There’s homework for this post. Go read Mugwumps blog post “Don’t Should On Me,” and then run (quick quick!) over to Anna Blake’s blog and read “Free Advice: Everybody’s a Trainer.” Done? Think back to your last interaction in the horse world, whether that was a facebook group, show, ride, or barn evening. It doesn’t […] more

Yeah, it’s late. But since these posts are not a gift buying guide, is it really seasonal? Or is it just an excuse for me to share the things that have made me really happy in the past year and you might need in your life too? Here’s the 2016, 2017, and 2018 versions of […] more

I recently had a post on this blog go viral. Honestly, it took me by surprise. Here I’ve been, plugging away for over a decade, writing about things I’m passionate about, sharing some of my deepest darkest thoughts, and doing my best to entertain you – My Dear Reader – by poking fun at myself […] more

Mistakes during ultras boil down into big ones, small ones, and unlucky ones. The unlucky ones we can’t do anything about. So sorry, that’s how the game is played. You fell, busted your shin, broke 2 fingers. You stopped and helped a fellow runner that dislocated their knee cap and it was the right thing […] more

A good death. That is our responsibility to the animals under our care, if we can possibly give them one. It isn’t always possible – they get lost, hit by a car, burned by a fire, swept away in a flood, poisoned by contaminated feed. It’s a dangerous business – this thing called living. Sometimes […] more

I had a reader send me this message in part: I was okay with the DNF (Mel’s note: this person attempted Rio and wasn’t able to make it to the finis line) for the first couple days but now I’m just upset and disappointed about the DNF. It has been really bothering me and making […] more

Dear Future-Mel. It’s not your fault that I’m sitting in the middle of NaNoWriMo right now. What YOU want is for me to write thoughtful and accurate blog posts so you can read and remember all the good and bad stuff that happened, because even though Present-Mel is sure she won’t forget any of this […] more