Tattered Cover is pleased to welcome Mark and Travis Macy, Patrick Regan, and Dr. Annie Fenn to our Colfax location on April 3rd at 6pm. They will be discussing Mark, Travis, and Patrick's new book, A Mile at a Time: A Father and Son's Inspiring Alzheimer's Journey of Love, Adventure, and Hope and Dr. Fenn's new cookbook, The Brain Health Kitchen: Preventing Alzheimer’s Through Food! This event is free to the public and no ticket is required for entry.
ABOUT A MILE AT A TIME
An inspiring memoir about a father and son entering World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji despite one of them battling Alzheimer’s.
“Travis and Mace have touched a generation of families around the world with their courage, resilience and kindness.”
--Bear Grylls, star of Man vs. Wild and host of World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji
“Watching Mark and Travis Macy compete together for Eco-Challenge Fiji was a true inspiration. Travis’s selfless act of taking his father on what may be his last race is a story that anyone can relate to and what we need more of these days.”
--Mark Burnett, chairman of MGM Worldwide Television Group; creator and producer of Survivor, The Apprentice, and World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji
In October 2018, Mark “Mace” Macy, sixty-four years old, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Mace had spent thirty years competing in Colorado and around the world in ultra-endurance competitions and is one of the few people who have finished all eight Eco-Challenge events. Once diagnosed, Mace feared losing endurance, strength, and independence.
Mace's son Travis, also a professional endurance athlete, also struggled to see his father battling the disease. In 2019 they decided to participate in World's Toughest Race—a seven-day, grueling 400-mile marathon of trekking, climbing, biking, and paddling through the jungle—for one final race together.
Weaving excerpts from Mace's passionate personal journals alongside a first-person narrative by Travis, A Mile at a Time tells the story of this incredible journey and what both father and son learned along the way.
A powerful story about living—and thriving—with a disease that impacts nearly six million Americans. This timely, and deeply moving father-son adventure sheds light on the hard truths of this disease while giving readers hope of all that still can be achieved.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Finisher of over 130 ultra-endurance events in 17 countries, Travis Macy is a speaker, author, coach, and record-setting professional endurance athlete. Travis leads authentically to empower others to make the most of their lives. He is the author of The Ultra Mindset: An Endurance Champion's 8 Core Principles for Success in Business, Sports, and Life. He also wrote the text for two photo books about adventure racing: Adventure Racing World Championship Scotland and Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge 2009. A sponsored professional athlete for twenty years, Travis Macy has represented a variety of industry leaders, including Merrell, Salomon, Spyder, Nike, Eastern Mountain Sports, Osprey, Hoka One, Ultimate Direction, Zanfel, and Nemo Equipment.
Travis’s father, Mark "Mace" Macy, was a successful trial lawyer for decades and retired as a partner from his Denver law firm in late 2016. He is also a well-known and long-lived figure in the endurance sports world. “Mace'” and his contemporaries pioneered ultra-running (defined as races of 50 kilometers to more than 100 miles) in the 1980s. In the 90s he did the same for adventure racing: grueling team events requiring everything from rope climbing to trail running, mountain biking, white-water rafting and even camel riding. One of a few athletes to participate in eight Eco-Challenge adventure races from 1995 to 2002, he is the only person to compete in this extreme adventure race (in 2019) after having been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. As best as can be ascertained, he is one of the few athletes to officially compete in any sanctioned ultra-distance event after having received such a diagnosis.
Cowriter Patrick Regan is the author of biography, history, humor, lifestyle and children’s books, and he has collaborated with a long list of artists, athletes, humorists, and photographers. Titles include Dog Is My Copilot, No Other Home (with professional soccer player Matt Besler), Flipping Brilliant: A Penguin’s Guide to Happy Life, and Hallmark: A Century of Caring. Patrick has also worked as a freelance editor and manuscript doctor and writes books for a wide range of private clients including corporations, foundations, and institutions.
ABOUT THE BRAIN HEALTH KITCHEN
“Though packed with solid science, the book isn’t dense reading; [Fenn] dishes up the data and information in easily digestible bites.” —Seattle Times
A physician and chef identifies the top ten brain-smart ingredients and shows that eating to maintain brain health is easy, accessible, delicious, and necessary for everyone.
The foods we choose to eat (or not) sit at the core of the Alzheimer’s epidemic. In The Brain Health Kitchen, readers will learn exactly how making the right choices about the foods we select and cook, and how we eat them, can keep our brains younger, sharper, more vibrant, and much less prone to dementia.
Scientific studies show that there are ten foods with powerful neuroprotective properties. None should come as a surprise—leafy greens, whole grains, berries, fatty fish, beans and lentils, olive oil, and more have been touted for their health-giving benefits since researchers put a name to the Mediterranean diet. But Dr. Annie Fenn takes a much more targeted approach, beginning with 100 recipes that incorporate brain-healthy foods into every meal of the day.
From Caramelized Apple and Quinoa Pancakes for breakfast to Mushroom and White Bean Socca for lunch to dinners like Miso-Glazed Cod with Rice and Gingery Green Beans and Marinated Steak with Warm Kale Salad and Sweet Potatoes, here are dishes that are simply delicious, regardless of their health-boosting effects. Same with the desserts, like Coffee, Date, and Oat Bars.
Readers will also learn other strategies for creating a brain-friendly dietary pattern, including choosing meats that fuel instead of harm; understanding the nuances between “good” and “bad” fats; embracing methods that preserve nutrients, such as braising and steaming; making sure to drink the right beverages; and addressing holistic issues like how diverse your food choices are and how beneficial it is to share meals with family and friends.
Shifting to and sticking with a brain healthy diet is your first and best line of defense against the heartbreaking diseases of Alzheimer’s and dementia. And it works for everyone—omnivores, pescatarians, vegetarians and vegans, and the gluten-intolerant.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Annie Fenn is the founder of the Brain Health Kitchen, the only cooking school of its kind focused exclusively on brain health and helping people prevent cognitive decline through food and lifestyle. After 20 years as a board-certified ob-gyn, she traded in her stethoscope for an apron to pursue her passion for the culinary arts. But it was her mother’s diagnosis with early-onset dementia that helped Fenn find her path and her new calling, one that enabled her to not only help her mother but also create significant and meaningful impact for others. Fenn lives in Jackson, Wyoming. This is her first book. Find her on Instagram at @brainhealthkitchen.
