered with precise intervals, as the van would get held up at a light for awhile and have to catch up to the runner. Furthermore, the lack of sidewalks, bike paths or shoulders on a large percentage of this route was a bit anxiogenic and the Road Crew tried as much as they could to create a mobile barricade with the van to protect the runners from any oncoming traffic. Despite being in the unknown and in a group largely comprised of strangers, the vibe and efficiency remained stellar. The communication and flow between runners and crew was seamless, and they made good time over the next 20 miles. Team A tapped in to cover the section that went through Rancho Cucamonga and Travis took over for Adam V, coordinating runner swap-outs and assisting Remi and Hakim with navigation. Team A arrived at the end of their second shift near Coyote Canyon Park, still looking fresh — Lucie in high spirits, striking a pose. A significant chunk of this next leg would travel up Lytle Creek Rd, situated right at the border of the Angeles and San Bernadino National Forests. Both the temperature and elevation would rise steadily and intensely. As Alex, Brad, and Leigh beasted their way up the mountain, passersby—who were on their way to enjoying Lytle Creek—watched in disbelief and confusion as a seemingly solo runner with no hydration or nutrition ran up the treacherous road. Up ahead, they would turn off Lytle Creek Rd onto Sheep Canyon Rd, a very short section that led to an undisclosed road or trail. Again, since Remi and Adam V only had the opportunity to scout the LA section, every bit of distance traveled beyond that was unknown. They prayed that the sprinter would be able to drive on it, or else they might have to leave a runner by themself for an extended period of time as they drove around. Alex’s 3-minute interval led them to the trail, which ended up being super rocky and sketchy but ultimately drivable. Since the sprinter would trail behind, Adam V jumped out to pace Brad and assist with navigation. Brad’s downhill game was incredible — Adam V's watch told him he was running at well below a 6-minute clip but somehow Brad still managed to drop him. The sprinter was far behind, so Adam V had to yell at the top of his lungs for what turns Brad needed to make ahead. The section leading to linking with and swapping with Team A was a beautiful descent overlooking striations of sand and stone, with a train traveling in the midst. Leigh smiled as she bombed down it—it was suffering, with a view. Team A covered a mean service road and freeway-adjacent distance after. After several hours of swaps and rugged Powerline road, the team made it into Daggett and Yermo. An intense Memorial Day traffic jam accumulated on Yermo in Harvard, making it impossible to follow in either of the vehicles. Brad, no longer willing to sacrifice dead time, took off. Shortly after, Alex, Remi and Moe took off on mountain bikes, hoping to find him and help pace and navigate. This makeshift team ran solo for 2.5 hours—sans water or nutrition. Brad did the last 8 miles in deep sand by himself as the rest were forced to carry their bikes. When he made it to the rendezvous, he immediately vomited and collapsed. Adam V was at a loss of how to assemble the next group. He walked into the back of the bus where Thai was in the middle of some much deserved rest and woke him up as gently as he could. How do you ask someone to join on a 37 mile leg after they just knocked out? Nonetheless, Thai hopped back in to join Aric and Leigh for what would be the most nightmarish part of the journey. Adam V had taken the wheel to give Remi some respite. During one of Aric’s intervals, they hit a fork and made a slight wrong turn and the sprinter was buried in sand. They all spent 20 minutes trying to get the vehicle unstuck. Suddenly, Moe awoke from slumber and schooled them on how to get out. This road, as Travis put it, felt like a machine gun. They encountered a bit where the path was barely the width of the sprinter and one wrong maneuver would quite actually result in the car tumbling down a cliff. To reduce weight imbalance, everyone evacuated the car, held their breath, and watched Remi’s life flash before their eyes as he just barely drove it across. The vibe began to waiver, like a candle’s flame in harsh winds, and they began bickering amongst themselves in the heart of darkness. As the sun rose, however, so did spirits—Thai yelled defiantly, Leigh’s face brightened, and Aric floated over the earth. The universe tested them but they kept burning, refusing to be extinguished. Like waking up from a bad dream, the early morning light washed away (some of) the trauma of the six hours spent in nightmare territory. The night crew reached the rest of the team on Death Valley Rd right outside of Baker. The original plan here was for the next team to continue on more Powerline terrain through the Hollow Hills Wilderness Area but after what they just underwent, it was unanimously decided to alter plans. In what in hindsight was probably too much haste, the team decided to continue down 127 toward Shoshone. Having just had a solid six hours of rest, Brad, Lucie and Alex flew through the next leg. The Speed Project crew met up with them en route to Shoshone, and it was evident in their IG live updates that they were running fresh and aggressive. Meanwhile, the night crew were in Shoshone, having a nap and their first hot meal since leaving LA—diner food had never tasted so nourishing and wholesome. Once Brad, Lucie and Alex made it to Shoshone, Aric geared up and started toward the turn onto the 178. The heat was settling in and it was clear their next shift was going to be toasty. Despite this, Leigh, Thai and Aric attacked this section fresh and recovered from the night. The teams of runners at this point were permanently scrambled from the original set up, but the seamless harmony was never disrupted, like an isomer formation. About 3/4 of the way through the next leg, around the Nevada/California border where 178 turns into 372 near Pahrump, Leigh received a text saying they’d made a wrong turn. Confused, Remi and Hakim studied their maps. Earlier that morning, as the previous crew were making their way to Shoshone, they had contemplated bisecting the route via Old Spanish Trail Hwy through Tecopa. But perhaps colored by the previous night’s experience, they worried it was more off-road terrain and they decided against it. Still unsure what to make of the text message, they did the only thing they could do and continued toward Pahrump. Pahrump ended up being a McDonald’s pitstop and another reshuffling of runners. Being that much of the running during The Speed Project is on road shoulders, the slight slope over time forces an uneven gait. Alex — who had never run an ultra and was entering ultra mileage — ended up tweaking his knee from too much gait alteration and the team decided it was best that he not damage his body. However, this disrupted the back and forth between rested and fatigued runners. For the second time, just as Thai finished the last leg on the 372, Adam V asked him if he would step up to the plate and hold it down. By adding a fourth runner into the mix, the volume and stress could be minimized for each runner. Without any further coercion needed, Thai agreed with a “🥲” emoji—as long as he could eat first. Lucie took the lead out of Pahrump onto the 160 and they were off. The runners were switching out every 90 seconds now. As Lucie, Brad, Leigh and Thai charged down the highway, Remi and Hakim noticed they were coming up on where the 160 met with Tecopa Rd. This was the missed turn. Remi and Hakim studied the map and discovered that the logistical error had added 40 unnecessary miles to the runners’ journey. With no time to stop and process the grief from this, the team had no choice but to keep pushing forward. (Un)Surprisingly, the runners didn’t allow the bad news to crush their spirits. Refusing to sit out for the duration, Alex even jumped back in to run short and easy legs to add to the overall rest time for all the runners. With all runners on deck, intervals were fluid. The sun began to set as they descended toward Las Vegas around Mountain Springs. The city became visible in the distance and catalyzed a newfound stoke in the team. Every time a runner swapped in, the sprinter door slid open and blared their favorite songs, resulting in beautiful downhill dance-running and vocal support from the crew. As the finish became more palpable, the energy only increased. The end was near and everyone could feel it. “The Edge... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.” - Hunter S. Thompson The team ran the descent on the 160 to where it turned into Blue Diamond Rd and hit Las Vegas Blvd. From this intersection, it was only about 3 miles to the end—the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign. Everyone crammed into the sprinter. When the glow of the sign was in immediate view, everybody hopped out and ran in the last half mile together. At the sign, Nils and Scotty (The Speed Project race directors) awaited with bottles of champagne ready for the team to shake up and spray everywhere, like some strange and poignant metaphoric manifestation of the denouement of the wild and incomprehensible journey they had just undergone together. There were so many points during this event that felt like an exploration of thresholds—physically, psychically, spiritually. But this is how it goes with these major feats of endurance; a quest for “The Edge” and learning how to approach and manage that elusive space. And while each experience there is typically individual, in a group like this The Edge felt more like an action potential threshold, wherein each push into that territory resulted in another excitatory response in the next person—rather than fizzling out, like the spillage of champagne on concrete, dirt and grass. The team may have come in 10th place, but this has only set off another excitatory response. We’ll be coming back to explore more thresholds and take ourselves over The Edge. Words by Adam Voidoid Photography by Moe Lauchert

(Fastest Known) Time “Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire.” - Jorge Luis Borges

Guy Blakeslee is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Baltimore, MD. In addition to writing his own music — performed under the name Entrance — Blakeslee has composed scores for several films.

Introduce yourself, please? My name is Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel, I am a citizen of the Kul Wicasa Oyate, the Lower Brule Indian Reservation, and I am Kul Wicasa Lakota and Diné, which is also known as Navajo. And you live in Los Angeles, correct? Yep. I currently live and reside on occupied Tongva land, which is also known as Los Angeles. What part of LA do you reside in? I live in the Beachwood Canyon area near the Hollywood sign. Nice, I used to live up there. I like it up there. Even though you’re so close to everything, you can still feel like you're in a little bit of nature and separated the whole city. Yeah, definitely. It makes you feel a little bit disconnected from LA, which is really nice. Could you explain some of the main principles the Lakota people live by and how that informs your outlook on life and how you approach everything? Yes, our culture, our traditions and our heritage are the center of who we are, and our values that we choose to live our life by. Several of these values have incredible purpose and meaning, and it's how you identify to those three - how you’ll build your life, into who you are and what kind of relative you are to your community and the world around you. For me, that comes down to honor, compassion and wisdom, and being able to learn from my community. Being able to support them and give back to them as much as I can. Through that, I'm able to organize, help fundraise and help lead initiatives and virtual events to be able to give back with the programs that I'm managing through the organization that I founded called Rising Hearts. A couple of our programs are the Mitakuye Oyasin -

A Heavy Metal playlist curated by activist, musician and band manager Sam Velde. Sam skates and runs in Los Angeles when he's not hiking in Montana.

Obsessed/Possessed Valentino

Yesterday we showed you the very pleasing Justin Bieber cover for the Complex Magazine 10th Anniversary issue, today we should you the alternative cover with...

After sleeping for a couple of hours, the runners prepared their breakfasts and jumped into their morning rituals while the Road Crew loaded up the sprinter van and tour bus. The race was to begin at 4am, so around 3:45, everyone who wasn’t starting in either vehicle began walking over to the Santa Monica pier. Thai lit some sage to set the tone and clear the air. Lucie was chosen to start the race. With Adam Voidoid as her pacer and navigational guide, they stood with their hands folded by the pier as they worked through their pre-race nerves together. Real change only begins through disruption of a whole, and once the start was announced, Lucie and Adam charged down Colorado Ave from the pier, separating from the group in a real way for the first time and commencing the immeasurable change that would follow. The strategy for the race was to split the six runners into two groups of three. Team A, comprised of Lucie, Thai, and Aric, were to alternate every 10 minutes until they got the team out of LA, which was approximately a marathon. As Lucie and Adam ran, Aric waited in the cramped sprinter van eagerly for his first leg as Remi and Hakim took them to the first rendezvous point. He hopped out for Lucie’s high-five and was off. His perfect running form and incomprehensibly fast clip quickly earned him the name “The Float God.” Adam Talan and Moe followed the runners on bikes, providing entertainment and navigation for the runners. Adam T would step out of the sprinter every so often to sprint ahead to where they might be confused on where to turn or go. As Thai began his intervals, it was clear he would bring unrelenting confidence and grit to the group for the duration. Adam T was locked into his camera view and he took a gnarly spill biking into a parked car. Ignoring his own pain, he put his camera back together with tape. The runners alternated efficiently as they made their way out of Los Angeles while Team B waited in the early morning for their shift. Team A covered the marathon out of LA in 2.5 hours. Once they reached Pasadena, Team B (Leigh, Alex, Brad) tapped in. Remi had been driving all morning, so Hakim took over at this point. Crouched between them, Adam V had a map and timer going to assist with navigation and facilitate runner swap outs. With Team B’s shorter 3-minute intervals, this would now require a lot more attention and energy. Because the entirety of Team Satisfy’s participation in The Speed Project was formed over just a one-month period—including assembling the actual team and crew—Adam V and Remi only had been able to scout the LA portion of the route. So at this point, they were quite actually heading into the unknown. The LA route had required heavy attention to navigation detail, making turns every half-mile and making sure runners knew what to do in time. They hoped this section would be simpler. Alex, Leigh and Brad were flying. The 3-minute intervals allowed them to push and sustain a fast clip. Each of them looked strong and fresh every time they high-fived in. With their backgrounds in city running and cycling, it was entertaining watching them weave through traffic, often incredulously gesticulating at cars when they wouldn’t stop for them. The interplay of honking and body-signing revealed a new and amusing kind of communication. The suburban sprawl of traffic intersections often interfered with precise intervals, as the van would get held up at a light for awhile and have to catch up to the runner. Furthermore, the lack of sidewalks, bike paths or shoulders on a large percentage of this route was a bit anxiogenic and the Road Crew tried as much as they could to create a mobile barricade with the van to protect the runners from any oncoming traffic. Despite being in the unknown and in a group largely comprised of strangers, the vibe and efficiency remained stellar. The communication and flow between runners and crew was seamless, and they made good time over the next 20 miles. Team A tapped in to cover the section that went through Rancho Cucamonga and Travis took over for Adam V, coordinating runner swap-outs and assisting Remi and Hakim with navigation. Team A arrived at the end of their second shift near Coyote Canyon Park, still looking fresh — Lucie in high spirits, striking a pose. A significant chunk of this next leg would travel up Lytle Creek Rd, situated right at the border of the Angeles and San Bernadino National Forests. Both the temperature and elevation would rise steadily and intensely. As Alex, Brad, and Leigh beasted their way up the mountain, passersby—who were on their way to enjoying Lytle Creek—watched in disbelief and confusion as a seemingly solo runner with no hydration or nutrition ran up the treacherous road. Up ahead, they would turn off Lytle Creek Rd onto Sheep Canyon Rd, a very short section that led to an undisclosed road or trail. Again, since Remi and Adam V only had the opportunity to scout the LA section, every bit of distance traveled beyond that was unknown. They prayed that the sprinter would be able to drive on it, or else they might have to leave a runner by themself for an extended period of time as they drove around. Alex’s 3-minute interval led them to the trail, which ended up being super rocky and sketchy but ultimately drivable. Since the sprinter would trail behind, Adam V jumped out to pace Brad and assist with navigation. Brad’s downhill game was incredible — Adam V's watch told him he was running at well below a 6-minute clip but somehow Brad still managed to drop him. The sprinter was far behind, so Adam V had to yell at the top of his lungs for what turns Brad needed to make ahead. The section leading to linking with and swapping with Team A was a beautiful descent overlooking striations of sand and stone, with a train traveling in the midst. Leigh smiled as she bombed down it—it was suffering, with a view. Team A covered a mean service road and freeway-adjacent distance after. After several hours of swaps and rugged Powerline road, the team made it into Daggett and Yermo. An intense Memorial Day traffic jam accumulated on Yermo in Harvard, making it impossible to follow in either of the vehicles. Brad, no longer willing to sacrifice dead time, took off. Shortly after, Alex, Remi and Moe took off on mountain bikes, hoping to find him and help pace and navigate. This makeshift team ran solo for 2.5 hours—sans water or nutrition. Brad did the last 8 miles in deep sand by himself as the rest were forced to carry their bikes. When he made it to the rendezvous, he immediately vomited and collapsed. Adam V was at a loss of how to assemble the next group. He walked into the back of the bus where Thai was in the middle of some much deserved rest and woke him up as gently as he could. How do you ask someone to join on a 37 mile leg after they just knocked out? Nonetheless, Thai hopped back in to join Aric and Leigh for what would be the most nightmarish part of the journey. Adam V had taken the wheel to give Remi some respite. During one of Aric’s intervals, they hit a fork and made a slight wrong turn and the sprinter was buried in sand. They all spent 20 minutes trying to get the vehicle unstuck. Suddenly, Moe awoke from slumber and schooled them on how to get out. This road, as Travis put it, felt like a machine gun. They encountered a bit where the path was barely the width of the sprinter and one wrong maneuver would quite actually result in the car tumbling down a cliff. To reduce weight imbalance, everyone evacuated the car, held their breath, and watched Remi’s life flash before their eyes as he just barely drove it across. The vibe began to waiver, like a candle’s flame in harsh winds, and they began bickering amongst themselves in the heart of darkness. As the sun rose, however, so did spirits—Thai yelled defiantly, Leigh’s face brightened, and Aric floated over the earth. The universe tested them but they kept burning, refusing to be extinguished. Like waking up from a bad dream, the early morning light washed away (some of) the trauma of the six hours spent in nightmare territory. The night crew reached the rest of the team on Death Valley Rd right outside of Baker. The original plan here was for the next team to continue on more Powerline terrain through the Hollow Hills Wilderness Area but after what they just underwent, it was unanimously decided to alter plans. In what in hindsight was probably too much haste, the team decided to continue down 127 toward Shoshone. Having just had a solid six hours of rest, Brad, Lucie and Alex flew through the next leg. The Speed Project crew met up with them en route to Shoshone, and it was evident in their IG live updates that they were running fresh and aggressive. Meanwhile, the night crew were in Shoshone, having a nap and their first hot meal since leaving LA—diner food had never tasted so nourishing and wholesome. Once Brad, Lucie and Alex made it to Shoshone, Aric geared up and started toward the turn onto the 178. The heat was settling in and it was clear their next shift was going to be toasty. Despite this, Leigh, Thai and Aric attacked this section fresh and recovered from the night. The teams of runners at this point were permanently scrambled from the original set up, but the seamless harmony was never disrupted, like an isomer formation. About 3/4 of the way through the next leg, around the Nevada/California border where 178 turns into 372 near Pahrump, Leigh received a text saying they’d made a wrong turn. Confused, Remi and Hakim studied their maps. Earlier that morning, as the previous crew were making their way to Shoshone, they had contemplated bisecting the route via Old Spanish Trail Hwy through Tecopa. But perhaps colored by the previous night’s experience, they worried it was more off-road terrain and they decided against it. Still unsure what to make of the text message, they did the only thing they could do and continued toward Pahrump. Pahrump ended up being a McDonald’s pitstop and another reshuffling of runners. Being that much of the running during The Speed Project is on road shoulders, the slight slope over time forces an uneven gait. Alex — who had never run an ultra and was entering ultra mileage — ended up tweaking his knee from too much gait alteration and the team decided it was best that he not damage his body. However, this disrupted the back and forth between rested and fatigued runners. For the second time, just as Thai finished the last leg on the 372, Adam V asked him if he would step up to the plate and hold it down. By adding a fourth runner into the mix, the volume and stress could be minimized for each runner. Without any further coercion needed, Thai agreed with a “🥲” emoji—as long as he could eat first. Lucie took the lead out of Pahrump onto the 160 and they were off. The runners were switching out every 90 seconds now. As Lucie, Brad, Leigh and Thai charged down the highway, Remi and Hakim noticed they were coming up on where the 160 met with Tecopa Rd. This was the missed turn. Remi and Hakim studied the map and discovered that the logistical error had added 40 unnecessary miles to the runners’ journey. With no time to stop and process the grief from this, the team had no choice but to keep pushing forward. (Un)Surprisingly, the runners didn’t allow the bad news to crush their spirits. Refusing to sit out for the duration, Alex even jumped back in to run short and easy legs to add to the overall rest time for all the runners. With all runners on deck, intervals were fluid. The sun began to set as they descended toward Las Vegas around Mountain Springs. The city became visible in the distance and catalyzed a newfound stoke in the team. Every time a runner swapped in, the sprinter door slid open and blared their favorite songs, resulting in beautiful downhill dance-running and vocal support from the crew. As the finish became more palpable, the energy only increased. The end was near and everyone could feel it. “The Edge... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.” - Hunter S. Thompson The team ran the descent on the 160 to where it turned into Blue Diamond Rd and hit Las Vegas Blvd. From this intersection, it was only about 3 miles to the end—the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign. Everyone crammed into the sprinter. When the glow of the sign was in immediate view, everybody hopped out and ran in the last half mile together. At the sign, Nils and Scotty (The Speed Project race directors) awaited with bottles of champagne ready for the team to shake up and spray everywhere, like some strange and poignant metaphoric manifestation of the denouement of the wild and incomprehensible journey they had just undergone together. There were so many points during this event that felt like an exploration of thresholds—physically, psychically, spiritually. But this is how it goes with these major feats of endurance; a quest for “The Edge” and learning how to approach and manage that elusive space. And while each experience there is typically individual, in a group like this The Edge felt more like an action potential threshold, wherein each push into that territory resulted in another excitatory response in the next person—rather than fizzling out, like the spillage of champagne on concrete, dirt and grass. The team may have come in 10th place, but this has only set off another excitatory response. We’ll be coming back to explore more thresholds and take ourselves over The Edge. Words by Adam Voidoid Photography by Moe Lauchert

