I still remember the first time I discovered my dad's old guitar in the front closet of our home in Geneva, Illinois. A 1972 Guild D-25. There was something intoxicating about it. The warm, woody smell of mahogany, the bright blue velvety interior of the case, the bandana tied around it serving as a makeshift handle. I was captivated. I didn't know much about guitars at the time, but I knew there was something special about that one.
More than three decades later, my fascination with music and acoustic guitars hasn't faded much.
I've never particularly liked describing music as a hobby. That feels too recreational. I'm certainly not a professional musician, but playing guitar and appreciating beautifully crafted instruments have become part of who I am. I can't imagine my life without them.
It's only been in the last handful of years that running has come to occupy a similar place. Hobby? I suppose. But that description doesn't feel quite right anymore either.
So when I stumbled across an episode of Ten Junk Miles featuring Jason Verlinde of The Fretboard Journal, I was delighted to find two rather consuming interests of mine sharing the same conversation.
For those unfamiliar, The Fretboard Journal is a quarterly publication devoted to guitars, music, and the people who make both. But it's a very different animal from the guitar magazines I grew up reading. You won't find much in the way of breathless gear reviews or lists of equipment you supposedly can't live without. Instead, you'll find thoughtful writing, remarkable photography, and stories that frequently have as much to do with the people behind the instruments as the instruments themselves.
It's the sort of magazine you keep.
Jason helped launch the Journal more than twenty years ago, and has managed to sustain an ambitious print publication through an era that hasn't been especially kind to print publishing. There's something admirable about that. Particularly when the product itself reflects such an obvious appreciation for things made carefully, by people who care deeply about their work.
As it turns out, Jason also runs ultramarathons.
In April 2025, he joined Scotty Kummer on Ten Junk Miles to talk about the magazine, his life in music, and his first 100K. I had been familiar with Jason's work for years, but I had no idea he was also spending his free time running absurd distances through the woods.
I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised.
There is a certain personality that seems drawn to these pursuits. I'm not sure I can adequately describe it, but I recognize it. An inclination to become thoroughly absorbed in something, to care about details that probably seem inconsequential to everyone else, and to devote an unreasonable amount of time to getting incrementally better at something that offers no particular promise of reward.
I certainly recognize some of that in myself.
Of course, playing an acoustic guitar and running a 100K are very different undertakings. I wouldn't suggest otherwise. But both have a way of becoming more important to a person than anyone looking in from the outside might reasonably understand.
I've spent countless hours listening to running podcasts over the last few years, and probably just as many reading about guitars and the people who build them. Those interests rarely overlap, which made this conversation such an enjoyable discovery.
If you have an interest in either running or acoustic guitars, I'd encourage you to give it a listen. And if, like me, you've somehow managed to develop a rather serious affection for both, I suspect you'll particularly enjoy it.