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Episode 45: Brendan Leonard
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Brendan Leonard is a writer, illustrator, adventurer, filmmaker, and the creator of Semi-Rad.com, not so much a website but a channel for, in his own words: ‘things regular folks can do, adventures for the every-person. It’s a web site for those of us crushing it, kind of.’
Since a problematic relationship with alcohol led to a stint in rehab, at age 23, Brendan has gone on to get a master’s degree, cycle across America, author 11 (ish) books, create award winning short films, speak to international audiences, run 52 marathons in a year and multiple 100 mile ultramarathons. His editorial work has appeared in Alpinist, CNN, Outside, Men’s Journal, National Geographic Adventure, Backpacker, Adventure Cyclist and dozens of other publications, and his clients have included La Sportiva, Strava and Arc’teryx.
These are heady accolades; however, it is Brendan's wry, self-deprecating humour and relatability that has earned his essays, cartoons and infograms such a dedicated following. He makes you realise how ridiculous life is, not just his life but everyone’s life. Yes, he writes and draws about running, but he also writes about eggs and dog food and washing dishes, and perhaps all these things are metaphors for more fundamental reflections on life or, maybe, to quote his essay on the topic, they are in fact ‘just about cooking eggs and that’s enough’.
The mark of a great conversation is that you sort of forget where it started, where it's heading and what you ate along the way. In this one, we talked a lot about humour, not a lot about running and perhaps too much about a raisin. I laughed so much to the point of tears throughout our time together and, at the point of tears, laughed too, because, well, you either laugh or quit – right? Brendan has this magical, understated, goofy way of talking about pizza whilst also making you realise that life comes down to some very simple choices: do we choose inaction or participation; anger or joy; laughter or quitting? He's worked a lot of that out by hating running, drawing some mediocre things (his words not mine) and continuing to fail at frying eggs. So it follows that the question we should then be asking ourselves is: if he can, surely we can too?
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