(Fastest Known) Time “Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire.” - Jorge Luis Borges

We caught up with our friend Gracie Bialecki to talk about her new novel, getting high and her multidisciplinary approach to sublimation. Can you give us a short bio? I’m an author, performance poet, and runner who moved to Paris over two years ago. Before that, I spent five years in Brooklyn, where I ran with North Brooklyn Runners, started writing my novel, and acted as assistant to Michael Seidenberg. He was a famous bookseller who ran Brazenhead Books, a speakeasy and salon, out of his Upper East Side apartment. I moved to Paris to focus on artistic pursuits, which has meant finishing my first novel and getting well into my second. I also founded Thirst, a storytelling series with my friend and frequent collaborator, Alex Brook Lynn, who I met at Brazenhead. Besides Thirst, we’ve also started making video-poems together. Most of my projects deal with self-actualization and resilience. Why do you run? I run to free my mind and body, and to see where my feet take me. I just finished reading the novel you recently published, Purple Gold, which was truly wonderful. At one moment, Alana (the protagonist) reflects: “Without the hunt for weed, there was even less to do in Ojai.” Oftentimes in the text, getting high, or the pursuit of getting high, seems to serve as a reprieve or an escape. In this light, can you tell us, as a proud stoner, how this notion of being/getting stoned differs and relates to “the High” you get from running? Well, maybe ”proud former stoner” would be a more apt description, since I have to admit I’m half the pothead I was when I started writing Purple Gold. So answering from my former stoner perspective, I’d say getting high was a way to experience the world differently—to give it a magic tinge, an upgrade from black and white to technicolor. In the beginning of the novel, this is certainly why Alana pursues that high, though in the course of her journey the meaning of smoking changes. To me, “The High” from running is more ephemeral and internal than the pursuit of a drug high. It’s not like lighting up a joint and knowing you’ll get stoned—every run has different moments of difficulty, joy, and ease. This makes “The High” unexpected and inspiring, rather than the manufactured, repetitive high of smoking weed. The narrative form in the novel addresses a “you” throughout, which functions almost as Alana’s alienated inner monologue. While the novel never purports to be autobiographical, I was curious to what extent Alana is a representation of you? I wrote the novel over the course of five years, partially because I was working full-time when I started, partially because the story kept developing, especially Alana’s character. There are certainly aspects of her personality—namely her teenager stoner dreams—that are similar to mine. But I’ve always been more interested in creating rather than transferring my life directly onto the page. Furthermore, does this disembodied “you” possess you when you run? When the miles are difficult, do you have an inner-monologue that addresses “you”? Originally the novel was in the third person, and I decided to rewrite it in the second person using “you.” At the time, I was writing and journaling a lot in that voice, and found it flowed more naturally. So yes, at times I do feel possessed by a disembodied you. Mostly, I see it as a form of support—a stronger part of myself comforting one in need. “You got this,” is my go-to encouragement during running work-outs, and subconsciously, I’m probably saying for myself as much as I am for my training partner. You participate in writing groups and workshops, and I know you also like to run with people (I loved our run in the Bois de Vincennes). In what ways do writing and running transform for you when you do them with others? It’s easy to make writing and running solitary activities, and I do think it’s necessary to have an individual practice to be serious about either of them. That said, community pushes us to new boundaries, be them physical or creative, and seeing what others are achieving is one of the best forms of encouragement. I never would’ve started running half or full marathons if it hadn’t been for my training partners. Similarly, at Brazenhead Books, I became close with all types of artists, journalists, and authors, which got to me thinking—maybe I could do that too. Community also brings positivity and happiness. I know there will always be hard runs and rough writing days, but why am I dedicating myself to something if there aren’t also moments of joy? I feel those most when I’m surrounded by others. How do the energy you invest in running and the energy you invest in writing inform each other? I approach both running and writing in similarly structured ways, and have felt the self-discipline carry over. When I was training for my first full marathon (Saint Tropez in 2019) I had a spreadsheet of all our work-outs, and now with my second novel, I have a similar document of what I’m writing each week, which adds up to larger deadlines. I’m grateful that two of my favorite things are so synergistic, and love the feeling of sitting down to write after having gone for a morning run. Lastly, both writing and running have proven to me that our minds hold us back, and all we have to do to achieve our dreams is see past those limitations and believe in ourselves. For more of Gracie’s writing or to read Purple Gold, visit www.graciebialecki.com.

This is The Bullshit Report, the angry little corner of POSSESSED magazine where we attack and debunk some outrageous, long-held myth from the world of running. This month, we’re dragging ‘stretching’ into the crosshairs because, as it turns out, you don’t actually need to stretch. That was a joke. Of course, you need fucking stretch, you lunatic. Unless you like pain and discomfort, then by all means never ever stretch. Hell, jam a pocketknife into your leg and slam your balls in a kitchen drawer. What do we care? For those of you who do wish to stretch—and want to know what is true and untrue about the practice—read on. Note: if you’re a seasoned runner reading this, stop reading immediately. You already know about stretching. But with this being the ‘Firsts’ issue, there’s bound to be some inexperienced newcomers in the audience, and this is for them. Hello, you flabby, gasping, self-loathing weaklings. Welcome to running. Over the years, there’s been an enormous amount of debate around whether you should stretch pre or post run. First, let’s be clear about the two types of stretching one can... stretch: there’s static, and then there’s dynamic. A static stretch is one where you remain still or, to use another adjective, static. A dynamic stretch involves movement. These are both recommended, but which stretch do you do when? Again, if you’re a seasoned runner, you know the answer and you should’ve stopped reading by now. What are you doing? Waiting for me to fuck up and saying something erroneous so you can correct me via email? Go ahead, jerk-off. Just know that everyone who writes in to say what a great job I’m doing gets a free sticker and a lock of Stian’s hair. So, there’s static and dynamic stretches. An example of a static stetch would be the one where you stand on one leg and pull the other up behind you to stretch your quads (Standing Quadricep Stretch—by the way, don’t hold your foot with that one, hold your leg near the ankle; if you hold your foot, you risk damaging your ankle). A dynamic stretch example: that one where you hold a signpost and swing your leg back and forth like you’re kicking testicles on a production line (Leg Swings). Now, here’s the thing. I keep seeing new runners doing static stretching before a run. I can tell it’s pre-run because they’re not red-of-face, sweat-drenched, and utterly defeated. I don’t know who’s telling them to do static stretches before a run, but here’s why they shouldn’t. Before a run—or any physical activity—your muscles are cold, and static stretching cold muscles is a bad idea for a number of reasons. Firstly, you’re fatiguing the muscles before they’ve even done anything. Static stretching before a run decrease muscle strength and speed, which will make you feel tired before you’ve even set off. Static stretching before your run can also increase the risk of injury because your cold, stretched muscles will contract after you’ve forced them to lengthen, and they’ll have even less elasticity than if you hadn’t stretched at all. Static stretching doesn’t warm up the muscles; it’s like taking a baguette out of the freezer and trying to bend it in two. Snap! Dynamic stretches are like bending a baguette that just came out of the oven (not really, but isn't it nice to think about fresh bread). So, do your dynamic stretches before a run. Warm up your muscles with movement and send them the message that some shit is about to go down so they better be ready (you can look up dynamic stretches on the internet). But when should you do static stretches? Well, duh—after your run. Why though? Your muscles are already warmed up. Why stretch them now? Why? Why? How come? Why? Stretching after a run allows blood to flush through the muscles, washing out lactic acid (the chemical your body produces to breakdown carbs for energy) and repair the damage (muscles tear when you work ‘em out; that’s what makes ‘em stronger). If you don’t stretch after a run, blood flow will be limited and you will become a hell of a lot tighter and sorer, and your muscles may become imbalanced and mess with your posture, causing you to have less than optimal running form, which will lead to more problems down the proverbial and literal track. Static stretching before a run: Don’t do it. This has been The Bullshit Report. Share

A playlist curated by Nic Jones, former partner and creative of the Parisian art collective Surface To Air. Nic runs and lives in Vancouver.

Get high with Run In Peace Vol.1, a Psychedelic playlist curated by Brice Partouche, Founder and Creative Director of Satisfy.

While the modalities through which it is expressed have transformed over the years, Anton Krupicka’s devotion to traversing mountains has never faltered. Ever since he’s been in the public eye, he has made it clear that the impetus for the hours a day he dedicates to physical activity through landscapes isn’t a matter of ego, but something much deeper and more primitive. Emanating from all of his outdoors pursuits is this authentic desire to connect with his surroundings, something that roped in most fans from his running days and continues to do so now, despite having pivoted years ago to other forms of movement in the face of injury and setback. In the nascent stages of my own journey as a runner, Anton was a major influence on my transition from road running into the world of trails and ultras, giving the activity some of his own aura and mystique by way of proximity. In fact, in some small but significant way, one could say he is responsible for where I am today, writing this, doing what I do. So I think it should go without saying that I am incredibly stoked to present this interview with him. Typically, we start these conversations asking you (the interviewee) to give us a short bio. However, I think most of our readers are quite familiar with at least some version of you. So instead, I ask: Why is the bio portion of your website blank? Also, of course feel free to give a short bio. The bio portion of my website is blank out of simple neglect. There’s been some glitch in the Wordpress platform and/or my server service for the last couple of years. It’s high on my list to get it taken care of early in 2022. It is not some artistic statement. Here’s a quick biography: I’ve been a runner since 1995 and a professional ultrarunner since 2006. Since 2015, my interests in the outdoors have diversified radically to where—in addition to running—I now also confidently identify as a climber, adventure cyclist, and ski mountaineer, depending on the time of year. I think the real purpose of a biography is to give readers some context as to why they should be interested in my perspective. I’ve been trying to answer that myself for the past 15 years. I recognize that I’ve carved out a very fortunate and privileged lifestyle for the past decade and a half—and that has afforded me a certain perspective—but I’m still not wholly convinced my perspective is any more interesting or important than anyone else’s. Why running? How do you run? The answer to that question has evolved over the last 25+ years. Simply, at first, it was because I exhibited some modicum of aptitude for long distance running—as compared to my peers—when I first entered middle school. The caveat there is that my peer group was extremely limited. I grew up in rural northern Nebraska with a class of 12. Positive reinforcement during that time of life is powerful. Like most, I was forming a nascent identity, a way to individualize myself and feel unique, and running offered that. At least in the beginning, it lends itself to the ethos of the self-made man. Running feels like, as an individual, you have a lot of power and agency over your destiny. This is because it requires almost nothing—a pair of shoes and some determination—and simple discipline and hard work often yield tangible results. Those things were—and are—attractive. Now, the simplicity of the activity is still a major motivator. It is still the least complicated vehicle I have for connecting to myself and my surroundings. I suppose that at least quasi-answers the how, as well. I try to run simply. Keep it unfettered. And I try to run consistently. Any practice, I believe, only has real value if it is habitual. Otherwise, it doesn’t seem to carry much weight. It’s more of a trifle or dalliance if there’s no consistency to it. This is something I think is true for nearly any pursuit in my life, be it in the outdoors, or something more cerebral like reading and writing, or something more mundane, like keeping my apartment organized and neat. I once told someone that I run and they asked me, “To or from?” So I ask you: To or from? Both? I dunno. I take a question like this as a prompt to reveal something deep and reflective about my basic motivations. I don’t think I really run from anything anymore. I try to be a forward-looking person. I don’t always succeed. But running is definitely an activity that I think more about “what can I be doing with this in the future?” rather than “oh, gee, the halcyon days of 200 miles per week” or as a distraction from unpleasant things in my life. Running for me is a healthy activity that is a gift. Not really a crutch or coping mechanism, though I suppose there have been periods in my life where that was the case. Furthermore, what prompted your return to running and racing? After achieving so much and after years away from the sport, you are still beloved. What brought you back? Partly grasping at relevancy, I suppose. I’m mostly joking. But as with any joke, it’s only funny because there’s a kernel of truth to it. I’m not above recognizing that an aspect of my job as a marketing spokesperson and consultant of sorts for various companies is to be a visible public figure. Racing is the most direct and, perhaps, impactful way to achieve that. The other—perhaps less cynical—motivation was that I greatly value competition and I greatly value taking on a challenge and seeing if I can rise to the occasion. Competition is always more fun when you’re at least kind of good at it. For whatever reason, I’m still pretty good at running a long ways in the mountains, even though I’m only running 30-50 miles per week anymore. I’m not very good at pedaling a bike or skiing down mountains (I’m pretty ok at skiing up them), even though I very much value the experiences that those competitive arenas (cycling and skimo) have afforded me and continue to afford me. Another motivation was the same exact motivation that brought me to Leadville the first time 15 years ago—curiosity. Can I do this? It had been so long since I’d run 100 miles that it was back in the realm of legitimate uncertainty again for me. Finally, 100-mile foot races are a uniquely uncomfortable and challenging objective. They have expanded the scope of my life experience in such a way and to such a degree that if I am physically capable of attempting one, I always know that it will be worth my while. I do feel, however, that each one I attempt now carries more risk for how it might negatively impact my ability to be a consistent and satisfied runner going forward. Based on some early interviews of yours, it seems a not unimportant part of your motivation as a long distance runner was fueled by a desire to be great, to be like the runners who inspired you—whether it was someone in your immediate circle, like your assistant cross country coach Paul Koch, or legendary runners like Ann Trason, Matt Carpenter and Scott Jurek. As you’ve transitioned into spending more time gravel biking and climbing, do you still feel like you get to channel that competitive side? Or rather, do still feel a desire to “compete” in the same way? Definitely. Competition is competition. In the six and a half years between lining up for an ultramarathon I still competed something like 50-60 times. Bike races, skimo races, and local underground scrambling races. I’m pretty mediocre at cycling and skiing, but not really having a shot at winning many of these races, surprisingly, didn’t diminish my enjoyment of them or how meaningful they felt as life experiences. Realizing that was somewhat epiphanic. It took the motivation for competition from external—peer validation, ego-gratification—to internal. After that realization—that the final result was unimportant, what was important was how I conducted myself amidst discomfort and elective hardship—competition became important as a transformative experience, not as an arena for vanquishing opponents. Trying my hardest in a competition is an intense, elevated state of being. Where I ultimately place in that competition has little to no bearing on achieving that state. What does matter is how hard I try. And I don’t need to be winning a race in order to compete and try hard. The experience of competition is something I really value, and I hope that I will continue to prioritize that experience in some form for many years to come. What is your relationship with pain? Nothing special. Sorta like metaphorically eating your vegetables. Necessary for proper nourishment and interesting flavor profile. Gotta regularly cleanse the palate if you don’t want to get sick of sugar and sweet. Also an educational tool, I suppose. Maintaining a stiff upper lip in certain contexts is extremely useful and even productive, because not all pain is important, it’s often more just an inconvenient distraction. What did injury teach you? What advice would you give to someone dealing with injury? Don’t give up. Allow yourself some despair, but don’t wallow in it. Diversify. Figure out what else—other than running—can sustain you psycho-emotionally. Was your time away from running primarily due to injury? Or was there something more to why you shifted away from running? 100% due to injury. 98% being physically unable to run, 2% realizing there was a whole lot more to life as a result of not being able to run. Then it ballooned from there. There are entire worlds outside of running. I always knew that, but I always either didn’t have the energy to explore them or was low-key concerned that exploring them would deleteriously affect my running. So, when running was involuntarily removed from the equation, I suddenly had a lot of energy and space. Since I’ve (tenuously) been able to add running back to the mix, I view it more as a gift and a privilege than an obligation or mandate. Generally speaking, of course. Was this in part how you discovered cycling? And as it seems much deeper than merely an alternative to running at this point, how did your relationship with cycling—and all the gear it entails—develop? Yes, getting fed up with persistent injury in 2015 is how I finally committed to making cycling a regular part of my life. I actually bought my first bike back in the spring of 2002 (freshman year of college) as I had developed a stress fracture early in the season. This was a low-end, aluminum road bike, complete with bony 23c tires, but I rode the shit out of it. In fact, my first real foray into ultra-endurance activities came that fall when I went on a three day tour with my college's cycling club, but then instead of taking the sag bus back to campus with everyone else, I just rode my bike the full 160 miles back in a solo 9hr push. However, that bike was stolen a couple years later, so for the next decade my only regular cycling was commuting around town, though there was a lot of that. It was getting a drop bar bike that fit 29x2.2

In honor of Hugh Hefner, a look back at the 15 most influential, controversial, and iconic covers ever.

On this day in 1983, Joe Strummer of The Clash ran the London Marathon for leukemia. He purportedly finished with a time of 4h13 min, claiming that his training included 10 pints of beer the night before. The volume 2 of our Punk Rock playlist is curated by Tommy Hubert, who is in charge of PR & Communication at Satisfy.

