Category: Books

Running
I only ran 47 miles in November. This is due to my stress fracture. I have run 864 miles for the year. I should easily be over 900 by the end of the year, but I probably won’t make my goal of 1000. I am taking one more week off for my foot before I attempt to run again. I am still doing other strength training and aerobic exercises to keep fit and healthy. I just should not run right now.

Reading
The goal was to read 800 pages per month. I have been missing it most of the year, but I am getting pretty close. This month was 767 pages. I have picked up several new books recently. I hope I can get to all of them soon. I have a huge pile of books on my “to be read” pile.

Running
I have to run 83 miles a month to reach my goal of 1000 miles for the year. In the month of October I ran 93 miles. I made up 10 of the miles that I was behind this month. I am still about 12 miles behind for the year, but that should easily be made up. I ran 16 days this month which works out to running every other day.

I did this thing called a marathon. That was a first time event for me. Believe it or not, that is the reason I got behind on my goal. I had stuck to a training plan that did not pad in any extra miles. If I missed a run one week it put me behind. Of course there were the 30+ mile weeks which helped make up the losses.

The longest break I took this month was a stretch of 3 days. It was good to take that time off. This came shortly after the marathon. I began to have some sharp foot pain 2 days after the race. I believe I have a stress fracture in one of the bones along the right side of my right foot. I had been on my feet a lot leading up to and a week after my race. I began to take a high dosage of anti-inflammatory medicine and calcium (as per my personal nurse’s instructions). Those 3 non-running days were also travel days. I was able to stay off my feet completely. I did not experience any of the sharp pain shortly after that time off my feet. I did a hard run though and felt a twinge and the pain instantly returned. I have been nursing it the last week and have been able to keep the pain at bay. Running motion does not seem to hurt the foot, but walking does.

Reading
I had fallen way behind in my reading. Since this is a month to month goal, I have not let it bother me that I missed the goal of 800 pages in the past. I know that each month I get to start with a clean slate.

I again missed the goal, but was much closer this time around. I read 748 pages in the month of October. Most of the reading was done early in the month. I actually have read a bit more than that, but one of the books I am currently reading is in the car. So I am not able to get an accurate page count. I am only about 20 pages into it. I will put that onto next month’s count.

I read Dean Karnazes’ 50/50 and Joe Kurmaskie’s Metal Cowboy. Those were both fun and easy to read books. I am reading a Hardy Boys book too. I read a book called Hostage about the 3 New Tribes Mission’s missionaries who were taken by Colombian Guerrillas in the 90s. It was everything I dislike about an autobiography. It was written by one of the wives. Content was great, but I did not like the presentation. I am also reading J Vernon McGee’s commentary on the book of Revelation. <sarcasm>Now there’s some easy reading</sarcasm>.

Just 2 months to go to finish up the year. I am very pleased with being able to keep up with the goals. Previously I had never tried to push myself on reading. I just read when I felt inspired to do so. Having a goal has kept me reading consistently. The fact that I have missed my goal at least lets me know that I have at least been working toward it.

50/50: Secrets I learned while running 50 marathons in 50 days, Dean Karnazes’ second book about running that I have read. The first one was Ultramarathon Man which was basically race reports strung together to give a history of his running life. 50/50, while different from the first in many ways, still has the same passion of someone telling a story, yet teaching lessons as he goes along.

The first couple of chapters are narratives about how the idea of running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days came about and how the first few races went. Scattered in the narrative are tips and tricks he learned in his running career that a new runner could benefit from. A few chapters into the book the amount of narrative and teaching switch roles. He begins to spend much more time talking about running and preparing yourself for your first marathon than telling details of each marathon run during the event.

The style of the work is exactly what I like in a book. The chapters are short. He focuses on one main theme for each chapter. He relates the events in an enjoyable, east-to-read, style. And since I love biographies and non-fiction of just about any kind, the interweaving of race reports with training guide is exactly what appeals to me.

Whatever you think about Dean and his shameless self promotion, you have to admit that there are many more people enjoying the sport of running because of Dean Karnazes. I was a runner before I ever heard of Karno, but the idea of pushing towards running my first marathon, and hopefully many ultras in the future, can be traced back to Ultramarathon Man.

I highly recommend this book for newer runners and marathoners. While more experienced runners may enjoy the story behind the 50/50 event, I don’t know if they will get as much out of the book as a newer runner will.

I will add the same disclaimer to this as I did on Ultramarathon Man: there is some profanity in the book which is unnecessary and dissappointing Therefore I caution readers about buying it for younger runners.

I want to thank Steve at Run Bulldog Run for having the drawing in which I won the book. Also I thank the publisher for overnighting a copy of the book to me the day they learned my first copy was lost in the mail.