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By kilax, February 22, 2018 6:23 am

• Has anyone seen “Black Panther”? We were going to go last weekend, but every theater was sold out (of seats we’d sit in, anyway)! We have tickets to see it next Tuesday. I’m looking forward to it!
• I got a bit emotional yesterday at the end of the day with my detail coworkers hugging me and wishing me the best and telling me they didn’t want me to go! Thanks for reading my whining about work over the last few months. I know things will be fine, but I also need a place to express my frustration. So, thanks again!
• I picked up Dietland by Sarai Walker in the discount bin at the bookstore last week and have been enjoying it! It’s fiction, the story of Plum Kettle, an obese woman biding her time until she can have weight loss surgery. But she ends up meeting some people who challenge the way she’s been living her life and lead her to question why SHE has to change. It’s not all “ra ra, everyone is beautiful,” but more “you don’t have to conform to society’s norms.”  There’s also a subplot of a “dangerous guerrilla group terrorizing the world that mistreats women.” <— overall awesome description from, me, per usual, ha. It’s not my typical read, but I’m glad I picked it up! I’ll read The Wild Truth next. And P.S. I should really get a library card.

• How does March start next week? This month has flown by! I really need to focus on my nutrition and training in March to get ready for my April 7th 5K. I am looking forward to doing that!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 168

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By kilax, January 12, 2018 7:38 am

I received all of these books as gifts, except Life’s Too Short To Go So F*cking Slow, which I bought myself.

What Made Maddy Run is about Madison Holleran, a college freshman and track athlete at University of Pennsylvania, whose death by suicide was a horrible shock to her loved ones and the college community. This story began as a column written by Kate Fagan for espnW, then Fagan developed it in to a book.

The book discusses Holleran’s story, Fagan’s story (she also struggled as a freshman college athlete), the pressure on young people, and suicide. I was mostly interested in Holleran’s story, not so much the author’s (ha, sorry), and found the insight on social media’s effect on young people (and everyone!) to be very interesting.

I struggled with keeping interest in some of the pages when it was copies of texts or chats, but other than that, the book held my interest. I recommend it! It leaves you with a lot to think about.

Life’s Too Short To Go So F*cking Slow is the story of Susan Lacke and her friend Carlos. In the beginning of the book, Lacke has just moved to Arizona as a newlywed, works at a university, and does not have her sh*t together. She is greatly intimidated by her boss, Carlos, who’s an orderly, hardass Ironman athlete.

One day Carlos tells her she is going to join him swimming the next day, and she goes. And keeps going. And becomes interested in swimming, cycling, then running. Eventually she starts doing triathlons. Carlos keeps pushing her, and doesn’t put up with her whiny bullsh*t. They develop a unique relationship that she cherishes. This book documents stories from their years of friendship.

Yeah, that’s a horrible description, ha, but this read was super quick and enjoyable! I finished it in just a few hours. If you like relationship stories, you’ll like this.

I saw an interview with Louise Green in Bicycling Magazine, and I enjoyed it, and it mentioned her book, Big Fit Girl, so I put it on my wishlist without looking it to it too much. Oops. I was hoping it would be more story-based, but it seems more like a “rah rah, love your body”/inspirational kind of book, with some reference information in it, and it’s not for me. I didn’t get very far.

Something similar happened with Race Everything by Bart Yasso. I tried to read it, but it was too reference-y, with lots of training plans, and tips, and not very much story telling (although there is some!). I think I should be reading Yasso’s book My Life on the Run, instead. Again, my bad!

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By kilax, December 28, 2017 6:23 am

• A lot of my holiday wishlist was books and I am excited to have a stack to read! I’ve started with What Made Maddy Run.

• It’s so cold here, that the door hinges inside the house have frost on them. Ha. (That may be because this door isn’t insulated for crap, though.) It’s been in the negative digits (with colder windchills) when we wake up. I am happy to report Snow’s house is in the 40s on the first level, and in the 80s on the second level!

• I signed up for my goal 5K in April! My older brother said he and some of his family may do it too. Yay!
• I’ve been having a lot of fun at all the holiday (and other!) celebrations, but now I am a bit socialized out! My brain can’t seem to make much more conversation. I am looking forward to a quiet New Year’s Eve!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 160

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By kilax, August 24, 2016 6:21 am

Well, that was a quick, easy and FUN read!

I like to browse the iTunes “Top Songs” lists to get music ideas. I can’t remember if it was the “Dance” or “Electronic” list I was browsing when I first came across Lindsey Stirling but I was hooked. She’s a violinist with a high energy electronic (not classical) style. Her music is upbeat and addictive – I find myself playing many of her songs on repeat, especially during runs. I downloaded her entire second album and a few songs off her first album after I first “discovered” her, and listened to her music only, on many of my long training runs last summer and fall. I also had all of her songs on my Dallas Marathon playlist.