For this week’s Possessed Magazine I had the pleasure of sitting down with runner and all around exceptional human being, Aric Van Halen. We rapped about rediscovering a love for running after competition, his thoughts on his hometown Los Angeles, pushing the human body by running through Death Valley in the middle of the night on no sleep, training for the LA Marathon, what all is on his bucket list, making art and what it was like to grow up in one of the most famous families in the history of rock n’ roll. Ladies and gentlemen…. I’m proud to introduce you to The Float God! So, how's it going? Pretty good, just hanging out. Ok, let's start with an easy one first. Who are you? I am Aric Van Halen. How old are you? 31. Where did you grow up? In the valley. Encino and Calabasas. I would split time between the two. And where do you live now? Now I’m in Pasadena. What do you like about the city of Los Angeles? Ummm, what I like is a much harder question than what I don’t like. Let's talk about that then! What don’t you like about LA? It has everything for the most part. I guess my biggest problem with LA is there’s just too many people. It's clear why there's so many people here because it's such a great place - landscape wise, what you can get to, and the things you can do. But there's just too many people so it doesn't really allow you to enjoy most of that. I mean, I love the beach. I love the mountains. I love the food. I love it all. But getting from point A to point to point B is just nearly impossible. And that's kind of why I lived in Colorado for ten years and I never really wanted to come back. Because it was just such a hassle every time I came back, I got crazy anxiety sitting on the freeway and stuff. That’s a much different pace. You were in Boulder, right? How did you adapt to life there? Yeah. It took a little bit of time cuz I had a lot of that California kid in me still. And I was a bit of an asshole. So it took a few years for me to calm down and become a little more Colorado, a little more relaxed — enjoy the nature and just how much slower it is out there. Which is ironic because it's far more active of a state than California, as a majority. Do you have any races coming up? I don’t have anything until the LA Marathon in November. That's on my calendar and that's the only thing I have right now. I mean, I sort of stopped being competitive a few years ago. And then when COVID happened, I just felt really sort of crappy about my lifestyle and my health, and just not getting out and doing enough. And so I just decided to sign up for the marathon in January and I was like You know what? I got eleven months. We'll get ready for it! And I haven't really been that consistent with my training but I'm definitely getting a good chunk of miles in here and there. Will this be your first marathon? And how do you prepare leading up to something like that? Yeah, I've never run a marathon before. My longest training run was like twenty miles when I was competitive. At this point I think I'm just going to ride my talent and put as many miles on my legs at a nice pace as possible. I don't need to go that fast anymore, I try to get good heart rate miles in. Keeping my heart rate below like 150 for as long as possible and just getting aerobically fit. And then as it gets closer, I'll start doing some more specific long runs, some fartleks and some threshold stuff. But right now I just want to have fun with it. I was really nervous going into The Speed Project stuff. And I think the one thing I took away most was that I still really like running a lot. It had been a while since I'd run. I mean, I’ve never run that many miles in two days before but it had been a long time since I've really sort of pushed my body and I was like Yeah, I remember why I like this so much! Do you have any certain diet that you stick to leading up to a race? Not really. I’ve always been pretty good. I’m not the world’s healthiest person but I’m also not unhealthy, I eat a pretty solid combination of protein and carbs and veggies and stuff. I make a pretty mean spicy spaghetti bolognese that used to fuel a lot of my training. I would make a big pot of it and just eat it all week. But you’ve seen me, I’m not a huge human being. And I’ve got a pretty fast metabolism still — who knows if it’ll ever catch up. So I don’t mind indulging myself and eating a dessert here and there. All in moderation of course. I always used to be big on, the night before a race everyone would be too afraid to even look at the dessert menu and I would order a slice of cheesecake. Ha, that’s the fuel of champions. So, what initially attracted you to running? I was just good at it. That was about it. I grew up playing baseball and in the eighth grade we had a fitness mile. I went to the same elementary school, middle school and high school so I had the same group of people I knew for the longest time. So growing up, there were the same five people that you didn’t want to be “it” during tag because they were totally going to get you. And one of those kids was this girl that when we had our fitness mile she just took off and I was like, She’s really good. I know she’s really fast. She always tags me when we play tag. I’m just going to chase after her. And I end up dropping her half way at about 800 meters. I ran a 5:10 mile as an eighth grader. And I had no idea if that was fast or slow, I just knew I was the fastest in my grade. But that didn’t even mean a lot because we only had like 80 kids in our class. So I was like, Who knows what that even means? But our gym teacher would be my future cross country coach, and he was like, You know what, you should come out for cross-country next year. And I told him, Okay, why not? And then how did you end up deciding on running the steeplechase? I think my background playing baseball and other sports helped with that. Not all runners are that athletic and I think it takes a pretty athletic person to be competitive at the steeplechase. I had mentioned to my college coach when I got there that I was interested in it, and when track season rolled around he just started having us going over barriers. And it just sorta stuck with me, so I just kept going. I really liked it. Have you ever taken any nasty spills? Yeah, I fell. Let's see, I ran into the water jump sophomore year in practice and I tore my quad in half. I fell with 400 meters to go at Stanford my senior year at the Payton Jordan Invite. Uhhh, that sucked. I was about to PR and I just ate shit. When I get tired I do the little Kenyan two legs to one side hurdle, my leg just dipped too far low when I hurdled like that and I caught my knee and I just completely face planted. There’s a pretty funny picture of it that you can find on the internet. My friend Kyle photoshopped me out of it and put me into all these funny scenes where I was breakdancing, skateboarding and getting picked up by a hawk. Yeah, I’ve fallen quite a few times. After a race how do you usually recover or combat those post-race blues? If it’s a bad one you just gotta put it away. I mean, bad ones happen. I remember in 2016 when I was running the steeplechase, I hadn’t raced in like 16 months because in 2015 I’d been hurt. And I went out to Payton Jordan again and I raced the steeple. I ran 8:45, which is fine. But I definitely thought I was in PR shape at the time. My parents had driven up from LA and when I saw them I cried afterwards and was like, This is stupid! Why am I still doing this? What the heck? And they were like, Well you know, you’ve come this far! Just finish the season up and then if you don’t wanna do it anymore, don’t do it anymore. Two weeks later I ran at Occidental, I PRed and I qualified for the Olympic Trials. I think just remembering what you felt during that race and what went wrong, and then using that for future training and races. What did it feel like qualifying for the Olympic trials? Yeah. I was the third person out of qualifying for the trials in 2012, I think then they took 24 people and I was 27th on the list. So making it in 2016, after having to miss out on the 2015 season with a hamstring injury, it was amazing! Really validated all the hard work I’d been putting in over the years. What's on your bucket list? Just in general? Yeah, like for life in general. I have a pretty big fear of heights, but I'm also super intrigued by skydiving. Oh fuck that, I'm so scared of that. I'm terrified. I can't even get on the edge of a balcony that’s like twenty feet up. It just freaks me out. But the idea of just being free and flying sounds so cool. That's definitely something I'd like to mentally get to. And all the corny ones as well. Like, I want to travel more and I'd like to see more places. And catching a sweet tube surfing would be awesome. I’m not very good at surfing, I’ve only caught like one or two waves in my entire life but I feel like that would be euphoric and awesome. And on top of that, and I think this one is super doable… being able to skateboard wherever you want. I don’t need to do a kickflip or heelflip or any of that stuff. I just wanna be one of those people that can skateboard throughout town and ollie off curbs and not fall. That seems so chill and fun just to be able to cruise around town. Did you ever skateboard as a kid? I tried. My ankles and shins terrified me. I was kind of a baby. It’s never too late to start, just go easy. Just gotta be ok with falling a few times, I guess. When you're out in the world and doing things, do people trip out or comment on your last name when it comes up? Umm, they do every now and then. It’s definitely the older I’ve gotten, the less prevalent it is. But yeah, it happens. And it always depends on what mood I’m in or where I’m at or who it is. Sometimes they’ll ask if I’m related and I’ll say yes and sometimes I’ll say no. It just depends on how much you wanna deal with…. Yeah. Like, I was at a camera store in Pasadena and they asked and I said yes. Because I could sort of tell — my dad grew up in Pasadena. So I sort of could tell that they had been lifelong fans, or at least were people that were knowledgeable about it. So I felt like I could talk to them a little bit about it. And they did say that they had gone to a party that my dad had played when they were in high school. So that’s pretty cool. Oh wow, like a backyard party in the 70’s? Yeah, it was like a backyard party. Yeah, that’s pretty cool and totally worth saying that. But then I was dropping off a check for my apartment, for my rent, and the lady asked but I was like, I don’t need to. No, no I’m not related. I don’t need to talk about this with you. That’s funny. I know it's all you’ve ever known, but tell me what was it like growing up a Van Halen? I mean, like you said, it’s all I’ve ever known. But it was cool. We got to do cool things. My dad is a very interesting character. He loves the heat so we would go to Hawaii a lot when I was a kid. He just loves to be in the sun. But he’s also a super hard worker. He wasn’t not around a lot but he was always working. He was always grinding. Even still to this day, he’s still a grinder. Whether he’s either working or he’s helping my step mom out—she does equestrian stuff so he does a lot of the towing of the horses and stuff. And my little brother is a big car guy so my dad will be helping him out with mechanic stuff all the time as well. Did you ever go out on tour as a kid? Not for the full thing. I was on tour a little bit when I was five years old, I think that was the Balance tour. And then when I was 13, that was the Best of Both Worlds tour. They were hubbing out of Boston for their East Coast stint. So I spent a month hubbing outta Boston with them, going from Boston to New York, Boston to Hartford, and all of that. That was a really cool one. And at the time I was a big Red Sox’s fan so we went to a bunch of games, so that was really cool. Did you play any instruments growing up? I tried a bunch but nothing really stuck [laughs]. Let's see — I started violin in first grade... that didn't stick. Saxophone in third grade...that didn’t stick. I played piano from sixth grade to ninth grade. Guitar somewhere in there. My uncle tried to teach me guitar. Drums happened a little bit somewhere in there. My dad tried to teach me. But those people that are naturally really good at it are also usually the world's worst teachers. Haha. That’s funny. My dad, he’d be trying to teach me a simple beat and he’d be like, Just play it. And be like, I’m fucking trying. And he’d always be like, You just gotta keep practicing, and yeah that’s true but it also seems like it just comes to some people. Like, my cousin is a really good musician and I remember when he was pretty young, I wanna say nine or ten, and he got a drum kit and he would hear songs and could immediately play them on the drums. And I’m sure he practiced but it was one of those things where he could hear, Oh that’s the tom. Oh that’s the high hat. Oh that’s the snare. And I listen to a lot of music but still to this day I’m like, Ummm that’s a sound. I’m pretty similar to that, I relate. But I did pick up the ukulele over COVID. I remember you telling me that. That’s a fun one cuz you don’t really have to be that good. It’s only four strings and you can just sort of play a little bit of this and that. It’s fun. I dunno, I like it. Do you have a favorite Van Halen song or do you not care at all? I’ve always liked “Hot for Teacher”. But my less popular favorite would be “Little Guitars” or “Top Jimmy”. David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar, who’s cooler? I honestly don't know. Like I was so young growing up and being on tour that I don't really remember interacting with Sammy at all. And then Dave's been on tour with them the last few bits but I was in college for a lot of it, so I barely got to hang out with them. What do you parents think of your running career? My mom and dad, they’re divorced, they’ve both been super supportive. My mom comes to almost all of my races. And my dad came to all of my big races. And yeah, my dad really appreciates all the hard work it took to get where I was. He always wants to call my college coach and thank him for everything. But yeah, they understand the hard work it took. And it wasn’t the same route that he took but ya know. How did you get the nickname The Float God? Haha! That’s on you guys! I guess I look like I’m floating when I’m running? I dunno. Just chilling. Yeah, that’s why. Adam Voidoid coined it actually, it’s on video. And then, how did you get talked into running The Speed Project? Like how did that come about? I had just left a track meet and Adam [Voidoid] DMed me. And I just assumed he was DMing me for photo work because somebody had just posted some of my photos. So I was thinking, Awesome, I would love to get some work. And he was like, Hey yeah, if you can hop on a call I have a crazy project I’d like to talk to you about. And I’m thinking, Sweet, I’m in because I love crazy projects! I wasn’t super knowledgeable about Satisfy at the time so I went on instagram and the website and just watched a bunch of videos. And I was like, They do some cool stuff, if it’s a crazy project this could be really cool to shoot and stuff. And I hopped on the call and he was like, Have you ever heard of The Speed Project? And I had heard of it from the years past so I said, Oh cool, do you want me to shoot it? No, no - we need another runner. So I was like, Ohhhh, well off the bat I'm not crazy fit right now but I have been running. And honestly, it was just something that seemed like it would be silly of me to say no to. There was no reason for me to say no. It was just such a crazy opportunity and such a crazy project, to meet people and to do something I’ve never done before. I was like, unless I have some debilitating injury, I’m saying yes to this. And I’m also kind of a yes man, I don’t like letting people down. So when Adam said they needed another guy, I told him let me think about it for a day. I was already sort of going to say yes, I just needed to make sure there was nothing I had to do that I had forgotten about [laughs]. Now that you’ve had some time to reflect on it all… What sticks out to you and what do you think you learned or took from that experience? I just realized I still love running. There were times that we were out there that it was really tough and especially that night, the middle of the night coming into Death Valley. That night was really really rough…. That felt very similar to some punk rock tours I’ve been on, except we never got to the show… we just kept going.... Yeah, that’s the first time I’ve ever legitimately bonked running. I got out of the van at one point — oh, it was when I was running with you and I couldn’t keep up with you. And I was like, my legs are not moving at all, this is really bad. And Leigh had just said that she needed 30 minutes so I was like, Crap, we need to hold this down for a bit. And I got back into the van and thank god I had all those mini Snickers cuz I just pounded like 10 or 11 mini Snickers and it must of just like, jumpstarted my system. And then I was ready to go. But not only did it remind me how much I really really like running, and this is also gonna sound so cliché, but you don’t really know what your body is capable of until you really try and push it. And I went into it going like, Oh maybe I’ll be able to run 45 to 50 and I can maybe hobble the last whatever they need me to run. So when we started going and I started hammering, it was like, Oh my God, your body is really crazy. The human body is nuts and what you can trick your body into with your mind is just wild. My dad is big on a lot of alternative things, he loves asking me if I’ve heard about Wim Hof. Just that kind of stuff. Just telling your body that you’re fine. The end, coming into Vegas wasn’t bad. But the miles leading up to Pahrump, and out of Pahrump, that’s when it was — you really gotta tell yourself you’re gonna do this, you’re gonna make it. It was a rollercoaster of,

Introduce yourself, please? My name is Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel, I am a citizen of the Kul Wicasa Oyate, the Lower Brule Indian Reservation, and I am Kul Wicasa Lakota and Diné, which is also known as Navajo. And you live in Los Angeles, correct? Yep. I currently live and reside on occupied Tongva land, which is also known as Los Angeles. What part of LA do you reside in? I live in the Beachwood Canyon area near the Hollywood sign. Nice, I used to live up there. I like it up there. Even though you’re so close to everything, you can still feel like you're in a little bit of nature and separated the whole city. Yeah, definitely. It makes you feel a little bit disconnected from LA, which is really nice. Could you explain some of the main principles the Lakota people live by and how that informs your outlook on life and how you approach everything? Yes, our culture, our traditions and our heritage are the center of who we are, and our values that we choose to live our life by. Several of these values have incredible purpose and meaning, and it's how you identify to those three - how you’ll build your life, into who you are and what kind of relative you are to your community and the world around you. For me, that comes down to honor, compassion and wisdom, and being able to learn from my community. Being able to support them and give back to them as much as I can. Through that, I'm able to organize, help fundraise and help lead initiatives and virtual events to be able to give back with the programs that I'm managing through the organization that I founded called Rising Hearts. A couple of our programs are the Mitakuye Oyasin -

Las Vegas born Anthony Scalamere — better known by his professional moniker, Ragdoll — came up in the ranks of professional skateboarding in the early 2000’s and earned himself a reputation as a truly innovative, unpredictable and fearless stuntman. If you’ve ever seen any of his video parts you know about him throwing himself off huge shit with utter disregard for his own body, as well as pulling from a unique and eclectic bag of tricks. Ragdoll is a complete authentic original, a legit outsider artist who does everything in his own way / style with a zen-like confidence. He’s also just a straight up survivor of life, one of the most positive people I know and he seems to have an appreciation for everything skateboarding has given him, good and bad. Plus he looks like he should be in a rock band. A rockstar without a band, if you will. And like any good rocker, my man definitely lived hard, fast and true in every way possible. This is all super relatable to me, and why I wanted to talk to him for this very first issue of Possessed Magazine about still being alive in 2021, skateboarding, music, growing up, living better and coming out the other side a runner.Don’t call it a fucking comeback, cuz my dude never left... Who are you? Anthony Daniel Scalamere the III, AKA Ragdoll. Where did you grow up? I was born in Las Vegas, raised in the streets of Las Vegas and then moved to Los Angeles. And where do you live now? Now I live in Tucson, Arizona. What was growing up in Las Vegas like? I hate Vegas. I have nothing good to say about Vegas. But my honest answer is that it was a good place to be when I was young. But as I got older the veil get lifted and it revealed what Vegas really was to me. Some of my family had gambling problems, then drinking problems and drugs. And it just all escalated, that's what Vegas is. But as a kid, like growing up, all I did was play soccer with my friends. Normal kid shit. There was a water park called Wet N’ Wild and my dad would give me a season pass every year, and I would go there. That's where I spent my summer times before I started skating. And yeah, it was pretty normal as a kid. But as I got older, I realized what Vegas was. It's a terrible, terrible, terrible city. Everyone goes there with the mindset of they're gonna make it. And when they get the harsh realization that they're not gonna get rich off gambling they get really pissed off about it and they walk around Vegas miserable. There’s just a lot of miserable people out there. Was there a skate scene there? Oh, yeah…. skate and music. I was a hardcore kid, straight edge and vegetarian. I didn't start drinking until I was, like, fucking twenty years old. My homey was in a band called Curl Up and Die and they were the best hardcore band in Vegas. They were my dudes. Strife would come out there, we’d go to all the hardcore concerts. Saw Gorilla Biscuits when they came through, all that shit. When I refelect on all that now I’m like “Man, we had a fucking crazy underground scene!” And it wasn't like concerts, these bands were playing in record shops and shit. So it'd be 200 kids crammed in there seeing their favorite band, just going nuts. As a kid who did you look up to? I loved Mike Tyson when I was growing up. Just watching his fights with my dad, that was my introduction to boxing. Mike Tyson was the shit. All his pay per view fights were insane, it was such an event to watch that guy fucking do his shit. Mike Tyson was definitely my first hero. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you have something you were set on? Garbageman, haha. For real? Yeah, haha. That was the first thing I ever wanted to be. I think my stepmom asked me back in the day, and I was like, I wanna be a garbageman. I think it’s because they used to ride on the back of the trucks. Do you remember that? Yeah for sure, on the sides. Yeah, and it just looked dope to me! And picking up all that shit... so cool. Like that movie Men at Work, you prolly saw that shit as a kid huh? Yeah, with Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez! But yeah, that was like the first thing I wanted to be. But then I wanted a professional soccer player. Oh cool, so soccer was your love before skateboarding? Were you good? Yeah, I was fucking really good. I guess it’s all feet-work, right? So then how did you get into skateboarding? What made you focus on that? Yeah and my sister was always into really cool shit, music and skateboarding. She always dated skaters and was around that scene. All my sisters were like moms to me because I was the baby of the family. So I'd like to be raised by different sisters at different times in my life. My sister Angel was always into Jane's Addiction and Minor Threat and Black Flag. And like, all the cool fucking music and there was always a dude in her crew that had a skateboard. I think she only got a board to try and hook up with other skater dudes. So I started toying around on hers eventually and from there you know how it goes. It just overtakes you. You pick it up once and it just stays with you. I just fell in love with it and it stayed with me from that point on. Have you ever been in a fight? Yes. I've never provoked a fight, but I've been on the receiving end of someone wanting to fight. What did you learn from the fights you’ve been in? Just always be on the receiving end, never be the asshole that is encouraging it and make sure you throw the first punch. Always throw the first punch if they get in your area. If they get within punching distance, they’ve already started to fight. Every time I get in a fight and I win, I still feel like a loser. That's what I've taken away from it. Like even if someone is threatening me, we get in a fight and I ended up whippin his ass, I'm gonna feel bad for him. Like, fuck dude, thanks for making me feel that way, You know what I mean? So it's just pointless, but if it's necessary then it's necessary. You ever been to jail? Yep. What did you learn from that? I've been there twice, once was for some bullshit that I don't even remember what it was. I think I missed my court date and I was there for two days in the holding cell or whatever. And then the second time was for some dumb shit. I did some fucking Icarus Line shit and stole a guitar out of the Hard Rock. Did you really? Yeah. Long story short. We were partying at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas and got blackout drunk. I can't remember how, but we ended up in the concert hall. We jumped over the bar, and we were trying to get drinks and shit. And there was a fucking a glass case with the guitar on the wall, no one in the venue and I just smashed the case and darted out. I was out there filming for the Pig Wood video and we're staying at my friend's parents house. They had to have, like, a tracking device or something on the guitar because I got woken up by the fucking FBI. Just so many investigators and detectives and shit, Asking me where this guitar was and I was blacked out. I'm like, “What the fuck are you talking about?” So they're like, “Alright, well, you gotta come outside for questioning,

(Fastest Known) Time “Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire.” - Jorge Luis Borges

Satisfy introduces Studio™, a new collection designed for yoga, meditation and other mind altering activities. In 2005, after decades of conceptualization, Richard Gibbs built Woodshed Recording on the 1.5-acre lot adjacent to his Malibu home. Typically, when musicians enter a recording studio, they are guests of engineers. Gibbs’ goal was to create a space that flipped this paradigm on its head, a space the musician felt was theirs, eliminating any distractions that might prevent them from reaching higher states of creativity and invention. It is in vain that we say what we feel, for what we feel never resides in what we say, which is ultimately what makes attaining and describing these higher states so elusive. On February 11, 2020, we spent the day in Woodshed Recording with Guy Blakeslee and Yancy Scot Schwartz. Our goal was to capture this feeling—The High—through a syntax other than language, curating a space in which Guy and Yancy could express this through music and movement. Woodshed was the perfect environment, Satisfy the perfect garb. The things we can control in pursuit of The High are limited, and The High is never guaranteed. Still, this does not stop us from chasing it. Just like Gibbs did with Woodshed Recording, we at Satisfy design our products with the aim of eliminating any distractions that interfere with reaching The High. PRODUCT Video NAME The High / A Sonic & Physical PerformanceCOLLECTION Studio™SHOT IN Woodshed Recording - Malibu, CADATE February 2020 RUNNER Max Jolliffe MUSIC BY Guy BlakesleeYOGA Yancy Scot SchwartzDIRECTED BY Magdalena Wosinska DP Dan Dealy EDITED BY David & Douglas FORMAT 16/9 Full HD & Hi8

