A song sparks a journey into grit, solitude, and what it means to keep moving when the ground shifts under your feet. We sit down with Dick Bjork—husband, father, carpenter, business owner, and ultra runner—whose love for technical trails on Minnesota’s Superior Hiking Trail prepared him for a very different race: living with Parkinson’s. From five-minute miles and family race weekends to the 103-mile grind with 24,000 feet of vert, Dick maps the habits that built his resilience and how those same tools now help him manage balance issues, voice changes, and the mental weight of a progressive disease.
We unpack the unexpected path to diagnosis, why Parkinson’s is far more than a tremor, and how dopamine affects mood, motivation, and everyday decision-making. Dick gives a candid look at identity shifts—what it feels like when a craftsman questions his hands, when a singer misses his voice, and when a social person starts to avoid crowds. He also shares practical, hopeful strategies: the Big Three of exercise, diet, and sleep; waypoint thinking to tackle hard days; and choosing trails, family dinners, and mountain goals that create meaning now instead of someday.
This is an honest, grounded conversation about endurance and adaptation. You’ll hear how to separate dangerous pain from noise, how to build motivation when apathy bites, and how to talk to friends living with Parkinson’s without walking on eggshells. If you’re navigating chronic illness, supporting someone who is, or simply looking for a sturdier way to face hard things, this story offers both compass and company. Subscribe, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the tactic you’re taking into your next hard mile.
