Please Start

Please making what you wish existed

A decade ago, I posted my first essay online.

I ran a race, sat down with a beer, wrote it out, sent it to a friend, edited it once, and put it on a new website named medium.com.

The piece, Raise a Runner, still blows me away, “Where did that come from?!” I wonder.

From there, I shared it on Facebook, and before I knew it, the story of my origin in running and successful run at the Chicago Marathon had gone around the world. I don’t know what counted as “viral” in 2014, but the breadth and depth of impact in the running community bound me to this writing pursuit for years to come.

So, I’m here to say if you feel compelled to create something, Please Start.

Please push aside your concern for scale, fear of failure, or fixation on monetization and get going.

Two years later, I ran the race of my life in Boston, breaking 9,000 Seconds and finishing 31st place. So I wrote about it. A year later, I repeated the feat in one of the most mentally challenging races I’ve ever completed.

I was on a roll.

I ran and used essays to capture the essence of my experience, which was a useful tool to have ready because the adventures kept coming…

In 2018, I ran myself into the hospital while witnessing the most intense running competition I’ve ever experienced at The Speed Project with Tracksmith. This essay will never not blow me away. I don’t know how to explain how I managed to write it other than to note that what I’d experienced out in the desert was so incredible I wanted to nail down each instant of its magic. I wrote When Everything Isn’t Enough to honor the effort of Tracksmith and The Sunchasers, and it won an honorable mention for the Year’s Best Sports Writing.

What I know is that none of this was strategic.

It didn’t originate because of a grand plan. And yet, this writing journey with all of you has been one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever experienced.

Please Start.

Please listen to the voice inside your heart that’s screaming to create. And don’t allow your inner hater to drown out the inclination to make the thing you wish existed in this world.

The only reason this writing thing has worked for me is that I consistently create the thing I want to be able to hold in my hands. Metaphorically. 

When I fell deeply in love with the marathon, I wrote The Marathon Doesn’t Owe You Anything.

Funny story: I sent this essay in completed form to Runnersworld, asking if they wanted to publish it. 
For free. (Don’t do this.) 
Thankfully, they said, “No thanks.”
It’s been read 70,000 times online.

Essays aren’t Reels; they take time to internalize. I am thankful for every time someone sat down with one of my pieces and made it their own.

Then I went on a marathon tear, racing and exploring the depths of what the distance offers.

I was so scared of it that I wrote Burn the Boat.
I ran out of my mind in 2018 and wrote about it mile by mile - Keep on Dreamin’
I got to start with the pro field in Boston 2019 and couldn’t believe how well it went - Belonging

All the while, each time I wrote about running, I started to see my emotions of the sport more clearly.

From the emotional roller coast of training - Confine Your Runner Mind
To the weirdness of digital run tracking - The Digital Runner

After my Olympic Trials chase ended, I poured every ounce of emotion from the pursuit into The Bubble of a Dream - which was recognized as a selection in the Year’s Best Sports Writing 2020

In all, I’ve posted over 40 essays online in the past decade, which is both a lot and a little. 

For one year, during the pandemic, I wrote a weekly newsletter, which burned me out but was also a ton of fun.

Thankfully, I’ve been at this for so long that when Mom died, I didn’t know anything other than to process it externally for the world - My Final Moment With Mom

When I was suffering from depression and nihilism in 2023, I wrote about it - I’m Not Alright.

I cannot express how little you should care about what other people think of what you create.

Yes, money is necessary, but it’s not the only thing, and your passion does not necessarily need to be the path you take to sustain your lifestyle. I’ve made approximately $4-5K from writing the past decade. NOT writing to make revenue is a stated goal of my creative work. It may not be yours. That’s fine. But in a world of people seeking quick paths to success in the Creator Economy, I’d love to help hold down the flag for good old-fashioned artistic creation.

Another funny story. 

In 2021, Tracksmith asked me to write an essay about our return to road racing post-pandemic. Once the piece A Marathon Season Deferred arrived in runners’ physical mailboxes around the world, I told their head of marketing that if I’d understood the opportunity to put my writing into the hands of authentic runners globally, I probably would have offered to pay them! It's a good thing they didn’t ask me.

But seriously, what an honor it is to make something and ship it to the homes of those who will care for it.

This is all to say: Please Start.

Take a chance.
Sit down with something, a note pad, googledoc, Apple Notes app, and let your soul speak.

Pick up a piece of clay, spool of thread, or acrylic canvas, and MAKE!
Honestly, I know most of you won’t, and that’s fine.
But some of you will. And that’s the magic.

Live a life propelled by the creative spark that screams in the night. 

Such a path is rarely linear, seldom lucrative, and often exhausting, but always beautiful.

I’m a decade in and just getting going.
Please join me.

Please Start.

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If you’re reading this and thinking, “That’s fine, Peter, but why haven’t you been putting out essays as often?!” The answer is, ‘cause I’m writing a book. Which takes time and energy and sadly leaves handfuls of essays that I’d love to get to on the sidelines.

More soon!