After sleeping for a couple of hours, the runners prepared their breakfasts and jumped into their morning rituals while the Road Crew loaded up the sprinter van and tour bus. The race was to begin at 4am, so around 3:45, everyone who wasn’t starting in either vehicle began walking over to the Santa Monica pier. Thai lit some sage to set the tone and clear the air. Lucie was chosen to start the race. With Adam Voidoid as her pacer and navigational guide, they stood with their hands folded by the pier as they worked through their pre-race nerves together. Real change only begins through disruption of a whole, and once the start was announced, Lucie and Adam charged down Colorado Ave from the pier, separating from the group in a real way for the first time and commencing the immeasurable change that would follow. The strategy for the race was to split the six runners into two groups of three. Team A, comprised of Lucie, Thai, and Aric, were to alternate every 10 minutes until they got the team out of LA, which was approximately a marathon. As Lucie and Adam ran, Aric waited in the cramped sprinter van eagerly for his first leg as Remi and Hakim took them to the first rendezvous point. He hopped out for Lucie’s high-five and was off. His perfect running form and incomprehensibly fast clip quickly earned him the name “The Float God.” Adam Talan and Moe followed the runners on bikes, providing entertainment and navigation for the runners. Adam T would step out of the sprinter every so often to sprint ahead to where they might be confused on where to turn or go. As Thai began his intervals, it was clear he would bring unrelenting confidence and grit to the group for the duration. Adam T was locked into his camera view and he took a gnarly spill biking into a parked car. Ignoring his own pain, he put his camera back together with tape. The runners alternated efficiently as they made their way out of Los Angeles while Team B waited in the early morning for their shift. Team A covered the marathon out of LA in 2.5 hours. Once they reached Pasadena, Team B (Leigh, Alex, Brad) tapped in. Remi had been driving all morning, so Hakim took over at this point. Crouched between them, Adam V had a map and timer going to assist with navigation and facilitate runner swap outs. With Team B’s shorter 3-minute intervals, this would now require a lot more attention and energy. Because the entirety of Team Satisfy’s participation in The Speed Project was formed over just a one-month period—including assembling the actual team and crew—Adam V and Remi only had been able to scout the LA portion of the route. So at this point, they were quite actually heading into the unknown. The LA route had required heavy attention to navigation detail, making turns every half-mile and making sure runners knew what to do in time. They hoped this section would be simpler. Alex, Leigh and Brad were flying. The 3-minute intervals allowed them to push and sustain a fast clip. Each of them looked strong and fresh every time they high-fived in. With their backgrounds in city running and cycling, it was entertaining watching them weave through traffic, often incredulously gesticulating at cars when they wouldn’t stop for them. The interplay of honking and body-signing revealed a new and amusing kind of communication. The suburban sprawl of traffic intersections often interfered with precise intervals, as the van would get held up at a light for awhile and have to catch up to the runner. Furthermore, the lack of sidewalks, bike paths or shoulders on a large percentage of this route was a bit anxiogenic and the Road Crew tried as much as they could to create a mobile barricade with the van to protect the runners from any oncoming traffic. Despite being in the unknown and in a group largely comprised of strangers, the vibe and efficiency remained stellar. The communication and flow between runners and crew was seamless, and they made good time over the next 20 miles. Team A tapped in to cover the section that went through Rancho Cucamonga and Travis took over for Adam V, coordinating runner swap-outs and assisting Remi and Hakim with navigation. Team A arrived at the end of their second shift near Coyote Canyon Park, still looking fresh — Lucie in high spirits, striking a pose. A significant chunk of this next leg would travel up Lytle Creek Rd, situated right at the border of the Angeles and San Bernadino National Forests. Both the temperature and elevation would rise steadily and intensely. As Alex, Brad, and Leigh beasted their way up the mountain, passersby—who were on their way to enjoying Lytle Creek—watched in disbelief and confusion as a seemingly solo runner with no hydration or nutrition ran up the treacherous road. Up ahead, they would turn off Lytle Creek Rd onto Sheep Canyon Rd, a very short section that led to an undisclosed road or trail. Again, since Remi and Adam V only had the opportunity to scout the LA section, every bit of distance traveled beyond that was unknown. They prayed that the sprinter would be able to drive on it, or else they might have to leave a runner by themself for an extended period of time as they drove around. Alex’s 3-minute interval led them to the trail, which ended up being super rocky and sketchy but ultimately drivable. Since the sprinter would trail behind, Adam V jumped out to pace Brad and assist with navigation. Brad’s downhill game was incredible — Adam V's watch told him he was running at well below a 6-minute clip but somehow Brad still managed to drop him. The sprinter was far behind, so Adam V had to yell at the top of his lungs for what turns Brad needed to make ahead. The section leading to linking with and swapping with Team A was a beautiful descent overlooking striations of sand and stone, with a train traveling in the midst. Leigh smiled as she bombed down it—it was suffering, with a view. Team A covered a mean service road and freeway-adjacent distance after. After several hours of swaps and rugged Powerline road, the team made it into Daggett and Yermo. An intense Memorial Day traffic jam accumulated on Yermo in Harvard, making it impossible to follow in either of the vehicles. Brad, no longer willing to sacrifice dead time, took off. Shortly after, Alex, Remi and Moe took off on mountain bikes, hoping to find him and help pace and navigate. This makeshift team ran solo for 2.5 hours—sans water or nutrition. Brad did the last 8 miles in deep sand by himself as the rest were forced to carry their bikes. When he made it to the rendezvous, he immediately vomited and collapsed. Adam V was at a loss of how to assemble the next group. He walked into the back of the bus where Thai was in the middle of some much deserved rest and woke him up as gently as he could. How do you ask someone to join on a 37 mile leg after they just knocked out? Nonetheless, Thai hopped back in to join Aric and Leigh for what would be the most nightmarish part of the journey. Adam V had taken the wheel to give Remi some respite. During one of Aric’s intervals, they hit a fork and made a slight wrong turn and the sprinter was buried in sand. They all spent 20 minutes trying to get the vehicle unstuck. Suddenly, Moe awoke from slumber and schooled them on how to get out. This road, as Travis put it, felt like a machine gun. They encountered a bit where the path was barely the width of the sprinter and one wrong maneuver would quite actually result in the car tumbling down a cliff. To reduce weight imbalance, everyone evacuated the car, held their breath, and watched Remi’s life flash before their eyes as he just barely drove it across. The vibe began to waiver, like a candle’s flame in harsh winds, and they began bickering amongst themselves in the heart of darkness. As the sun rose, however, so did spirits—Thai yelled defiantly, Leigh’s face brightened, and Aric floated over the earth. The universe tested them but they kept burning, refusing to be extinguished. Like waking up from a bad dream, the early morning light washed away (some of) the trauma of the six hours spent in nightmare territory. The night crew reached the rest of the team on Death Valley Rd right outside of Baker. The original plan here was for the next team to continue on more Powerline terrain through the Hollow Hills Wilderness Area but after what they just underwent, it was unanimously decided to alter plans. In what in hindsight was probably too much haste, the team decided to continue down 127 toward Shoshone. Having just had a solid six hours of rest, Brad, Lucie and Alex flew through the next leg. The Speed Project crew met up with them en route to Shoshone, and it was evident in their IG live updates that they were running fresh and aggressive. Meanwhile, the night crew were in Shoshone, having a nap and their first hot meal since leaving LA—diner food had never tasted so nourishing and wholesome. Once Brad, Lucie and Alex made it to Shoshone, Aric geared up and started toward the turn onto the 178. The heat was settling in and it was clear their next shift was going to be toasty. Despite this, Leigh, Thai and Aric attacked this section fresh and recovered from the night. The teams of runners at this point were permanently scrambled from the original set up, but the seamless harmony was never disrupted, like an isomer formation. About 3/4 of the way through the next leg, around the Nevada/California border where 178 turns into 372 near Pahrump, Leigh received a text saying they’d made a wrong turn. Confused, Remi and Hakim studied their maps. Earlier that morning, as the previous crew were making their way to Shoshone, they had contemplated bisecting the route via Old Spanish Trail Hwy through Tecopa. But perhaps colored by the previous night’s experience, they worried it was more off-road terrain and they decided against it. Still unsure what to make of the text message, they did the only thing they could do and continued toward Pahrump. Pahrump ended up being a McDonald’s pitstop and another reshuffling of runners. Being that much of the running during The Speed Project is on road shoulders, the slight slope over time forces an uneven gait. Alex — who had never run an ultra and was entering ultra mileage — ended up tweaking his knee from too much gait alteration and the team decided it was best that he not damage his body. However, this disrupted the back and forth between rested and fatigued runners. For the second time, just as Thai finished the last leg on the 372, Adam V asked him if he would step up to the plate and hold it down. By adding a fourth runner into the mix, the volume and stress could be minimized for each runner. Without any further coercion needed, Thai agreed with a “🥲” emoji—as long as he could eat first. Lucie took the lead out of Pahrump onto the 160 and they were off. The runners were switching out every 90 seconds now. As Lucie, Brad, Leigh and Thai charged down the highway, Remi and Hakim noticed they were coming up on where the 160 met with Tecopa Rd. This was the missed turn. Remi and Hakim studied the map and discovered that the logistical error had added 40 unnecessary miles to the runners’ journey. With no time to stop and process the grief from this, the team had no choice but to keep pushing forward. (Un)Surprisingly, the runners didn’t allow the bad news to crush their spirits. Refusing to sit out for the duration, Alex even jumped back in to run short and easy legs to add to the overall rest time for all the runners. With all runners on deck, intervals were fluid. The sun began to set as they descended toward Las Vegas around Mountain Springs. The city became visible in the distance and catalyzed a newfound stoke in the team. Every time a runner swapped in, the sprinter door slid open and blared their favorite songs, resulting in beautiful downhill dance-running and vocal support from the crew. As the finish became more palpable, the energy only increased. The end was near and everyone could feel it. “The Edge... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.” - Hunter S. Thompson The team ran the descent on the 160 to where it turned into Blue Diamond Rd and hit Las Vegas Blvd. From this intersection, it was only about 3 miles to the end—the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign. Everyone crammed into the sprinter. When the glow of the sign was in immediate view, everybody hopped out and ran in the last half mile together. At the sign, Nils and Scotty (The Speed Project race directors) awaited with bottles of champagne ready for the team to shake up and spray everywhere, like some strange and poignant metaphoric manifestation of the denouement of the wild and incomprehensible journey they had just undergone together. There were so many points during this event that felt like an exploration of thresholds—physically, psychically, spiritually. But this is how it goes with these major feats of endurance; a quest for “The Edge” and learning how to approach and manage that elusive space. And while each experience there is typically individual, in a group like this The Edge felt more like an action potential threshold, wherein each push into that territory resulted in another excitatory response in the next person—rather than fizzling out, like the spillage of champagne on concrete, dirt and grass. The team may have come in 10th place, but this has only set off another excitatory response. We’ll be coming back to explore more thresholds and take ourselves over The Edge. Words by Adam Voidoid Photography by Moe Lauchert

We sat down with The Speed Project founder Nils Arend and rapped about going from organizing ragers in a Hamburg bordel subtly titled "The Fuck Shop" to eventually being at the helm of something as coveted in the running community as The Speed Project. From raves to races, the man is in a constant state of reinvention,

In our interview with Yancy Scot Schwartz, he called Guy Blakeslee

Since the start of her career, Cara Delevingne has been one of W's favorite models. Here, find a look at all our June/July cover stars photo shoots.

A short film about Joshua Garrett Grubb, the psychedelic-rock musician turned ultra-runner. BY Pierre David & Douglas Guillot DIRECTED BY Pierre David & Gabriel Novis DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Daniel Lindqvist MUSIC BY Lucas Lecacheur SONG

Give us a short bio I'm from Eugene, Oregon (a town who relishes its self-appointed title of

For this week’s Possessed Magazine I had the pleasure of sitting down with runner and all around exceptional human being, Aric Van Halen. We rapped about rediscovering a love for running after competition, his thoughts on his hometown Los Angeles, pushing the human body by running through Death Valley in the middle of the night on no sleep, training for the LA Marathon, what all is on his bucket list, making art and what it was like to grow up in one of the most famous families in the history of rock n’ roll. Ladies and gentlemen…. I’m proud to introduce you to The Float God! So, how's it going? Pretty good, just hanging out. Ok, let's start with an easy one first. Who are you? I am Aric Van Halen. How old are you? 31. Where did you grow up? In the valley. Encino and Calabasas. I would split time between the two. And where do you live now? Now I’m in Pasadena. What do you like about the city of Los Angeles? Ummm, what I like is a much harder question than what I don’t like. Let's talk about that then! What don’t you like about LA? It has everything for the most part. I guess my biggest problem with LA is there’s just too many people. It's clear why there's so many people here because it's such a great place - landscape wise, what you can get to, and the things you can do. But there's just too many people so it doesn't really allow you to enjoy most of that. I mean, I love the beach. I love the mountains. I love the food. I love it all. But getting from point A to point to point B is just nearly impossible. And that's kind of why I lived in Colorado for ten years and I never really wanted to come back. Because it was just such a hassle every time I came back, I got crazy anxiety sitting on the freeway and stuff. That’s a much different pace. You were in Boulder, right? How did you adapt to life there? Yeah. It took a little bit of time cuz I had a lot of that California kid in me still. And I was a bit of an asshole. So it took a few years for me to calm down and become a little more Colorado, a little more relaxed — enjoy the nature and just how much slower it is out there. Which is ironic because it's far more active of a state than California, as a majority. Do you have any races coming up? I don’t have anything until the LA Marathon in November. That's on my calendar and that's the only thing I have right now. I mean, I sort of stopped being competitive a few years ago. And then when COVID happened, I just felt really sort of crappy about my lifestyle and my health, and just not getting out and doing enough. And so I just decided to sign up for the marathon in January and I was like You know what? I got eleven months. We'll get ready for it! And I haven't really been that consistent with my training but I'm definitely getting a good chunk of miles in here and there. Will this be your first marathon? And how do you prepare leading up to something like that? Yeah, I've never run a marathon before. My longest training run was like twenty miles when I was competitive. At this point I think I'm just going to ride my talent and put as many miles on my legs at a nice pace as possible. I don't need to go that fast anymore, I try to get good heart rate miles in. Keeping my heart rate below like 150 for as long as possible and just getting aerobically fit. And then as it gets closer, I'll start doing some more specific long runs, some fartleks and some threshold stuff. But right now I just want to have fun with it. I was really nervous going into The Speed Project stuff. And I think the one thing I took away most was that I still really like running a lot. It had been a while since I'd run. I mean, I’ve never run that many miles in two days before but it had been a long time since I've really sort of pushed my body and I was like Yeah, I remember why I like this so much! Do you have any certain diet that you stick to leading up to a race? Not really. I’ve always been pretty good. I’m not the world’s healthiest person but I’m also not unhealthy, I eat a pretty solid combination of protein and carbs and veggies and stuff. I make a pretty mean spicy spaghetti bolognese that used to fuel a lot of my training. I would make a big pot of it and just eat it all week. But you’ve seen me, I’m not a huge human being. And I’ve got a pretty fast metabolism still — who knows if it’ll ever catch up. So I don’t mind indulging myself and eating a dessert here and there. All in moderation of course. I always used to be big on, the night before a race everyone would be too afraid to even look at the dessert menu and I would order a slice of cheesecake. Ha, that’s the fuel of champions. So, what initially attracted you to running? I was just good at it. That was about it. I grew up playing baseball and in the eighth grade we had a fitness mile. I went to the same elementary school, middle school and high school so I had the same group of people I knew for the longest time. So growing up, there were the same five people that you didn’t want to be “it” during tag because they were totally going to get you. And one of those kids was this girl that when we had our fitness mile she just took off and I was like, She’s really good. I know she’s really fast. She always tags me when we play tag. I’m just going to chase after her. And I end up dropping her half way at about 800 meters. I ran a 5:10 mile as an eighth grader. And I had no idea if that was fast or slow, I just knew I was the fastest in my grade. But that didn’t even mean a lot because we only had like 80 kids in our class. So I was like, Who knows what that even means? But our gym teacher would be my future cross country coach, and he was like, You know what, you should come out for cross-country next year. And I told him, Okay, why not? And then how did you end up deciding on running the steeplechase? I think my background playing baseball and other sports helped with that. Not all runners are that athletic and I think it takes a pretty athletic person to be competitive at the steeplechase. I had mentioned to my college coach when I got there that I was interested in it, and when track season rolled around he just started having us going over barriers. And it just sorta stuck with me, so I just kept going. I really liked it. Have you ever taken any nasty spills? Yeah, I fell. Let's see, I ran into the water jump sophomore year in practice and I tore my quad in half. I fell with 400 meters to go at Stanford my senior year at the Payton Jordan Invite. Uhhh, that sucked. I was about to PR and I just ate shit. When I get tired I do the little Kenyan two legs to one side hurdle, my leg just dipped too far low when I hurdled like that and I caught my knee and I just completely face planted. There’s a pretty funny picture of it that you can find on the internet. My friend Kyle photoshopped me out of it and put me into all these funny scenes where I was breakdancing, skateboarding and getting picked up by a hawk. Yeah, I’ve fallen quite a few times. After a race how do you usually recover or combat those post-race blues? If it’s a bad one you just gotta put it away. I mean, bad ones happen. I remember in 2016 when I was running the steeplechase, I hadn’t raced in like 16 months because in 2015 I’d been hurt. And I went out to Payton Jordan again and I raced the steeple. I ran 8:45, which is fine. But I definitely thought I was in PR shape at the time. My parents had driven up from LA and when I saw them I cried afterwards and was like, This is stupid! Why am I still doing this? What the heck? And they were like, Well you know, you’ve come this far! Just finish the season up and then if you don’t wanna do it anymore, don’t do it anymore. Two weeks later I ran at Occidental, I PRed and I qualified for the Olympic Trials. I think just remembering what you felt during that race and what went wrong, and then using that for future training and races. What did it feel like qualifying for the Olympic trials? Yeah. I was the third person out of qualifying for the trials in 2012, I think then they took 24 people and I was 27th on the list. So making it in 2016, after having to miss out on the 2015 season with a hamstring injury, it was amazing! Really validated all the hard work I’d been putting in over the years. What's on your bucket list? Just in general? Yeah, like for life in general. I have a pretty big fear of heights, but I'm also super intrigued by skydiving. Oh fuck that, I'm so scared of that. I'm terrified. I can't even get on the edge of a balcony that’s like twenty feet up. It just freaks me out. But the idea of just being free and flying sounds so cool. That's definitely something I'd like to mentally get to. And all the corny ones as well. Like, I want to travel more and I'd like to see more places. And catching a sweet tube surfing would be awesome. I’m not very good at surfing, I’ve only caught like one or two waves in my entire life but I feel like that would be euphoric and awesome. And on top of that, and I think this one is super doable… being able to skateboard wherever you want. I don’t need to do a kickflip or heelflip or any of that stuff. I just wanna be one of those people that can skateboard throughout town and ollie off curbs and not fall. That seems so chill and fun just to be able to cruise around town. Did you ever skateboard as a kid? I tried. My ankles and shins terrified me. I was kind of a baby. It’s never too late to start, just go easy. Just gotta be ok with falling a few times, I guess. When you're out in the world and doing things, do people trip out or comment on your last name when it comes up? Umm, they do every now and then. It’s definitely the older I’ve gotten, the less prevalent it is. But yeah, it happens. And it always depends on what mood I’m in or where I’m at or who it is. Sometimes they’ll ask if I’m related and I’ll say yes and sometimes I’ll say no. It just depends on how much you wanna deal with…. Yeah. Like, I was at a camera store in Pasadena and they asked and I said yes. Because I could sort of tell — my dad grew up in Pasadena. So I sort of could tell that they had been lifelong fans, or at least were people that were knowledgeable about it. So I felt like I could talk to them a little bit about it. And they did say that they had gone to a party that my dad had played when they were in high school. So that’s pretty cool. Oh wow, like a backyard party in the 70’s? Yeah, it was like a backyard party. Yeah, that’s pretty cool and totally worth saying that. But then I was dropping off a check for my apartment, for my rent, and the lady asked but I was like, I don’t need to. No, no I’m not related. I don’t need to talk about this with you. That’s funny. I know it's all you’ve ever known, but tell me what was it like growing up a Van Halen? I mean, like you said, it’s all I’ve ever known. But it was cool. We got to do cool things. My dad is a very interesting character. He loves the heat so we would go to Hawaii a lot when I was a kid. He just loves to be in the sun. But he’s also a super hard worker. He wasn’t not around a lot but he was always working. He was always grinding. Even still to this day, he’s still a grinder. Whether he’s either working or he’s helping my step mom out—she does equestrian stuff so he does a lot of the towing of the horses and stuff. And my little brother is a big car guy so my dad will be helping him out with mechanic stuff all the time as well. Did you ever go out on tour as a kid? Not for the full thing. I was on tour a little bit when I was five years old, I think that was the Balance tour. And then when I was 13, that was the Best of Both Worlds tour. They were hubbing out of Boston for their East Coast stint. So I spent a month hubbing outta Boston with them, going from Boston to New York, Boston to Hartford, and all of that. That was a really cool one. And at the time I was a big Red Sox’s fan so we went to a bunch of games, so that was really cool. Did you play any instruments growing up? I tried a bunch but nothing really stuck [laughs]. Let's see — I started violin in first grade... that didn't stick. Saxophone in third grade...that didn’t stick. I played piano from sixth grade to ninth grade. Guitar somewhere in there. My uncle tried to teach me guitar. Drums happened a little bit somewhere in there. My dad tried to teach me. But those people that are naturally really good at it are also usually the world's worst teachers. Haha. That’s funny. My dad, he’d be trying to teach me a simple beat and he’d be like, Just play it. And be like, I’m fucking trying. And he’d always be like, You just gotta keep practicing, and yeah that’s true but it also seems like it just comes to some people. Like, my cousin is a really good musician and I remember when he was pretty young, I wanna say nine or ten, and he got a drum kit and he would hear songs and could immediately play them on the drums. And I’m sure he practiced but it was one of those things where he could hear, Oh that’s the tom. Oh that’s the high hat. Oh that’s the snare. And I listen to a lot of music but still to this day I’m like, Ummm that’s a sound. I’m pretty similar to that, I relate. But I did pick up the ukulele over COVID. I remember you telling me that. That’s a fun one cuz you don’t really have to be that good. It’s only four strings and you can just sort of play a little bit of this and that. It’s fun. I dunno, I like it. Do you have a favorite Van Halen song or do you not care at all? I’ve always liked “Hot for Teacher”. But my less popular favorite would be “Little Guitars” or “Top Jimmy”. David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar, who’s cooler? I honestly don't know. Like I was so young growing up and being on tour that I don't really remember interacting with Sammy at all. And then Dave's been on tour with them the last few bits but I was in college for a lot of it, so I barely got to hang out with them. What do you parents think of your running career? My mom and dad, they’re divorced, they’ve both been super supportive. My mom comes to almost all of my races. And my dad came to all of my big races. And yeah, my dad really appreciates all the hard work it took to get where I was. He always wants to call my college coach and thank him for everything. But yeah, they understand the hard work it took. And it wasn’t the same route that he took but ya know. How did you get the nickname The Float God? Haha! That’s on you guys! I guess I look like I’m floating when I’m running? I dunno. Just chilling. Yeah, that’s why. Adam Voidoid coined it actually, it’s on video. And then, how did you get talked into running The Speed Project? Like how did that come about? I had just left a track meet and Adam [Voidoid] DMed me. And I just assumed he was DMing me for photo work because somebody had just posted some of my photos. So I was thinking, Awesome, I would love to get some work. And he was like, Hey yeah, if you can hop on a call I have a crazy project I’d like to talk to you about. And I’m thinking, Sweet, I’m in because I love crazy projects! I wasn’t super knowledgeable about Satisfy at the time so I went on instagram and the website and just watched a bunch of videos. And I was like, They do some cool stuff, if it’s a crazy project this could be really cool to shoot and stuff. And I hopped on the call and he was like, Have you ever heard of The Speed Project? And I had heard of it from the years past so I said, Oh cool, do you want me to shoot it? No, no - we need another runner. So I was like, Ohhhh, well off the bat I'm not crazy fit right now but I have been running. And honestly, it was just something that seemed like it would be silly of me to say no to. There was no reason for me to say no. It was just such a crazy opportunity and such a crazy project, to meet people and to do something I’ve never done before. I was like, unless I have some debilitating injury, I’m saying yes to this. And I’m also kind of a yes man, I don’t like letting people down. So when Adam said they needed another guy, I told him let me think about it for a day. I was already sort of going to say yes, I just needed to make sure there was nothing I had to do that I had forgotten about [laughs]. Now that you’ve had some time to reflect on it all… What sticks out to you and what do you think you learned or took from that experience? I just realized I still love running. There were times that we were out there that it was really tough and especially that night, the middle of the night coming into Death Valley. That night was really really rough…. That felt very similar to some punk rock tours I’ve been on, except we never got to the show… we just kept going.... Yeah, that’s the first time I’ve ever legitimately bonked running. I got out of the van at one point — oh, it was when I was running with you and I couldn’t keep up with you. And I was like, my legs are not moving at all, this is really bad. And Leigh had just said that she needed 30 minutes so I was like, Crap, we need to hold this down for a bit. And I got back into the van and thank god I had all those mini Snickers cuz I just pounded like 10 or 11 mini Snickers and it must of just like, jumpstarted my system. And then I was ready to go. But not only did it remind me how much I really really like running, and this is also gonna sound so cliché, but you don’t really know what your body is capable of until you really try and push it. And I went into it going like, Oh maybe I’ll be able to run 45 to 50 and I can maybe hobble the last whatever they need me to run. So when we started going and I started hammering, it was like, Oh my God, your body is really crazy. The human body is nuts and what you can trick your body into with your mind is just wild. My dad is big on a lot of alternative things, he loves asking me if I’ve heard about Wim Hof. Just that kind of stuff. Just telling your body that you’re fine. The end, coming into Vegas wasn’t bad. But the miles leading up to Pahrump, and out of Pahrump, that’s when it was — you really gotta tell yourself you’re gonna do this, you’re gonna make it. It was a rollercoaster of,