When I saw she was coming out with a third album I pre-ordered it on iTunes and was delighted with each of the three single releases (and especially excited when the entire album was released last Friday  – what a great surprise to wake up to*).  I felt like I didn’t know much about her as an artist, other than she was on America’s Got Talent, so I decided to read her wikipedia page,. And that’s where I saw she published a memoir, The Only Pirate at the Party, in January. Why read wikipedia when I can read that?! Oh yeah, here’s where I mention I bought this book myself and all that. No one is sponsoring this post or paying me to write this. 

Stirling split the book in to three sections – childhood, working to become an artist, and stories about the entertainment industry. All of the chapters were short and themed (meaning they had a specific point) – which I appreciated! It was so nice to just breeze through this book!

So, I had no idea she’s Mormon. Or has two adopted (although they don’t want to be called that) siblings (along with two sisters). Or that she got her “big break” on YouTube. Or struggled with an eating disorder. Or is a bit of a control freak who had a hard time letting go of doing ALL the work after she was able to afford assistance. The book was full of information and fun stories and I LOVED it.

A lot of the book ends up being about being true to yourself – even if you are “the only pirate at the party.” Besides discussing finding her place as a unique performer – an electronic, dancing violinist! – she also talks about being true to her values (modesty, no drinking/drugs, etc.) in the performance industry. And how to continue to believe in yourself when people are unnecessarily cruel.

The book makes her sound like someone who would be a lot of fun to hang out with – a fun-loving (and really hard-working) goofball. And the fact that she’s made a Star Wars tribute video (not mentioned in the book, but I’ve watched it) makes me like her even more. Now, to go to a concert and see her in person! Sigh, the next one in Chicagoland is during a busy time for me and I can’t make the Milwaukee show. Maybe I can make the Chicagoland one work!

*I am not digging the singing collaborations much on this album though. I guess I just want to hear her play! I bet those songs will grow on me as I listen to them more.

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By kilax, August 20, 2016 6:28 am

For my birthday, Gina gave me a copy* of Run the World, the recently published memoir documenting elite athlete Becky Wade’s one-year post-college grant-funded journey across the world she took in 2012/2013 to study different running cultures.

How’s that for a mouthful? Ha.

After graduating from Rice University in 2012, and wanting adventure before pursuing a professional running career, Becky Wade traveled to different countries to experience their running culture. Her travels were funded by the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which is awarded each year to forty graduating college seniors to travel the world to do research in their field of interest.

Wade’s travels included:

• England (during the 2012 Summer Olympics)
• Ireland
• Switzerland
• Ethiopia
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Japan
• Sweden
• Finland
• and more!

In each location, she housed with locals (some being local expats), sometimes staying for a long weekend, and sometimes staying for weeks. Overall, she stayed in seventy-two different beds! And, ran over 3,500 miles during her year of travels!

Her goal during the trip was to study the nuances of the training styles of the area she was in, and overall, to compare them all to one another (and ultimately, it seems, see what works best for her). For example, she learned that the Ethiopians (and some Kenyans she ran with in England) tend to do a very long warmup before their workout, rarely wear a watch, run on technical trails as much as possible, and have no idea how many miles they’ve run. The Japanese, in contrast, are very focused on running high mileage all of the time (and tracking it), but also take their recovery and relaxation process very seriously (with public baths and acupuncture).

Wade also focuses on food and shares a local recipe at the end of each chapter. She is surprised to learn that Ethiopians fare so well on a very high carb diet, when Americans are still in a “carbs are bad!!!” phase. One of her great pleasures during her travels is trying all of the local foods, which was interesting to read about.

Those are just small examples (that you were probably already aware of, ha), but the book really does give insight to the state of running where she is traveling, which I enjoyed. I’m not sure I’ll ever get to run in these places, so it was fun to imagine what it was like, as I was reading (and to look up the places she was talking about on google maps, and later, look at photos on her blog).

I did find some of the writing hard to focus on – her writing style didn’t always click for me, and I felt a bit distracted while reading this – but it got better as I got further in to it.

And man, she mentions the 2016 Summer Olympics a TON, which was awkward, knowing that she didn’t get to participate in them! But the book ends on a uplifting note – her marathon debut, and win, at the 2013 California International Marathon.

I love memoirs (because I am so nosy?) so I enjoyed reading this, and recommend it! Traveling the world for the year to explore running cultures sounds like a major treat, and reading about it was a treat, as well.

*This is my way of telling you that this is not a sponsored post

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By kilax, July 11, 2016 6:23 am

I bought this book on Amazon with my own money, and paid for Steven’s digital copy on iTunes.

Steven and I both took copies of Shoe Dog, a memoir by Nike creator Phil Knight, with us to Alaska to read while on the plane. Book club for two!

