Welcome. I have gone back and forth over the years on what exactly I wanted to do for something like this. The last few years have been some of the most eye opening times in my life. I can probably attribute the clarity to a few things:

One being age – the older I’ve become the more I realize what in my life holds more value and meaning than what doesn’t.

Another is my kids – watching them grow up and realizing the norm for how life is supposed to play out isn’t exactly the way I think it should be. I can chalk that one up to the non-conformist within my soul.

While it’s not the final one, getting into ultra running holds a lot of weight in this transformation as well, and ties directly into the timeline of the most recent few years..

This isn’t an exhaustive list, but merely one that I feel holds the most weight of a potentially long list of items. Within this time I have spent a lot of it mulling over what “it” all means. I’ve dug into purpose only to come up empty because well, life has a funny way of just pulling you out of focus. We all have bills to pay and sometimes a thought about purpose doesn’t necessarily fulfill the requirements of day to day life. Thinking deeper into it, maybe I can’t find purpose because everything else going out blocks out the ability to search? Interesting thought that maybe I should dive deeper into.

I have dug into passion a few different ways and what I felt the true sense of it was. As it turns out I’m passionate about a lot of things. Sometimes all at once, sometimes for a little bit, and sometimes off and on. Writing is a very real example of this.

That doesn’t make for a very steady money making job if you ask me. I’m sure the reader can relate to this. It’s my belief that “hustle culture” has taught us to try and monetize our passions all while trying to just get by in life. I can tell you first hand that this can lead to severe burnout and sense of hatred towards a once loved thing.

Simply put, balancing real world responsibilities while trying to monetize a passion becomes a real recipe for burnout and overall distaste for said passion.

Through this though one thing has stood out and continues to be an anchor in my life and that is the written word. Even then, I find it hard to to be consistent with because there are times when I will find myself simply complaining on paper and not doing anything about it, instead of really diving into something that I want to write. That creates some turnoff and disassociation around writing and can be a bit before I want to pick it back up. I have noticed that this tends to be the case more around journaling than just trying to focus on a simple topic to write about. The latter of the two is the tough one for me.

Yet, one big realization in the last 3 years is that I am an artist at heart. Not in the painting sense, but the creative sense. For me this translates into things like thoughts, philosophy, writing, vlogs, blogs, etc. Another aspect of this is problem solving in a creative sense, with something like craftsmanship or building.

With that, I give you ‘Built by Distance’ – a space dedicated to exploring and talking about all these things but in particular – training, discipline, health, mental health, life, family, and one of my favorite, philosophy.

The goal with all this is to tell these stories honestly, without filter, to discuss the “why’s” of running, discipline, writing, and why all of it even matters. I hope to find more of myself along the way too. Maybe I can’t find purpose reignite that passion or find a purpose within all of it.

As the reader, please don’t ever hesitate to reach out about any questions or thoughts or even if there’s something in particular you’d like to hear about!

For now you can reach me at bchead@gmail.com until I get something in relation to this site as it grows.

All the best,

Brandon Head