For this week’s Possessed Magazine I had the pleasure of sitting down with runner and all around exceptional human being, Aric Van Halen. We rapped about rediscovering a love for running after competition, his thoughts on his hometown Los Angeles, pushing the human body by running through Death Valley in the middle of the night on no sleep, training for the LA Marathon, what all is on his bucket list, making art and what it was like to grow up in one of the most famous families in the history of rock n’ roll. Ladies and gentlemen…. I’m proud to introduce you to The Float God! So, how's it going? Pretty good, just hanging out. Ok, let's start with an easy one first. Who are you? I am Aric Van Halen. How old are you? 31. Where did you grow up? In the valley. Encino and Calabasas. I would split time between the two. And where do you live now? Now I’m in Pasadena. What do you like about the city of Los Angeles? Ummm, what I like is a much harder question than what I don’t like. Let's talk about that then! What don’t you like about LA? It has everything for the most part. I guess my biggest problem with LA is there’s just too many people. It's clear why there's so many people here because it's such a great place - landscape wise, what you can get to, and the things you can do. But there's just too many people so it doesn't really allow you to enjoy most of that. I mean, I love the beach. I love the mountains. I love the food. I love it all. But getting from point A to point to point B is just nearly impossible. And that's kind of why I lived in Colorado for ten years and I never really wanted to come back. Because it was just such a hassle every time I came back, I got crazy anxiety sitting on the freeway and stuff. That’s a much different pace. You were in Boulder, right? How did you adapt to life there? Yeah. It took a little bit of time cuz I had a lot of that California kid in me still. And I was a bit of an asshole. So it took a few years for me to calm down and become a little more Colorado, a little more relaxed — enjoy the nature and just how much slower it is out there. Which is ironic because it's far more active of a state than California, as a majority. Do you have any races coming up? I don’t have anything until the LA Marathon in November. That's on my calendar and that's the only thing I have right now. I mean, I sort of stopped being competitive a few years ago. And then when COVID happened, I just felt really sort of crappy about my lifestyle and my health, and just not getting out and doing enough. And so I just decided to sign up for the marathon in January and I was like You know what? I got eleven months. We'll get ready for it! And I haven't really been that consistent with my training but I'm definitely getting a good chunk of miles in here and there. Will this be your first marathon? And how do you prepare leading up to something like that? Yeah, I've never run a marathon before. My longest training run was like twenty miles when I was competitive. At this point I think I'm just going to ride my talent and put as many miles on my legs at a nice pace as possible. I don't need to go that fast anymore, I try to get good heart rate miles in. Keeping my heart rate below like 150 for as long as possible and just getting aerobically fit. And then as it gets closer, I'll start doing some more specific long runs, some fartleks and some threshold stuff. But right now I just want to have fun with it. I was really nervous going into The Speed Project stuff. And I think the one thing I took away most was that I still really like running a lot. It had been a while since I'd run. I mean, I’ve never run that many miles in two days before but it had been a long time since I've really sort of pushed my body and I was like Yeah, I remember why I like this so much! Do you have any certain diet that you stick to leading up to a race? Not really. I’ve always been pretty good. I’m not the world’s healthiest person but I’m also not unhealthy, I eat a pretty solid combination of protein and carbs and veggies and stuff. I make a pretty mean spicy spaghetti bolognese that used to fuel a lot of my training. I would make a big pot of it and just eat it all week. But you’ve seen me, I’m not a huge human being. And I’ve got a pretty fast metabolism still — who knows if it’ll ever catch up. So I don’t mind indulging myself and eating a dessert here and there. All in moderation of course. I always used to be big on, the night before a race everyone would be too afraid to even look at the dessert menu and I would order a slice of cheesecake. Ha, that’s the fuel of champions. So, what initially attracted you to running? I was just good at it. That was about it. I grew up playing baseball and in the eighth grade we had a fitness mile. I went to the same elementary school, middle school and high school so I had the same group of people I knew for the longest time. So growing up, there were the same five people that you didn’t want to be “it” during tag because they were totally going to get you. And one of those kids was this girl that when we had our fitness mile she just took off and I was like, She’s really good. I know she’s really fast. She always tags me when we play tag. I’m just going to chase after her. And I end up dropping her half way at about 800 meters. I ran a 5:10 mile as an eighth grader. And I had no idea if that was fast or slow, I just knew I was the fastest in my grade. But that didn’t even mean a lot because we only had like 80 kids in our class. So I was like, Who knows what that even means? But our gym teacher would be my future cross country coach, and he was like, You know what, you should come out for cross-country next year. And I told him, Okay, why not? And then how did you end up deciding on running the steeplechase? I think my background playing baseball and other sports helped with that. Not all runners are that athletic and I think it takes a pretty athletic person to be competitive at the steeplechase. I had mentioned to my college coach when I got there that I was interested in it, and when track season rolled around he just started having us going over barriers. And it just sorta stuck with me, so I just kept going. I really liked it. Have you ever taken any nasty spills? Yeah, I fell. Let's see, I ran into the water jump sophomore year in practice and I tore my quad in half. I fell with 400 meters to go at Stanford my senior year at the Payton Jordan Invite. Uhhh, that sucked. I was about to PR and I just ate shit. When I get tired I do the little Kenyan two legs to one side hurdle, my leg just dipped too far low when I hurdled like that and I caught my knee and I just completely face planted. There’s a pretty funny picture of it that you can find on the internet. My friend Kyle photoshopped me out of it and put me into all these funny scenes where I was breakdancing, skateboarding and getting picked up by a hawk. Yeah, I’ve fallen quite a few times. After a race how do you usually recover or combat those post-race blues? If it’s a bad one you just gotta put it away. I mean, bad ones happen. I remember in 2016 when I was running the steeplechase, I hadn’t raced in like 16 months because in 2015 I’d been hurt. And I went out to Payton Jordan again and I raced the steeple. I ran 8:45, which is fine. But I definitely thought I was in PR shape at the time. My parents had driven up from LA and when I saw them I cried afterwards and was like, This is stupid! Why am I still doing this? What the heck? And they were like, Well you know, you’ve come this far! Just finish the season up and then if you don’t wanna do it anymore, don’t do it anymore. Two weeks later I ran at Occidental, I PRed and I qualified for the Olympic Trials. I think just remembering what you felt during that race and what went wrong, and then using that for future training and races. What did it feel like qualifying for the Olympic trials? Yeah. I was the third person out of qualifying for the trials in 2012, I think then they took 24 people and I was 27th on the list. So making it in 2016, after having to miss out on the 2015 season with a hamstring injury, it was amazing! Really validated all the hard work I’d been putting in over the years. What's on your bucket list? Just in general? Yeah, like for life in general. I have a pretty big fear of heights, but I'm also super intrigued by skydiving. Oh fuck that, I'm so scared of that. I'm terrified. I can't even get on the edge of a balcony that’s like twenty feet up. It just freaks me out. But the idea of just being free and flying sounds so cool. That's definitely something I'd like to mentally get to. And all the corny ones as well. Like, I want to travel more and I'd like to see more places. And catching a sweet tube surfing would be awesome. I’m not very good at surfing, I’ve only caught like one or two waves in my entire life but I feel like that would be euphoric and awesome. And on top of that, and I think this one is super doable… being able to skateboard wherever you want. I don’t need to do a kickflip or heelflip or any of that stuff. I just wanna be one of those people that can skateboard throughout town and ollie off curbs and not fall. That seems so chill and fun just to be able to cruise around town. Did you ever skateboard as a kid? I tried. My ankles and shins terrified me. I was kind of a baby. It’s never too late to start, just go easy. Just gotta be ok with falling a few times, I guess. When you're out in the world and doing things, do people trip out or comment on your last name when it comes up? Umm, they do every now and then. It’s definitely the older I’ve gotten, the less prevalent it is. But yeah, it happens. And it always depends on what mood I’m in or where I’m at or who it is. Sometimes they’ll ask if I’m related and I’ll say yes and sometimes I’ll say no. It just depends on how much you wanna deal with…. Yeah. Like, I was at a camera store in Pasadena and they asked and I said yes. Because I could sort of tell — my dad grew up in Pasadena. So I sort of could tell that they had been lifelong fans, or at least were people that were knowledgeable about it. So I felt like I could talk to them a little bit about it. And they did say that they had gone to a party that my dad had played when they were in high school. So that’s pretty cool. Oh wow, like a backyard party in the 70’s? Yeah, it was like a backyard party. Yeah, that’s pretty cool and totally worth saying that. But then I was dropping off a check for my apartment, for my rent, and the lady asked but I was like, I don’t need to. No, no I’m not related. I don’t need to talk about this with you. That’s funny. I know it's all you’ve ever known, but tell me what was it like growing up a Van Halen? I mean, like you said, it’s all I’ve ever known. But it was cool. We got to do cool things. My dad is a very interesting character. He loves the heat so we would go to Hawaii a lot when I was a kid. He just loves to be in the sun. But he’s also a super hard worker. He wasn’t not around a lot but he was always working. He was always grinding. Even still to this day, he’s still a grinder. Whether he’s either working or he’s helping my step mom out—she does equestrian stuff so he does a lot of the towing of the horses and stuff. And my little brother is a big car guy so my dad will be helping him out with mechanic stuff all the time as well. Did you ever go out on tour as a kid? Not for the full thing. I was on tour a little bit when I was five years old, I think that was the Balance tour. And then when I was 13, that was the Best of Both Worlds tour. They were hubbing out of Boston for their East Coast stint. So I spent a month hubbing outta Boston with them, going from Boston to New York, Boston to Hartford, and all of that. That was a really cool one. And at the time I was a big Red Sox’s fan so we went to a bunch of games, so that was really cool. Did you play any instruments growing up? I tried a bunch but nothing really stuck [laughs]. Let's see — I started violin in first grade... that didn't stick. Saxophone in third grade...that didn’t stick. I played piano from sixth grade to ninth grade. Guitar somewhere in there. My uncle tried to teach me guitar. Drums happened a little bit somewhere in there. My dad tried to teach me. But those people that are naturally really good at it are also usually the world's worst teachers. Haha. That’s funny. My dad, he’d be trying to teach me a simple beat and he’d be like, Just play it. And be like, I’m fucking trying. And he’d always be like, You just gotta keep practicing, and yeah that’s true but it also seems like it just comes to some people. Like, my cousin is a really good musician and I remember when he was pretty young, I wanna say nine or ten, and he got a drum kit and he would hear songs and could immediately play them on the drums. And I’m sure he practiced but it was one of those things where he could hear, Oh that’s the tom. Oh that’s the high hat. Oh that’s the snare. And I listen to a lot of music but still to this day I’m like, Ummm that’s a sound. I’m pretty similar to that, I relate. But I did pick up the ukulele over COVID. I remember you telling me that. That’s a fun one cuz you don’t really have to be that good. It’s only four strings and you can just sort of play a little bit of this and that. It’s fun. I dunno, I like it. Do you have a favorite Van Halen song or do you not care at all? I’ve always liked “Hot for Teacher”. But my less popular favorite would be “Little Guitars” or “Top Jimmy”. David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar, who’s cooler? I honestly don't know. Like I was so young growing up and being on tour that I don't really remember interacting with Sammy at all. And then Dave's been on tour with them the last few bits but I was in college for a lot of it, so I barely got to hang out with them. What do you parents think of your running career? My mom and dad, they’re divorced, they’ve both been super supportive. My mom comes to almost all of my races. And my dad came to all of my big races. And yeah, my dad really appreciates all the hard work it took to get where I was. He always wants to call my college coach and thank him for everything. But yeah, they understand the hard work it took. And it wasn’t the same route that he took but ya know. How did you get the nickname The Float God? Haha! That’s on you guys! I guess I look like I’m floating when I’m running? I dunno. Just chilling. Yeah, that’s why. Adam Voidoid coined it actually, it’s on video. And then, how did you get talked into running The Speed Project? Like how did that come about? I had just left a track meet and Adam [Voidoid] DMed me. And I just assumed he was DMing me for photo work because somebody had just posted some of my photos. So I was thinking, Awesome, I would love to get some work. And he was like, Hey yeah, if you can hop on a call I have a crazy project I’d like to talk to you about. And I’m thinking, Sweet, I’m in because I love crazy projects! I wasn’t super knowledgeable about Satisfy at the time so I went on instagram and the website and just watched a bunch of videos. And I was like, They do some cool stuff, if it’s a crazy project this could be really cool to shoot and stuff. And I hopped on the call and he was like, Have you ever heard of The Speed Project? And I had heard of it from the years past so I said, Oh cool, do you want me to shoot it? No, no - we need another runner. So I was like, Ohhhh, well off the bat I'm not crazy fit right now but I have been running. And honestly, it was just something that seemed like it would be silly of me to say no to. There was no reason for me to say no. It was just such a crazy opportunity and such a crazy project, to meet people and to do something I’ve never done before. I was like, unless I have some debilitating injury, I’m saying yes to this. And I’m also kind of a yes man, I don’t like letting people down. So when Adam said they needed another guy, I told him let me think about it for a day. I was already sort of going to say yes, I just needed to make sure there was nothing I had to do that I had forgotten about [laughs]. Now that you’ve had some time to reflect on it all… What sticks out to you and what do you think you learned or took from that experience? I just realized I still love running. There were times that we were out there that it was really tough and especially that night, the middle of the night coming into Death Valley. That night was really really rough…. That felt very similar to some punk rock tours I’ve been on, except we never got to the show… we just kept going.... Yeah, that’s the first time I’ve ever legitimately bonked running. I got out of the van at one point — oh, it was when I was running with you and I couldn’t keep up with you. And I was like, my legs are not moving at all, this is really bad. And Leigh had just said that she needed 30 minutes so I was like, Crap, we need to hold this down for a bit. And I got back into the van and thank god I had all those mini Snickers cuz I just pounded like 10 or 11 mini Snickers and it must of just like, jumpstarted my system. And then I was ready to go. But not only did it remind me how much I really really like running, and this is also gonna sound so cliché, but you don’t really know what your body is capable of until you really try and push it. And I went into it going like, Oh maybe I’ll be able to run 45 to 50 and I can maybe hobble the last whatever they need me to run. So when we started going and I started hammering, it was like, Oh my God, your body is really crazy. The human body is nuts and what you can trick your body into with your mind is just wild. My dad is big on a lot of alternative things, he loves asking me if I’ve heard about Wim Hof. Just that kind of stuff. Just telling your body that you’re fine. The end, coming into Vegas wasn’t bad. But the miles leading up to Pahrump, and out of Pahrump, that’s when it was — you really gotta tell yourself you’re gonna do this, you’re gonna make it. It was a rollercoaster of,

An experimental Black/Red/White retake from our campaign film, shot on super 8mm & expired rolls by Kodak Film. PRODUCT Experimental Video NAME Born To RunCOLLECTION Fall Winter 19-20SHOT IN Palm Springs, CADATE July 2019 RUNNER Cesar Villalba DIRECTED BY David & Douglas FORMAT Kodak 8mmMUSIC BY The Blackwater Fever

PRODUCT Video NAME Run! Punk Run! COLLECTION Spring Summer 18 SHOT IN Los Angeles / California DATE 10 / 29 / 2017 DIRECTOR / PHOTOGRAPHER Magdalena Wosinska DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Dan Dealy 1ST AC Greg Bolyard EDITED BY Satisfy RUNNER Chase Stopnik BIKERS Chris Mumma Tony Bang Jamaal Hollis Joey Karivan James Juarez MUSIC

