I'm proud to announce that "Wookie Runs America"--a short film I put together that summarizes, in 4.5 minutes, my 45-day national park running road trip--is an official selection at this year's Trail Running Film Festival!

I'd always envisioned putting together a video capturing the natural wonders I saw on my trip. So as soon as I finished my trip, I began this process. But given my new job and my lack of experience with any sort of serious video editing, there were several moments where I almost scrapped the project. After almost a year of on-and-off work, I've put together something that I'm proud of and will cherish forever. To think that I'll also be a part of the Trail Running Film Festival--the road tour of which I've attended for the past few years--is icing on the cake. And I'm also a Semi-Finalist for Best Amateur Short--which is a second layer of icing!

I'm hoping to make my way out to Seattle in a couple weeks for the 3-day film festival (my film screens Saturday afternoon), where I'll see "Wookie Runs America" on a big screen.

Here, without further ado, is "Wookie Runs America":

On August 28, 2015, I set out to run America. For 45 days, I drove the country. Each day, I had one goal: Find an epic trail, and run.

[Note: I still have a gigantic backlog of posts that I've been meaning to write up. I also have a very important story to tell about one of the most significant events in my life (believe it or not, it does not involve this trip). That has been in the works for a while, and I'll still need more time to tell it completely. I'll probably think about scrapping it a few times. But, as with "Wookie Runs America"--and as with any ultramarathon I run--I know I'll eventually get to the finish.]