Faster, Stronger, Bolder
Updates on matters concerning real estate and road racing.
As I explained in my last post, most of my focus lately has been devoted to reestablishing myself as a leader in the industry from which I was unceremoniously pushed to the fringes, namely real estate.
It was recently suggested to me that I consider transitioning to an industry more inviting than real estate. While the suggestion was well-meant, it reminded me that, unlike most industry folks, my interest in real estate is rooted in an ambition to have the greatest positive impact I can on people and the planet. With the possible exception of agriculture (my backup industry), no industry impacts the way humans live and interface with the planet more than real estate. I hope I’ve explained in my writing that that interface is seriously messed up, and I’m committed to straightening it out. In other words, my work in real estate is far from done, I’m not great at being silenced when things need to be said, and I’m even less great at leaving tasks I start undone…so I soldier on.
In keeping with my return to real estate, I submitted a piece I wrote recently to Strong Towns, which they did today. If you don’t know about Strong Towns, their a media and advocacy group supporting “people across the United States and Canada who are advocating for a radically new way of thinking about the way we build our world.” That’s me! It is one of my favorite urbanism and planning publications and organizations and worth exploring.
The piece Strong Towns published —“How Modern America Is Optimized for Loneliness, Misery and Poor Health ”—was already posted here and on Medium. Assuming you read it, I’ll link to my favorite Strong Towns piece, “Fine-Grained vs. Coarse-Grained Urbanism,” which is a great treatise on how and why the real estate industry misses the mark on developing great buildings and cities.
Speaking of reestablishing myself and putting myself back into endeavors I once enjoyed some success in, I am running the Bolder Boulder 10K race Monday. With about 45,000 entrants, BB is one of the country’s (world’s?) biggest races and a cool scene. I have not raced since 2022 and I spent the last several months recovering from a hamstring injury, so I won’t be setting any personal bests. Nevertheless, my entry back into the pack feels symbolically significant. Wish me luck on both endeavors!
Song of the day