PRODUCT Video NAME Born To RunCOLLECTION Fall Winter 19-20SHOT IN Palm Springs, CADATE July 2019 RUNNER Cesar Villalba DIRECTED BY David & Douglas FORMAT Kodak 8mmMUSIC BY Young Guv

The ten-year, ten-issue ad-free magazine is setting a new precedent for publishing. Here, its co-founder Dan Crowe shares the story behind INQUE, which will feature Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Tilda Swinton, David Lynch, and more

Thai Richards is a lean, mean, fightin’ machine. Actually, he’s more of a lean, nice, uh, lovin’ device? Whatever you wanna call him, Thai is someone who, when he talks, you should press record. Just shy of thirty, Thai is a wise old soul who has a lot to say, and I couldn’t stop listening. No seriously. I intended this interview to go for twenty-five minutes…it lasted fifty-four. And it wasn’t just because we were smoking copious amounts of weed. I swear. While we’re on that topic, Thai and his business partner, Kenisha White, are forging a path for fitness to shed its Lululemons, loosen up, and incorporate mind and spirit with the body… sometimes with the help of cannabis. After discovering a liberating love of running, Thai dreamt up Rage & Release, where he incorporates the sport with food education, mental healthcare, and what he calls “pampering” (which is, like, the non-Karen way of saying “self-care”). Rage & Release is a pro-weed, running focused, mental health positive, multi-dimensional fitness empire, and I got to meet up with Thai in Crown Heights to talk more about it. Running has always been a thing for me, because there was a liberating feeling to it even from the very beginning. More than all the other sports. I experienced a lot of open-mindedness during my first years of cross country. I was the only black kid on my team, but it wasn’t about that. It was about the fact that I got the chance to run in the woods. (Laughs) I was livin’ in the projects or livin’ in different buildings, concrete jungle lifestyle, you know? And then you go to the woods, and it’s just like, “What the fuck?” Where did you find woods to run in? When 9/11 happened, I left the city. My aunt had just got a house upstate, and I decided that it was dangerous to be here. My mom had just come back from the Lower East Side, covered in dust. You could see that she clearly went through something, and the city was shook up. And with that energy, I was just like, “Man, I don’t wanna be here.” If they’re blowin’ up stuff that close to home, who the hell knows what else could happen? So my aunt took me in, and the next thing you know, I was fuckin’ runnin’ cross country. School was boring, especially in the suburbs, so you gotta have an outlet. I figured out that running is what I love, and how I feel most responsive to my mind. It’s how I can tap into things that I probably wouldn’t have ever looked at before. Because when you’re running and you have some quiet, or even if you’re listening to music, there’s still this nonstop thought process going on. Tapping into all of the subconscious things actually made me a lot more vulnerable. So once I realized that running was more of a spiritual engagement than a physical thing, I really wanted to bring that essence into the fitness realm. Because a lot of times, spirituality and fitness are almost like church and state. There is no real merging of the two. And you can’t deny that it takes some kind of dedication, and that dedication is almost spiritual in the sense where, if you’re going from Point A to Point B, it takes so much in between. So all these different things need to happen mentally, spiritually, and physically. We can’t ignore that. So within that, we really find the balance of what it is to be a mindful athlete. Was there a defining moment when you were running as a young person, that made you realize there was a spiritual element to it? That psychedelic moment, yeah. I’ve had a lot of breakthrough moments where it’s like, “Oh shit, yeah.” Because your ego is stripped constantly as a runner. Running is definitely a sport that is not exactly about repetition. Because no matter how much you run, if you take a week off, you’re not gonna be as good as the week before. As opposed to other sports, where muscle memory kicks in for you sometimes. So those moments are really defining, because it allows you to see who you are, and really gages your fortitude and what you’re capable of. Because the stress that you have to be willing to put on yourself as a runner, you probably have a serious capacity on the other side. Just as much as you strip yourself, you are also coming into yourself so many different times. Do you ever run not high? Yeah, I run not high a lot. The thing about it is, I don’t like using cannabis too much when it comes to anything physical. Because I want to know that it’s not cannabis driving it. I need to know that I’m capable of pushing through so many of the obstacles in life without cannabis. Cus at the end of the day, it’s not a crutch, it’s a medical thing. It’s a sacrament. I grew up with very Rastafarian-like morals and standards when it comes to cannabis. Before we started the interview, you were talking a little bit about your family. Does your family history carry over into what you’re doing with Rage & Release? Everything. There hasn’t been anything I’ve done that hasn’t had to do with my parents or my grandparents and my family overall. My grandfather’s parents were killed, and he was pretty much raised on his own. My grandfather was born in 1942 or some madness like that. That’s like, sharecroppin’ days. We actually have a terrible relationship, but it’s a lot of the reason why I am who I am today. A lot of the relationships with my family have bred me to become a person that’s very responsible in the sense of how I treat my relationships, and how I handle people, and how I handle me. So it’s actually a blessing that I had a shit relationship with him. It’s made me more of a man in a lot of different ways that I probably don’t even realize. My father was killed when I was three. He was a drug dealer back in the day, you know, the 80s and 90s. The crack era when everybody was hustlin’ and doin’ something. And he went down to North Carolina, and unfortunately a friend of his did some underhanded shit, and the next thing you know, my dad took a bullet for it. My mom was sixteen when she had me, so having a young mom was also very interesting, because she took a lot of that on. You could imagine being a young mom, the love of your life is killed, then what? My mom went through a lot of things herself very early. So for me, I grew up raising myself because my mom worked a lot. It wasn’t until I moved with my aunt that I really had more of a family structure. Also, my grandparents coming from the West Indies, and then my father’s side of the family being Native American and African. That whole mixup is so much. That’s where I get a lot of my medicinal properties from. There’s so much earthiness to those cultures. How could I deny that? When I was growin’ up, I had bush tea every day. I didn’t have Lipton’s tea or somethin’ like that. She grew peppermint in the backyard. My grandfather, too. Green thumbs. I don’t even understand how they did it. Do you think cannabis has helped you come to some of the spiritual realizations you seem to have had about life? I would say it’s given me the opportunity to be a lot more quiet. To hear what my mind, or my spirit, or whatever guide or god is leading me through life. It’s helped me in that way. But I don’t think it’s helped me come to these realizations. I think I was always on the path already. My grandparents on my mom’s side were both masons. My grandmother was a mason, which is unusual for women. She was a mason and a mechanic. That’s one of the main reasons I’m a spiritual vagabond. Growing up and going to mason lodges, and then going to the mosque, and then going to Catholic churches, and then Baptist, you know, just…church. Those experiences allowed me to see god in a whole different light. I realized very early that all these things that people are praising is just god. Just god with a different face. Somebody had a different name, different experience with what they call god or an energy that they recognize as god. And the next thing they know it’s Buddha, it’s Allah. So I recognized that immediately. When you look at all of them, they all have the same teachings, and they all went through the same sacrifices. Jesus in the desert, Allah in the cave, Buddha fasting. So once I realized that, I was like, “What is the madness that’s going on in the world?” in the sense of the separation. So I started adopting things. All these different morals and standards. And asking why does this work? And why doesn’t this work? Because positivity is the basis of it all. My grandparents are the force behind a lot of things because they had nothing. And I really appreciate the underdogs. Because it takes a different type of grit to go out in the world, even though you’ve been beaten up however many times. And I think that’s across all cultures, not just black culture. That’s why, during these times, I don’t make anything we do too political. Because at the end of the day, the human struggle is very much all the same. We’re all goin’ through something regardless of race, color, creed, whatever it is. Even rich people are fucked up. They got money, that doesn’t mean they’re safe from mental health issues and all these different things. A lot of poor people are much happier than rich people. For sure. It’s such a myth that wealth will make you happier. Is Rage & Release a brand? A company? Mmmmm…that’s what we’re still trying to figure out, because we’re multi-dimensional. Like for example, we’re launching a supper club November 12. We have two chefs and we’ve created what’s called “The Bang Bang Experience.” My partner and I love food, and The Bang Bang is all about being greedy. You go to one spot and you think, “Oh this food’s great. But what would be even better is if I mixed it with this food now.” It’s a culture clash of food. I curate the tastes, so it could be, like, Venezuelan and Georgian food. What is that? And having the opportunity to tell the stories of cultures with the food. And also, because of the times we’re in right now, travel is limited. So why not be able to have those experiences with somebody who’s actually from the culture, or very well-versed in it? I’m also working on designs for clothing because I hate the functionality of a lot of brands when it comes to fitness. It’s kinda trash. And it’s not really New York City approved. (Laughs) So is the supper club a “Rage & Release Presents” sort of thing? Yup. So that’s one element. And then you have your clothing line, events, and then the running club. Is there anything else? We’re actually looking to open a space. Having a space is going to solidify all the different aspects of the lifestyle that we wanna really bring to the table and reinforce. Because it’s one thing to do these things with people once or twice a week. But when they actually have a place to come, and they can feel like this is a home or a hub for them, that really helps us create the community we want. What would the space be used for? We want to create a recovery space. I’ve always been very big on pampering. I enjoy quality of living and I think everybody should have that thought process about themselves. A lot of men don’t look at pampering themselves as masculine, or whatever the case may be. But it is very much so. Kings were known for being divas. So we want to bring that aspect to the table of recovering from the city, the mindfulness aspect, and the events all in this one space. Where we can really reinforce what we’re doing. Cus right now, our events are here, or our run is there. And that’s cool, but that’s really just to have our outreach. Mental health seems to be an important part of your outreach. I’m baffled and infuriated by how many mentally ill people I’m seeing all over the city now. I don’t understand how more public funding isn’t going towards helping people with mental illness. You feel me. That’s one of the reasons we’re very big on it. I grew up with a cousin who was diagnosed with auditory hallucinations and schizophrenia. He’s currently in prison. Of course! Because we criminalize mental illness. His psychosis led him to do something that he wasn’t really fully aware of, because he stopped taking his meds for awhile. We had no idea that he was mentally ill until he was twenty-seven or twenty-eight. This was somebody I grew up with, and he helped raise me. So to see him deteriorate as a person because of mental illness, was like, holy shit, this is really real. He almost committed suicide. He wouldn’t drink, he wouldn’t eat, because the voices in his head were telling him he had to starve. So I watched a lot of different things within my family due to mental health. He’s not the only one. There’s things that happened in my family where people probably should have had a doctor and they didn’t. And depression and all of these things caused them to deteriorate over time. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get him help the way he should have been helped, and we weren’t able to help the way we would have liked to. It’s also tough because a lot of mental healthcare is either too expensive, or scary and inadequate because they just drug people. And that’s the whole thing, that’s one of the main reasons we’re so big on the holistic approach. Because he himself was trying his best to medicate himself. Would you say it’s possible to self-medicate with marijuana? No. Because some people don’t know what’s enough. You can’t really die from an overdose with cannabis, so somebody with mental illness can smoke too much. And then they become disillusioned. Because THC now is a whole different ball game with medical marijuana and everything. Some of these cannabis plants are powerful. So I can’t imagine if you’re not getting the right plant with the right compounds. You would have to go to a person that could recommend the right plants for you. Because if you’re going out there and you’re like, “Oh yeah, I’m goin’ through whatever, I’m gonna smoke some sour.” You know how strong sour is. There’s so much powerful weed out there. Some of these plants are 27% THC. That’s powerful for somebody who’s going through something. Did you come up with the name Rage & Release? Yeah. What’s interesting is when I really started Rage & Release, I was homeless. I was homeless multiple times throughout my twenties. And I wouldn’t say I was homeless, like I was completely on the streets. But many times I was damn close. I don’t know what it is, though, but people like me. I’ve been very blessed and people will just be like, “Yo, just come and live with me.” (Laughs) And I’m like, “Say no more!” You don’t necessarily expect it to happen. But I’m so grateful to the powers that be, because not everybody is so fortunate. So while I was going through the different transitions, I realized if I was gonna help lead something, then I needed to be a leading example of that, regardless of where I am in life. So whatever is going on, I gotta face it. Because there’s no way I’m gonna be able to go and talk to people, and do all these things, and be a pillar of a community, and meanwhile I’m over here in shambles. I figured no matter what I’m going through in life, I gotta be balanced. So no matter how fucked up I am, nobody will ever know it. (Laughs) Because these moments are reassuring moments. When we have these talks like this, these moments with people. For instance, last week, we had this woman who decided she was gonna come run with us for her birthday. Just a random run. She doesn’t know shit about what’s about to happen to her. Homegirl ran five miles. And mind you, she thought she wasn’t gonna be able to make it past a mile. You shoulda seen the jitterbugs. She was lookin’ crazy before the run, and she’s like, “I don’t know if I can keep up with you guys.” Next thing you know, she comes finishin’ strong at the end. You could see the runner’s high. (Laughs) Those moments are just like, “Yes! This is what it’s about.” How do you describe rage? Rage comes from what I’ve seen throughout my life, as far as the human experience. I love history, so you go way back and everybody’s fightin’ for what? Fightin’ for land, fightin’ for food. You know how much energy that takes? That’s rage. You gotta wake up and kill, you gotta hunt. We’re still hunter gatherers in some form or fashion, we just don’t always kill and do all those things. But at the same time, we still are out there with a certain type of energy. You don’t wanna get up sometimes. You don’t wanna go to work sometimes. All these different pent up energies add up to a little bit of rage. So everybody feels a little bit of, “I wanna fuck somethin’ up today,” at some point. No matter if it’s one time or three times during the week, or even many times during the week. Somebody’s feelin’ like, “Fuck this shit.” And that’s exactly why I love that word “rage.” It’s what everybody’s going through. At some point, that’s exactly what you wanna do. You wanna rage against something. I remember growin’ up in the projects, and you can’t necessarily control your environment. And because you can’t control your environment, now you become a part of it, or you become a victim to it, or you become prey to it, or a hunter, whatever the case may be. And all those things add up to some type of rage. And then release is the other side of that. If you can reach the other side of that. As somebody who is pushing something like this, I understand how powerful those words are. I really wanted it to be as powerful as what we’re doing. Because it does matter that somebody feels good during the week, or feels good at any time during the day. People need love. People need that empowerment, but for self. I want you to generate it for yourself. Because I don’t want you fuckin’ coming here and using us as a source of your happiness. Fuck that. I’m not easy on people when it comes to that. If you really love yourself, you’re gonna do things for you. Like I ask people what they’re using cannabis for. Are you hiding behind cannabis? Are you hiding behind fitness? Are you hiding behind meditation? Because so many people use yoga and fitness as a means of escaping their problems, instead of punching them in the face. You keep doing those things, you keep running away and putting it to the side, it’s not doin’ anything for you. You gotta figure it out at some point. None of these things should be taking you away from something. You should be facing them head on. Do you think society could benefit from more white people trying to get in touch with their roots, rather than just saying,”I’m American?” Of course. But it’s just one of those situations where it’s just like, why? It’s just too much. Because if you start to look back too much, now you gotta start questioning everything. Nobody wants to question everything. Especially when life is good. Right. And for someone like an elderly Republican Christian, to question would mean to reevaluate their entire life. And to potentially feel like it was a waste, because they might realize they had it all wrong. But I love how people like that are a prime example of human programming. I love it. The social experimentation. Psychologically, it is fascinating to see how people can be controlled. Capitalism does that. Capitalism is the number one programmer, because at the end of the day, everybody wants what? To have a certain quality of life. So if they feel that being Christian makes their life easier, then so be it, you know what I’m sayin? Especially because most white men who are successful in this country are white Christian males. But same thing in the black culture, or the black community. There are successful Christian males. You look at the Christian dominance within the black community, it’s mostly Christian in America. It’s funny that you were talking about white folks diving into their history, but man, there’s a lot of black folk who don’t know their history at all. And they don’t wanna know their history. Because to them, it’s just like, “I’m just American. If I look back, it’s just slavery.” And it’s just like, “Actually, your great great granddad could’ve been the dude that invented the fridge. You just don’t know, though.” Slaves invented so many different things, but the history doesn’t allow you to go that far back. But again, it’s also so painful. Why look back? Why go there? And I think within the pain, that same thing with rage, having to dive that far back and actually having the mental gall to say, “I’m gonna face this, I’m gonna figure this out. I’m gonna untangle some psychological demons and traumas and things that have been plaguing my bloodline.” Because things like that do travel through DNA. And you really have to think about how that affects you overall as a human. Because trauma is one of the main reasons why I myself need a rage and release. Whether it’s what I went through with my father, dealing with my mom not really havin’ the motherly instincts I felt like she should have had or whatever. But she was growing. Everybody is growing. And that’s something I had to realize as well. That when everybody’s growing, they’re gonna do things that you might not think are necessary, but it’s necessary for them. So it’s about not allowing those moments to define me, but also realizing those moments are something to pay attention to, because there is something to take away from them. Those traumatic moments, they really do last and last and last, if you don’t fix them. What is it about something that makes it traumatizing, rather than just being something you experience that time will heal? That’s a tricky question, because I think it’s on you. How it affects you as a person. At least from my perspective. Because something that might stay in my mind for however long, might not even matter to you. Two days later you done forgot about it, but for me, I’m all fucked up. So I think it’s all relative. Especially with sensitivity. People’s emotion, the ebbs are very different. I’m not gonna lie to you, I think me being desensitized to a lot of things, I’m actually a lot more rational than I should be in some ways. Because I’ve seen a lot of crazy shit. I remember getting chased by prostitutes not too far from here. It’s pitch black, people are gettin’ robbed, you’re seein’ crackheads. All these different things that people don’t see now in Brooklyn. This was in the 90s. The 90s was fuckin’ wild. How have you personally dealt with your trauma? To be honest with you, I don’t hold anything back. You see in this conversation, I’m very vulnerable. The vulnerability or the openness that I’ve allowed myself to have, definitely has a lot of breakthrough moments. Because for me to sit back and act like I’m not goin’ through things or I’m not affected by something, I think would definitely allow me to self destruct, which I can’t afford. I think I realized very young that I was gonna go through a lot of things by myself. Things that I couldn’t necessarily understand. So once I realized that, I just started building a defense mechanization very early. A very realistic defense mechanism, where I question myself. I dissect things very thoroughly. And I’m also very alert, so the universe allows me to fall into things that offer me help. I’m very fortunate for the spirituality within myself, that’s directed me in certain ways, to where I had positive reinforcement from my moments of being in traumatic situations. So I ground myself constantly. And I also make sure of my emotional state. I’m always questioning myself like, “Are you okay? Are you sure you’re okay? What’s eating at you? Or why is it eating at you?” Because I grew up very insecure. And when I realized that other people are insecure too in some ways, I started realizing again, that in this human experience, we’re all going through the same things. So like, for me, I’m not looking at myself as if what I’m going through is special. Nah, nah. I’m lookin’ at it like, “Okay, somebody else figured it out before. I can definitely figure somethin’out for myself.” Somethin’ has to work, you know? So I’m gonna keep runnin, I’m gonna keep doin’ something til I’m gonna run into an answer. So that’s literally my approach to anything traumatic. Somethin’ gotta give. There’s no way I’m gonna be in this rut for however long. There’s no way that my existence is encapsulated in this one situation. Nah. It can’t be. Thai Richards on Instagram Playlist on Spotify and Apple Music Interview by Mossy Ross Pictures by Paulsta

The Knowledge is Possessed Magazine’s ongoing series for transforming thinking into doing. We ask experts to distill a lifetime of knowledge into short instructional videos that make it impossible for you to mess up or find an excuse. In other words, we've done most of the thinking for you, now all you need to do is do. This week, we present an instructional video on trail running by Brad Popple. Brad Popple is an ultrarunner, run shop guru, and coach. For Brad running is an art form, a means to escape poverty, and an exploration of the soul. He spends his time training in Charlotte N.C. sharing the love of running at Charlotte Running Company. He believes running is a beautiful and spiritual endeavor that has the power to truly change lives. It can be a variety of things to so many different people. It can be a way to cope, a vehicle to a body goal, a way to de-stress, or a way to stay clean. It’s a mythic act where athleticism, meditation, art, and magic coalesce and he wants to share this passion with as many people as possible. Brad believes that the purest and most primal form of running is on the trails. Having amassed a multitude of wins and records outdoors he firmly believes trail running is beneficial to all runners no matter the level or reason you run. This week Brad will explain the benefits of trail running and some tips for anyone hitting the trails soon. Brad also compiled this three hour plus running playlist for you, it’s a mix that straddles punk, rock & hip hop. Brad's playlist on Spotify and Apple Music. Brad on Instagram. Video and photo by Taisha Popple.