The book chapters are set up by year, from 1962 to 1980 – starting with when Knight left home in his early 20s to travel the world, including a trip to Japan to propose his idea to Onitsuka Tiger Shoes to sell them in the US – to the founding of Nike and some of the first issues they faced. The book is full of vivid descriptions of the places Knight visits, the people in his life, and especially, the business obstacles he faced, on his journey toward creating Nike.

I figured I’d like the book because of the running aspect of it, and since it’s a memoir – I really enjoy memoirs. And I figured Steven would like the book for the business aspects. And, yep – those are both the parts we liked best!

I did find myself feeling a bit impatient reading the book – “When is it going to become Nike already?!” The company was called Blue Ribbon Sports while Knight was importing and selling the Japanese shoes – before they had their own shoe made and called Nike. And then, when it got to the Nike part, I wanted more! Ha – I need memoir part II, after 1980.

But overall, I was shocked and enthralled by what I was reading. I didn’t understand the big picture of how Nike came about before reading this. Or know how rocky of a start Blue Ribbon Sports had (which really, is how it is for most businesses – it’s been fun to talk to Steven about the business part of the book and compare it to his business).

I loved reading how passionate Knight was about making sports shoes that performed well, and how he wanted more people to know the joy of running. I did know about Bill Bowerman using his wife’s waffle iron to make shoe soles, but I didn’t realize he was the main innovator, and reading about his and Knight’s relationship is very interesting.

It was strange to read about Nike’s struggle (at first) to get big name athletes to wear their shoes – since that is what A LOT of athletes wear now (shoes AND clothes), and since there has been some controversy about their shoes/clothes at track and field events. Again, it made me want to learn more about how the company grew so much after all the events in the book. There is a bit written in current times, but, I guess it wasn’t enough for me!

I also didn’t realize that the company Knight was selling in the US, Onitsuka Tiger, merged with two other companies in 1977 to form Asics (which is what I wear). Ha. The more you know, right?! Steven suggested I take a photo of the book with running shoes for this blog post, but I don’t own any Nike running shoes (I do have Nike sandals!) and it would be WRONG to put my Asics in a photo with this book (um, since they didn’t have the friendliest end to their business relationship)!

I can see myself reading this again – and I highly recommend it as a quick, interesting read! I’m looking forward to discussing it with Gina when I see her in a few weeks, because she’s read it as well! Book club for three!

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By kilax, January 12, 2016 4:44 am

I received this book as a holiday gift from my father-in-law, and liked it so much I want to share my thoughts here. This isn’t a sponsored post.

Yay! I actually finished a book in a normal amount of time (two weeks) – which means I can cohesively comprehend what I read! Ha ha.

How Bad Do You Want It?, by Matt Fitzgerald, is about how endurance athletes can learn to cope with discomfort and stress while performing, to achieve their best results. The book is heavily focused on the psychobiological model of endurance performance – that the mind and body are deeply connected, with the mind being in charge (as opposed to previous models which believed endurance performance was mostly biological, not psychological).

Well, that makes sense, right? Our brain runs everything! But it’s more than that – it’s the concept that in order to become a better endurance athlete, it’s NOT so much actual effort you have to learn to deal with, but perception of effort – how your brain reacts to what you are doing. Only then, can you push yourself further and further to your limits.

IF you want to. I mean, the title of the book is “how bad do you want it?”!!! I know I’ve been in races and given up toward the end, deciding I didn’t want what I was going for (and truly not being upset about it). I’ve been beaten out of first place (in age group and overall) by less than 10 seconds a few times and said to myself – “yeah, she wanted it more than me and she worked for it, good for her!”

But… what about when you DO actually want it bad enough to go for it?! This has happened to me as well (thankfully, ha) where I had my mind so set on something that I pushed for it and got there – and if it’s happened to you, you know it’s one of the best feelings in the world! This book is about how to achieve that.

The book is twelve chapters – an introduction and conclusion, and ten chapters in between, each one going over a different coping (with the pain of working hard) mechanism, using anecdotes about endurance athletes from the past forty or so years.

I like that it was anecdotal. Stories tend to stick with me – I remember the examples from them better than reading straight up research. And each chapter does have a lot of research in it – but sandwiched between the story (each chapter seemed to start with the story build up, then there’d be the research-y/science-y stuff, then you’d get the conclusion to the story, after).

I did NOT like the goofy analogy throughout the whole book of endurance training being like a fire walk – you know, when people walk on hot coals. That’s just not relatable to me. It felt cheesy and forced.

I also thought it was funny that Pre is on the cover, but he is not even brought up until the final chapter! I was getting worried he wasn’t going to be in there at all!

But the book was definitely effective. Since reading it, I’ve already thought to myself during workouts, “how bad do I want this?” to push myself a bit more. I think I’ll review each chapter’s “coping mechanism” and my highlighted notes from time to time, to see if I am retaining what I read… and if I am using it!

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