Image: @davidzhsu Your Instagram specifically states that this is

We sat down with composer & musician Stephen O’Malley (founding member of the band Sunn O))) ) to talk about the fundamental nature of our bond to the environment, how it influences his process in creating sound experienced as substance, and how running serves as a reminder and conduit for this ever-present connection. 1/ Does running in nature, or the environment in which you do it, produce a particular effect on you? The environment always affects me, whether I’m running or not, but indeed being in nature is an enormously positive experience. I know that’s because I’ve been so depleted from regular, natural interaction—or interaction with nature—for so many years, living in cities and my lifestyle. But it’s beautiful because we remember that very quickly, there’s always that snap where you become again aware of the environment. Running today, I was suddenly able to see the waves and the stones in a way that made it clear why we were here shooting this. It’s not that you’re desynchronised, it’s just that your attention connects. In states that emerge with different practices of meditation. States which running practice does enter as well. It seems more dramatic when that occurs in nature. It’s also happening at any moment that awareness. 2/ Do these sounds and elements in nature that you interact with during a run, for instance, the rocks, waves, or the wind, influence your work with sounds? Nature is profoundly influential. It’s beyond significant—it’s fundamental. 3/ It’s something that’s linked to your music? It’s linked to everything, so, yeah. It’s just that we forget about it, but it always relates to everything. It remembers that you’re in this space all the time. Even if you’re in the middle of Shanghai, you’re still in the middle of nature in a certain way; you’re may not be aware you connect to your environment. Maybe we can talk about the environment rather than nature. I’ve been reading a lot about the specific vocabulary and how it distances people’s thought process from reality, specifically concerning environmental issues. Terminologies and words that objectify nature as “something else” that you come into and depart, which is not the case. It’s the world, of course. The natural experience could be a romantic experience. Or a frightening experience. Or an enriching, inspiring one. Or relaxing. It could be all these other things that objectify the experience, the effortless experience, of being aware of your environment and where you are, and that you’re a part of it. For me, being in nature—running, hiking, walking, watching the ocean—it always reminds me that we’re part of it. That’s influential of course. That’s the point. 4/ How would you describe the kinds of experiences you lead, such as in Brussels (Kanal Centre Pompidou, his performance in the Inner Trip Center film)? Can you explain your vision of performance? Would you say it’s like a sound bath? A sound bath is a term that I don’t consider. Well, I’m curious about what that means too, actually, let’s put it that way. Some years ago, I encountered that phrase and asked: “What is that?” Much music over the years has involved a very, very physical experience that you could say feels like you’re in liquid: the weight and the flow and pressure. Still, I understand sound bath to be a kind of genre of new-age type of music. 5/ Can you define the experience of your music then? Usually, I’m not particularly eager to define it myself because the other people that do it have much more exciting things to say. But I can describe it in an environmental sense. We are working a lot with sound energy to remind ourselves we are part of the environment and our physicality connects to all of these different kinds of life. In the music, sound waves vibrating air, or matter, the body, the building, or the floor, the people around you. For me; it’s a reminder of this connection. I describe the music as an experiment with the feedback of sound. There’s a generative sound process that starts and then it develops a life of its own feedbacking through a system developed with the people I work with, a lot of amplification, speakers, different effects and filters, and various types of instruments. Breaking it down further is more interesting, the more I go on playing music because it’s elementary and doesn’t require technical terminology. I mean, the technical side is fascinating, of course, for the people looking for those details. But I think in more simplified terms, it’s much clearer: sensation and ability of just being in the present moment and experiencing this possibility of the sound energy. 6/ What’s your relationship like with music when you’re performing it? Is it an act of exploration or an act of control? It’s both, and I would say, actually—in varying degrees at different times. Exploring because I am personally interested in having an experience of playing music that’s exciting and risky and surprising. Keeping a method that allows an unknown element of exploration, it continues to have that gratification for me, just on a personal level. Controlling the music is an exciting idea and can go into a lot of different conversations about composition and composers as well. But what is music? From where does it originate? When you think that you’re allowing something to happen, you’re not in control. You’re admitting to yourself that it’s beyond your control or that control doesn’t exist. And with music, in my experience, it can be exhilarating to be immersed in that, riding it, being in those forces of energy or inertia or saturation or any adjective you want to put on what sound makes you think about, like a liquid, like being in the sea or being on a mountain. 7/ How do you think about music and sound concerning the things you encounter in your environment? For instance, how you described noticing the waves and stones in Fårö? With music, typically the sensation of encountering a mass or structure of sound is foreign to a lot of people’s experience of what music can be or what music actually is or what sound is, even. There are only certain situations where you are shaken to your core by sound energy. If you live in the city, maybe it happens more frequently, but you’ve probably normalised it because it’s just going to work in the morning and the subway pulling into your station, or some lorry trucks driving over the bridge next to your apartment or taking off in a plane. In the sense that it’s creative energy? It’s useful to think about established vocabularies for this that are not about music to relate metaphors. And sculpture has been one set of language that’s useful. It removes the sort of violence from the experience of encountering sound energy as something out of your control and instead transforms that thought into something that’s about gracefulness, matter and mass perhaps. Those metaphors also apply to liquids, immersion. It’s encountering these massive forms that dwarf the human experience. 8/ But you mentioned at one point that your music could have more of an impact than what you might hear on the radio, for instance. In this sense, what effect do you think music has on people? The impact music has on people is event-based impact, which also connects to an environmental experience perhaps, or in a natural setting—when you encounter the wind on the seashore violently, or the intense cold on a mountain, or the deep smell of the humidity in the forest. I hope that the music I’m involved with can have a tiny percentage of impact like that. If it does, then that pleases me a lot and hopefully, the person who has that experience, it pleases them too. Music is very different from being in a natural environment in that it’s abstract and subjective, thought to originate from someone’s mind at its source. In contrast, nature is justly profound; people can share those experiences more commonly. 9/ Just as you think there is a relationship between sound and music, do you think there is a relationship between meditation and running? In my experience, there is a relationship between meditation, running and music. I’ve often thought about as being a grasp of “peak experience.” But actually, it’s not a grasp for an experience that is beyond the familiar. Instead, being in tune with where you are at the moment—and getting to that spot again and again. With meditation, it’s self-evident. As I understand it, the centre of many meditation practices is to come back to the starting point, that’s the goal if there is a goal, and then there is no goal! With running, there are many more layers of athletic performance to focus around. For me, it’s been a path of connection with the environment by spending time outdoors and spend time in my mind away from all the other distractions. And indeed music has a certain intensity to it. My experience performing, “meditative” is the right word—it’s not meditation, but it has meditative aspects. Also, with the running, it’s not meditation, but it is meditative. The differences. The qualities of it. They’re other practices, but for me, they’re significant. They’re very, very connected. I’ve practised all three of them cumulatively for enough time to find the space in my life, and I find to be very beneficial. 10/ What is your definition of The High? It’s changed a lot throughout my life, how I would describe that. And maybe that’s the answer that I should give: it’s not a singular thing, but it’s like an exploration of different states of consciousness. There’s a real high for me in being aware of what’s happening, and being more transparent in reality. It’s bizarre that it happens with my music because my music is involved with so many abstractions. It’s a real, physical experience. But all of that is always there when you’re in the woods, you know? I notice there are five types of trees here. They are already there. 11/ You talk about sounds, songs, and music — and in the usage of that vocabulary is an implication of differentiation between them. So what would you say you play? But the thing is it doesn’t matter what I say because it exists. I do it. I could say anything really because music is abstract. And then people, they want to believe in the story too, even if there is a straightforward story in the lyrics or its structure, then you can still say anything. I’ve experimented with this a lot with Sunn O))), and one of the central concepts of the band for me is a kind of conceptual art direction. To create a story around an abstract structure, not in necessarily a manipulative way or like PR, but people want to believe stories. That’s how the culture is made, by creating these structures and shared belief systems, which happens with music as well. There are tools, or there are elements, in music that do remind of ancient archaic stories. Music has been around for millions of years of hominid and pre-hominid existence. Many of those keys relate to the natural experience. As the guitar solo, I think it’s a super arcane, archetypal experience, even if the sound itself of an Ace Tone Fuzz or whatever isn’t something new but distortion itself? Does that affect the human mind in a way? What is relative to that? Lightning? Fire? Do you know? Something that these super old, intense natural experiences of encountering nature in this very focused and rare event. I think things like the electric guitar and synthesis bring that to mind. Maybe not so much in the conscious mind but the full experiential sense. People want to believe stories. So I could talk about that, and someone would say, “Oh no wonder Jimi Hendrix is next to god,” you know? Because he’s doing this. Even if it’s just a rock solo. But I think of that with all types of music too. In the 17th century, new instruments that developed to create the symphony orchestra were super fresh sounding, but they also had a relationship to semi-familiar timbres reflected in nature, some of them. The freshness of sound, it’s still activating something that is a kind of memory process. We can initiate that all the time too. That’s the kind of high I like, thinking about that. Or having those experiences, you know? Having those experiences of being aware enough that you feel alive and you feel life is so vivid and intense, that’s what interests me. Isn’t it the same for all of us? 12/ How would you describe your experience of the contrast between your music, which is loud and has much intensity, with running, which is in the quietude of the mind? I spend much time in quiet. A lot. Most of the time. Of course, I listen to music and watch films and live in the city but I spend much time in quiet. Might seem paradoxical to some of the music I make because it’s this eruption. It’s very similar in some ways. There’s an intensity to that, and quiet is still a sound. It’s not like something is missing; it’s also space. So maybe they’re not opposites, but they’re from the same kind of family, you know? But I spend much time in the quiet. 13/ I remember a few years ago when I went to Iceland. I was shocked by the silence and the heaviness of the landscapes. It makes you feel truly alone. For the first time, I felt the loneliness of the explorer in new terrain. This sound of silence makes you feel more intimately about yourself than having a discussion with someone or being present in civilisation can elicit. And this is part of that too. What I experience when I run, I feel that I exist. I guess that when you’re on stage, you feel as though you live in this same way as well. One of the mind-blowing things about meditation, in my experience, is when you get to this state, and that’s where you are—it’s you. And that’s what you got! That’s everything. So with running too, when you come to this space, it’s you experiencing all these things: moving through space, being aware of the environment, being high, achieving these things. However, you want to describe it. But you’re aware of yourself. And that’s all you have. You don’t need more than that. I like that story about Iceland. I immediately recalled that I had a very similar experience when I went there. It also made me think, even with the silence, there’s immense gravity everywhere, the mountains and landscape. The weather systems are ultra-present, you know? There you are, in space. How do you end up in that space? Just paying attention to it is astonishing. 14/ To continue in that vein, when you play your music—for instance when you play inside of a church that you don’t know—it’s also like exploring a new space. Do you have this same experience and feeling? Do you have an idea in advance of how the sound will be affected? The idea is rooted in experience. So, if I’ve played in similar spaces, then I will have a prediction. And sometimes fake the forecast too. Triangulate based on a few other things. But I try less and less to place something over top of it before actually experiencing it. It’s stimulating to explore that way. Things can sound so different based on, of course, acoustics—that’s what sound is, it’s acoustics. The room shapes sound in very, very different particular ways, even if it’s the same source. Incredibly, buildings are designed specifically for that purpose. Temples, churches, for example, they’re primarily made to worship God, or whoever is a projection of the self into the cosmos. Buildings designed to amplify voices and light and to bring the mind into this other interior resonant space. And the fact that you can enter that now with something that is, in the present moment, contemporary music and access those tools, that’s exciting. 15/ I feel like nature can be a mystical experience in a similar way as you say how a church can amplify your voice. I think nature can also amplify your mind. I think so too. I think being in nature the mind doesn’t need to be amplified because it’s already there; it just needs to be attended. Not even focused, it just needs to be aware. Nature helps me become more aware of that aspect. Dramatically, sometimes. The strange part is when that feels like a psychedelic experience or a heightened different state of consciousness, but it’s not; it’s just the normal state of consciousness. 16/ Maybe you can define your music some more? It exists. I know what you’re asking, in any case. But let’s make it more so you can find something in what we’ve been discussing. 17/ Maybe we can frame it this way: You can expand your mind, get high, have an experience with sound or music. But most of the people’s experience with music is like Spotify for most people, you know? We are the lucky ones because we get to see you perform it live. So I think the way to put it is like, not to explain but... If I am a runner or if I am into meditation, I know that I can get high with physical activity. But maybe I don’t know I can get into a meditative state through sound and music. And perhaps that’s the way you can tell this story, of how sound may elevate your mind? I think my practice with sound and music involves much exploration of elasticity of time and the focus of being in a space. And that space opens up changes, in just a few degrees, where you experience something very, very different to the day to day experience. A state of consciousness that we can share with activities like the runner’s high, Zazen meditation, and various other types of meditation or meditative exercises. Sound is incredibly meditative. And why sound is central in ceremonial work, why it’s used by runners, to synchronise their experience of time. I think sound itself is a very powerful laboratory to actualise time’s subjectivity, that it’s nonlinear and is the same thing as space, about connecting and being aware of the environment. 18/ In a way, your music is like long-distance running. I like this idea of the elasticity of time, and long-distance running—it’s all about that you know? There are many thresholds to pass with long-distance running, for sure. And also with durational music. I’m very interested in durational music and cyclic music. So-called minimalist music often deals with these aspects, but durational elements of music allow these seemingly difficult thresholds of experience to appear and overcome, and be overcome. But of course, once you overcome them, they have no gravity or substance anymore. They didn’t exist after that moment. And you see things very differently right after that, the moment you overcome those thresholds concerning time and endurance. Both activities [running and music] are using raw matter, just primary material, resulting in the action of using that material, actually, more than creating something from that material. It’s experiencing the use of that material. The word “minimalism”—again, going back to vocabulary—can be quite complicated because of contemporary art history, primarily. But I think that using it more fundamentally, fundamental as the actual matter is a way to think about it. Sound—there’s so much there. It’s just a band of energy we always encounter that we perceive as this physical experience. Stephen O'Malley on Instagram The Inner Trip Center drop

Our friend Ian Rogers caught up with Aquarium Drunkard founder Justin Gage over the phone this Spring. Check out their conversation below. Bonsoir mon ami ! How are you doing brother? All good here in Paris. How's L.A.? It's good, I'm good. We'll have to catch up proper sometime when you’re back here. Yes please! And run! Absolutely. Did you get to dig in to the (Satisfy Aquarium Drunkard Playlist) mix at all? Yes I did. I listened to it yesterday. I ran in Rome, did 12K and I listened to it the whole time. So thank you very much for accompanying me on a run in the city of Rome. Absolutely. I hope you found some new jams. I did. It worked for me! Both the songs I knew and those I didn’t know were right up my alley and – well hold on, let’s do the proper interview and get to the playlist in a bit…So Justin, we met more than 10 years ago… Yes, we met in ’06 or ’07… I was just a fan of what you were doing on Aquarium Drunkard then and still am now! I'm curious to know how you started. You kind of came at music on the internet from the blogger direction. Is that true? Yes. In high school I played music. In college I was a record store clerk and then I got into writing. My first job out of college was at a dotcom in 1999 that folded into another company. I was their music editor. In 2005 I started Aquarium Drunkard. And what was Aquarium Drunkard, why did you start it? What did you think you would become? To be honest when I first started it was more of a means to catch up with friends that were not only spread out across the country but even more so around the globe. Most people would think of political blogs when the word “blog” would come up in 2004 or 2005. So what I was doing, which was an easy way to communicate with friends about what I was listening to, quickly became solely a music blog. At the time there were only maybe a dozen music blogs going. So we all got to know each other and chat about what was working and what wasn’t and it really just took off from there. I mean this is all obviously pre-social media as we know it now so the comment sections were very robust and it really collected a community. I felt like I was learning as much from the readers as they were from me. And what was your take musically? How would you define what you wrote about? I always approached it from more of a record head point of view. A lot of the music blogs in 2005 were primarily concentrating on the nebulous term of “indie” or “indie rock”. I remember reading all that stuff and it didn’t seem like I was reading much depth into where they’re coming from. Like someone was writing about LCD Soundsystem and it didn’t sound like they were really familiar with Can or Talking Heads. So with Aquarium Drunkard I guess I started to try to make a point of really talking about records that were important to me - whether they were new or old but always treating our essays and reviews as if it was about a new record or a new release. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. I went to school in Athens. That’s where the record store clerk part of the story comes in… The REM part of the story... Well the Elephant 6 stuff was happening when I was there in the ‘90s but since then you know… When did you start running? I started running seriously when I was in the seventh grade. Cross country and then I got into JV track the next year when I was a freshman. What was your event, your distance? I started with the half mile and the mile then I got up to two miles in cross country. On the track team I was doing everything from 800, 1600 relays, all kinds of stuff... Why are you still running? We're talking about distance running now. Some people have a meditation practice but I guess that’s what running does for me, just getting out there in the zone. My best creative ideas come to me when I’m running -- not always with music. Sometimes I don’t run with any music at all and when I do run with music it’s not always the high-energy forward propulsion kind. There are a lot of times where I’ll listen to something like the (German jazz and classical label) ECM sound where it gets pretty far out there and it just kind of lets my mind to drift along with the landscape. You started at the very beginning of music blogging in this really small community. It’s completely changed today. The web has changed. Blogging has changed and digital music has changed. How have you changed with it? Aquarium Drunkard is really not a blog anymore. It’s a music magazine. There aren’t comments anymore since that entire conversation seems to have moved to social media for better or worse. So in terms of Aquarium Drunkard today, it is an online magazine with all the features of a magazine but also takes that vibe beyond the Internet -- whether it’s events that we’re doing or DJ sets or playlist or if I’m doing music supervision. I’m now one of the co-owners of Gold Diggers in Hollywood which is a recording studio, bar and boutique hotel. So I’ve taken basically what I’ve been doing in Aquarium Drunkard and it’s now in this real world setting. The studio part of the building once was Ed Wood’s sound stage, 8,000 square feet, nine different studios. Dave Trumfio from Kingsize Sound is one of my partners so it's a full-on robust recording studio. The building in front of it ran on Route 66, there’s a bar downstairs with a 150-capacity. We’ve been doing secret shows there like Kevin Morby and Ice Age and we've got DJs there every night. Upstairs is a nine bedroom boutique hotel. So this is like a living breathing Aquarium Drunkard. This is a place of music discovery. Every record that I bought for the hotel rooms and the bar is me finding them in L.A., Tokyo, Kyoto or wherever. All the playlists I've done by hand. People are recording in the studio, staying in the hotel and hanging out at the pool. It’s a place of discovery to find like-minded people. So that is a long way to say that since 2005 I've been building on this idea I had about wanting to bring people together to discover music and having an authoritative voice but not preaching to people. Just wanting to share this music. And now it’s led to a physical incarnation. It follows a bit the arch of the internet, no? In the same way that lots of internet companies now have a physical store or a physical presence, Aquarium Drunkard has moved into the real world. Yes it is. We do the Aquarium Drunkard podcast and if you live in Los Angeles you can come participate – we host it live once a month. My guest next month is going to be the artist Johnathan Rice who’s now also doing the haikus. We had William Tyler as our guest last month and he did like a four song selection from his new LP before our chat. Aquarium Drunkard is now incorporating visual artists and filmmakers and storytellers. So it’s rounding up all of my interests through the Aquarium Drunkard lens. If you like what we’re doing with music then you might like our guide to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo or whatever. We started doing an email newsletter again which I've found extremely rewarding. This has a lot of recommendations that we don’t put on the site such as books I’m reading or podcasts or even recipes. It’s funny - It’s 2019 and I'm enjoying dialing it back. I think a lot of us are really disconnected with all the social media so I’m really trying to dial it back to something that feels a little more personal, whether it’s the website proper or the email coming to your inbox or these physical events we’re having in East Hollywood where you can actually have a real conversation with someone. Right and in a real physical space. We launched our Patreon account in November. I’d never had a pledge drive. I’d never asked people to donate to Aquarium Drunkard or anything like that but having got to know these guys at Patreon, I felt comfortable, it’s legit. As part of the rewards we are making real old school mix tapes and that kind of stuff. It’s been fun to make it feel more like a personal relationship instead of some funky thing on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram. How does running connect to dialing it back or lifestyle or what you need to live your life? Again, for me, some of my best ideas come during running. The headspace I get in, tapping into something but also breaking away from the static of everything. It’s that Me Time where you’re one with yourself - it’s just you out there. Besides the obvious physical benefits, the psychological, spiritual and mental benefits are huge for me in my interpersonal interactions with my family, my friends and colleagues. It’s a practice and it’s a lifestyle. You were competitive once upon a time in high school that’s how you started running. Right. Do you train for events? Do you look at your time or is it really more about meditative and getting at like, what’s your approach? Yes. For me it really is just about that solo time for myself and getting into the zone. I do have apps on my phone just to track what I’m doing for my own curiosity. Do you start your week kind of knowing what you’re going to do this week or do you just freestyle it every week? It’s usually freestyle. It depends on what’s happening with traveling and kid life and all the other things that come up. In terms of technology I think there are really cool and useful tools to see correlations between what was happening in your life personally and business-wise and then see where you were with your running, with your workouts. Were you able to get out there as much as you wanted to? If not, do you see a correlation between other parts of your life maybe not flowing as well? Being in that state of flow which a lot of people talk about in terms of a meditation practice... but that’s not something I’ve been able to tap in to. The closest I have ever gotten to that state is running. I know that when I am not taking the time to make running, wellness and all that a priority, that in hindsight I often am aware that that is the exact time that I really needed to be making it a priority. If you’re not able to at least try and maintain that kind of flow in your life and take care of yourself, then other things begin to slip. I’ve seen that throughout my 43 years on this rock. And just a couple more questions, you mentioned that you’re not always listening to music when you’re running, what are you listening to? It depends. Here’s an example: for some reason I quit listening to Radiohead like 10 years ago. Not that I didn’t like Radiohead anymore but I just never thought to check out the new records. It went through a bunch of my old records and I found In Rainbows and Kid A. I was reminded how much I used to love these and realized I’ve missed like three records since. So I ended up picking those up and I listen to Moon Shaped Pool and a bunch of the other ones. I got really into this Radiohead kick. So that’s an example of just something that it’s kind of playing catch up but other times... Yes and when you’re running you can actually crawl inside the record and... I appreciate that. I can’t listen to books. I did – Well I take that back. I did listen to the Beastie Boys book when I was running which I enjoyed your chapter. That was cool. Oh thank you very much. I did listen to that but I haven’t been able to listen to any fiction while I’m running. Part of what I like about running is I space out, so I’m not able to keep up with any kind of real narrative flow. I got into this kick a few months ago where I was listening to just a lot of stuff I loved back when I was an early teenager like Minor Threat, early Black Flag, Bad Brains and stuff. But sometimes I just want something completely ambient and run to that and really zone out and take in the landscape. I bought a house at the top of the canyon in Glassel Park on the border of Mount Washington, so I run a lot of these trails. We’ve had a lot of rain so it kind of looks like Scotland right now! It’s pretty far out. I’ll put on something more ambient and just really let the mind go. How has your personal music taste changed over the time you’ve been doing Aquarium Drunkard? Oh man, it’s constantly evolving. When I started the website I was super into all that old like Carter Family stuff. A lot about the music that Will Oldham and Jason Molina and some of those folks were doing. I guess kind of more of a warm kind of almost southern gothic kind of country folk world. That’s what I was heavily into when the site launched and as it has gone along, I think it’s become whatever’s kind of been weaving in and out of my headspace whether it’s Latin music or African music or Scandinavian jazz. There’s been so many interesting reissues over the last 15 years. I think that’s been incredibly interesting. A lot of international reissues too. Do you think we’re becoming more international in our access to music? I think so, absolutely. Light In The Attic records have been doing this whole japan archival series; a lot of this music wasn’t available historically in the west. It’s even hard to import and the licensing of this music has been really challenging for the label. So I think we’re getting to a point now where you’re 17 years old and you have access to Spotify or Apple music or YouTube, you can just go down the rabbit hole that you and I could have taken our entire lives getting to. I mean I can remember first hearing like… Lee Perry was a big deal to hear when I was 18 whereas now that would be like I don’t know, you’d probably be like 10 years old and you’d find that. But when I first heard like Fela Kuti that was a moment - the search isn't the same now. Now it would just be recommended to you on YouTube. But yes, it's a pretty cool time to be into music with all this access where as you well remember, it once took a lot of time and pocket change to try to find this stuff! Totally. From the time I saw Steve Caballero wearing a Misfits T-shirt in a magazine to the time I got my hands on a Misfits record was like two years. And I searched for the entire two years. Oh man. Yes. That’s exactly it. It’s hard to imagine today but it’s true. The playlist is great. Thank you again. You covered a lot of ground but one thing you really over-index on David Bowie. Why is that? Are you heavy on Bowie in life or just while running? You know what, he is someone I've listened to for 25 or 30 years now. He was just dabbling in so many different sounds. The stuff that I put on that mix was when he’s collaborating with Eno then I had the Byrne / Eno collaboration around the same era. Both of those guys were very early and very hip to African funk and polyrhythm. When I was thinking about this mix I was trying to sequence it so you would have some kind of reflective moments but then I’d want to bring it back up in case you were on a hill or something. I was trying to think of a way that it wasn’t just like hammering you over the head with that theme of propelling you - I wanted there to be some levity in there to give you a break. But yes, David Bowie, I mean he’s a huge figure in my musical life so there was no way he could escape this mix. Photos by Rasmus Jensen Aquarium Drunkard on Patreon

At Possessed Magazine we feel that sometimes it’s important to go against the grain to get to the truth. In an attempt to explore the fringes, we have taken it upon ourselves to investigate the polar opposite of the new wave of super shoes and find out which of these non-running shoes are the best of the worst to run in. We asked our homie Samutaro to get scientific and put these three culturally significant sneakers... THRU THE RINGER. Vans Old Skool When it comes to Vans, no sneaker has hit the cultural zeitgeist quite like the Vans Old Skool. While the sneaker was initially designed as a skate shoe, it's gone on transcend its roots in empty So-Cal pools to become one of the most universal sneakers worn by everyone from Kendall Jenner to Kanye West. Debuted under the name “Style 36” back in 1977, the style was the successor to the Vans Authentic. Arriving 11 years after the OG, the new design incorporated a number of upgrades like lacing and leather panels for enhanced durability, notably the silhouette’s suede toe. One of the main design features was the signature “jazz stripe” - a motif that has now become the hallmark of the Vans brand. The sneaker was released in 3 colorways, with royal blue worn by legendary Z-Boy and Powell Peralta founder, Stacy Peralta. Given the sneakers' sporting roots, it's unsurprising that novice runners have been making it an option for recreational runs. In fact, it was seeing people in this sneaker running in Paris that inspired the idea of doing this challenge. It's definitely a good contender for top spot. Crocs There are few shoes as divisive as the Croc. The foam clog has been polarizing popular opinion and taste levels for years and still does today, despite its recent spike in popularity during the pandemic. Known more as a practical staple amongst chefs and nurses than a shoe of style, the perforated slip-on became one of the most unexpected trends of the decade in 2020 — not bad for a squishy orthopedic shoe that Time magazine once included in a line-up of the 50 worst inventions. I did some research on running in Crocs and found out that there was a kid from America who ran a half marathon in a pair of Crocs, running it in 1:11:53. The runner also claimed he could get up to 3000 miles out of a pair before they wore out. This one is definitely the red herring of the group but if they work out I might need to reconsider switching out my Vaporflys. Clarks Wallabees It’s hard to imagine that a shoe designed in the middle of England’s countryside would become a cultural icon that would touch music subcultures around the globe. But this is what Clarks achieved when they put out their Wallabee shoe in 1967. For the past 50+ years, the suede shoe has been adopted and reappropriated by everyone from mods, rockers and rude boys, to ravers and rappers. Having been name dropped in the lyrics of artists like Vybz Kartel, Wu-Tang and MF DOOM — and worn by so many diverse subcultures — it's no surprise that this is a style that won the world over. The shoe is defined by its suede upper and crepe sole, a feature that is said to give off so little to no noise, that it became a favorite amongst young Jamaican criminals. It was this crepe sole that earned Clarks sister shoe, the Desert Trek, the nickname ‘The Bankrobber.’ I’m hopeful this will give me some edge on the track. Review Vans Old Skool: 6/10. Very stiff and fall flat so there is little absorption on impact, which made my running inefficient and strained my joints. Whilst doing the lap, it made me think how people probably ran in something similar to this type of sneaker back in the 70s. They had it rough. I couldn’t imagine running anything longer than 3K in these bad boys without getting swamp foot immediately. Crocs: 8/10. Insanely comfortable and very good cushioning. I was very surprised how good these felt and I could feel a much more natural stride compared to the Vans and they felt faster. There was no slippage on the back with the strap and they felt super light. You even get a cool breeze in your feet thanks to the perforated toe box. I had previously laughed about running in these at one of my local run club sessions but now I would actually seriously consider it. I can see the appeal the Pachev family have with them! Clarks Wallabees: Solid 5/10. I was so stealthy running in these that the other runners on the track didn’t even hear me creeping up behind them. That's until I passed and they wondered why the hell I was running in a pair of suede shoes on a dusty running track. The shoes have a very narrow sole compared to the body of the shoe, which definitely gave me anxiety about turning my ankle and putting myself out all for the sake of this challenge. These aren’t bad if you need to run to catch a bus or rob a bank, but I’d definitely leave them off the track. Samutaro is an IG page that sits at the intersection of fashion, art and pop culture. More than an online mood board, the page inspires and educates through compelling narratives that draw the lines between past, present and future. By Samutaro Video by inneswoo

A sweaty mustache mix of proto psycho metal by lazy jogging lady boss, Joy Howard.

After sleeping for a couple of hours, the runners prepared their breakfasts and jumped into their morning rituals while the Road Crew loaded up the sprinter van and tour bus. The race was to begin at 4am, so around 3:45, everyone who wasn’t starting in either vehicle began walking over to the Santa Monica pier. Thai lit some sage to set the tone and clear the air. Lucie was chosen to start the race. With Adam Voidoid as her pacer and navigational guide, they stood with their hands folded by the pier as they worked through their pre-race nerves together. Real change only begins through disruption of a whole, and once the start was announced, Lucie and Adam charged down Colorado Ave from the pier, separating from the group in a real way for the first time and commencing the immeasurable change that would follow. The strategy for the race was to split the six runners into two groups of three. Team A, comprised of Lucie, Thai, and Aric, were to alternate every 10 minutes until they got the team out of LA, which was approximately a marathon. As Lucie and Adam ran, Aric waited in the cramped sprinter van eagerly for his first leg as Remi and Hakim took them to the first rendezvous point. He hopped out for Lucie’s high-five and was off. His perfect running form and incomprehensibly fast clip quickly earned him the name “The Float God.” Adam Talan and Moe followed the runners on bikes, providing entertainment and navigation for the runners. Adam T would step out of the sprinter every so often to sprint ahead to where they might be confused on where to turn or go. As Thai began his intervals, it was clear he would bring unrelenting confidence and grit to the group for the duration. Adam T was locked into his camera view and he took a gnarly spill biking into a parked car. Ignoring his own pain, he put his camera back together with tape. The runners alternated efficiently as they made their way out of Los Angeles while Team B waited in the early morning for their shift. Team A covered the marathon out of LA in 2.5 hours. Once they reached Pasadena, Team B (Leigh, Alex, Brad) tapped in. Remi had been driving all morning, so Hakim took over at this point. Crouched between them, Adam V had a map and timer going to assist with navigation and facilitate runner swap outs. With Team B’s shorter 3-minute intervals, this would now require a lot more attention and energy. Because the entirety of Team Satisfy’s participation in The Speed Project was formed over just a one-month period—including assembling the actual team and crew—Adam V and Remi only had been able to scout the LA portion of the route. So at this point, they were quite actually heading into the unknown. The LA route had required heavy attention to navigation detail, making turns every half-mile and making sure runners knew what to do in time. They hoped this section would be simpler. Alex, Leigh and Brad were flying. The 3-minute intervals allowed them to push and sustain a fast clip. Each of them looked strong and fresh every time they high-fived in. With their backgrounds in city running and cycling, it was entertaining watching them weave through traffic, often incredulously gesticulating at cars when they wouldn’t stop for them. The interplay of honking and body-signing revealed a new and amusing kind of communication. The suburban sprawl of traffic intersections often interfered with precise intervals, as the van would get held up at a light for awhile and have to catch up to the runner. Furthermore, the lack of sidewalks, bike paths or shoulders on a large percentage of this route was a bit anxiogenic and the Road Crew tried as much as they could to create a mobile barricade with the van to protect the runners from any oncoming traffic. Despite being in the unknown and in a group largely comprised of strangers, the vibe and efficiency remained stellar. The communication and flow between runners and crew was seamless, and they made good time over the next 20 miles. Team A tapped in to cover the section that went through Rancho Cucamonga and Travis took over for Adam V, coordinating runner swap-outs and assisting Remi and Hakim with navigation. Team A arrived at the end of their second shift near Coyote Canyon Park, still looking fresh — Lucie in high spirits, striking a pose. A significant chunk of this next leg would travel up Lytle Creek Rd, situated right at the border of the Angeles and San Bernadino National Forests. Both the temperature and elevation would rise steadily and intensely. As Alex, Brad, and Leigh beasted their way up the mountain, passersby—who were on their way to enjoying Lytle Creek—watched in disbelief and confusion as a seemingly solo runner with no hydration or nutrition ran up the treacherous road. Up ahead, they would turn off Lytle Creek Rd onto Sheep Canyon Rd, a very short section that led to an undisclosed road or trail. Again, since Remi and Adam V only had the opportunity to scout the LA section, every bit of distance traveled beyond that was unknown. They prayed that the sprinter would be able to drive on it, or else they might have to leave a runner by themself for an extended period of time as they drove around. Alex’s 3-minute interval led them to the trail, which ended up being super rocky and sketchy but ultimately drivable. Since the sprinter would trail behind, Adam V jumped out to pace Brad and assist with navigation. Brad’s downhill game was incredible — Adam V's watch told him he was running at well below a 6-minute clip but somehow Brad still managed to drop him. The sprinter was far behind, so Adam V had to yell at the top of his lungs for what turns Brad needed to make ahead. The section leading to linking with and swapping with Team A was a beautiful descent overlooking striations of sand and stone, with a train traveling in the midst. Leigh smiled as she bombed down it—it was suffering, with a view. Team A covered a mean service road and freeway-adjacent distance after. After several hours of swaps and rugged Powerline road, the team made it into Daggett and Yermo. An intense Memorial Day traffic jam accumulated on Yermo in Harvard, making it impossible to follow in either of the vehicles. Brad, no longer willing to sacrifice dead time, took off. Shortly after, Alex, Remi and Moe took off on mountain bikes, hoping to find him and help pace and navigate. This makeshift team ran solo for 2.5 hours—sans water or nutrition. Brad did the last 8 miles in deep sand by himself as the rest were forced to carry their bikes. When he made it to the rendezvous, he immediately vomited and collapsed. Adam V was at a loss of how to assemble the next group. He walked into the back of the bus where Thai was in the middle of some much deserved rest and woke him up as gently as he could. How do you ask someone to join on a 37 mile leg after they just knocked out? Nonetheless, Thai hopped back in to join Aric and Leigh for what would be the most nightmarish part of the journey. Adam V had taken the wheel to give Remi some respite. During one of Aric’s intervals, they hit a fork and made a slight wrong turn and the sprinter was buried in sand. They all spent 20 minutes trying to get the vehicle unstuck. Suddenly, Moe awoke from slumber and schooled them on how to get out. This road, as Travis put it, felt like a machine gun. They encountered a bit where the path was barely the width of the sprinter and one wrong maneuver would quite actually result in the car tumbling down a cliff. To reduce weight imbalance, everyone evacuated the car, held their breath, and watched Remi’s life flash before their eyes as he just barely drove it across. The vibe began to waiver, like a candle’s flame in harsh winds, and they began bickering amongst themselves in the heart of darkness. As the sun rose, however, so did spirits—Thai yelled defiantly, Leigh’s face brightened, and Aric floated over the earth. The universe tested them but they kept burning, refusing to be extinguished. Like waking up from a bad dream, the early morning light washed away (some of) the trauma of the six hours spent in nightmare territory. The night crew reached the rest of the team on Death Valley Rd right outside of Baker. The original plan here was for the next team to continue on more Powerline terrain through the Hollow Hills Wilderness Area but after what they just underwent, it was unanimously decided to alter plans. In what in hindsight was probably too much haste, the team decided to continue down 127 toward Shoshone. Having just had a solid six hours of rest, Brad, Lucie and Alex flew through the next leg. The Speed Project crew met up with them en route to Shoshone, and it was evident in their IG live updates that they were running fresh and aggressive. Meanwhile, the night crew were in Shoshone, having a nap and their first hot meal since leaving LA—diner food had never tasted so nourishing and wholesome. Once Brad, Lucie and Alex made it to Shoshone, Aric geared up and started toward the turn onto the 178. The heat was settling in and it was clear their next shift was going to be toasty. Despite this, Leigh, Thai and Aric attacked this section fresh and recovered from the night. The teams of runners at this point were permanently scrambled from the original set up, but the seamless harmony was never disrupted, like an isomer formation. About 3/4 of the way through the next leg, around the Nevada/California border where 178 turns into 372 near Pahrump, Leigh received a text saying they’d made a wrong turn. Confused, Remi and Hakim studied their maps. Earlier that morning, as the previous crew were making their way to Shoshone, they had contemplated bisecting the route via Old Spanish Trail Hwy through Tecopa. But perhaps colored by the previous night’s experience, they worried it was more off-road terrain and they decided against it. Still unsure what to make of the text message, they did the only thing they could do and continued toward Pahrump. Pahrump ended up being a McDonald’s pitstop and another reshuffling of runners. Being that much of the running during The Speed Project is on road shoulders, the slight slope over time forces an uneven gait. Alex — who had never run an ultra and was entering ultra mileage — ended up tweaking his knee from too much gait alteration and the team decided it was best that he not damage his body. However, this disrupted the back and forth between rested and fatigued runners. For the second time, just as Thai finished the last leg on the 372, Adam V asked him if he would step up to the plate and hold it down. By adding a fourth runner into the mix, the volume and stress could be minimized for each runner. Without any further coercion needed, Thai agreed with a “🥲” emoji—as long as he could eat first. Lucie took the lead out of Pahrump onto the 160 and they were off. The runners were switching out every 90 seconds now. As Lucie, Brad, Leigh and Thai charged down the highway, Remi and Hakim noticed they were coming up on where the 160 met with Tecopa Rd. This was the missed turn. Remi and Hakim studied the map and discovered that the logistical error had added 40 unnecessary miles to the runners’ journey. With no time to stop and process the grief from this, the team had no choice but to keep pushing forward. (Un)Surprisingly, the runners didn’t allow the bad news to crush their spirits. Refusing to sit out for the duration, Alex even jumped back in to run short and easy legs to add to the overall rest time for all the runners. With all runners on deck, intervals were fluid. The sun began to set as they descended toward Las Vegas around Mountain Springs. The city became visible in the distance and catalyzed a newfound stoke in the team. Every time a runner swapped in, the sprinter door slid open and blared their favorite songs, resulting in beautiful downhill dance-running and vocal support from the crew. As the finish became more palpable, the energy only increased. The end was near and everyone could feel it. “The Edge... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.” - Hunter S. Thompson The team ran the descent on the 160 to where it turned into Blue Diamond Rd and hit Las Vegas Blvd. From this intersection, it was only about 3 miles to the end—the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign. Everyone crammed into the sprinter. When the glow of the sign was in immediate view, everybody hopped out and ran in the last half mile together. At the sign, Nils and Scotty (The Speed Project race directors) awaited with bottles of champagne ready for the team to shake up and spray everywhere, like some strange and poignant metaphoric manifestation of the denouement of the wild and incomprehensible journey they had just undergone together. There were so many points during this event that felt like an exploration of thresholds—physically, psychically, spiritually. But this is how it goes with these major feats of endurance; a quest for “The Edge” and learning how to approach and manage that elusive space. And while each experience there is typically individual, in a group like this The Edge felt more like an action potential threshold, wherein each push into that territory resulted in another excitatory response in the next person—rather than fizzling out, like the spillage of champagne on concrete, dirt and grass. The team may have come in 10th place, but this has only set off another excitatory response. We’ll be coming back to explore more thresholds and take ourselves over The Edge. Words by Adam Voidoid Photography by Moe Lauchert