every walk is a sort of crusade
I started this book on Sunday and finished it last night. I know it’s a young adult novel geared towards the Twihard generation, but I was actually pretty surprised about that after I learned the premise. Thought it was a little dark for that demographic.
But if you’re looking for something to fly through that you won’t be able to put down, read this immediately. It’s good.
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Morning glories next to the squash and zinnias in the tomatoes. Makes for a colorful garden.
Speaking of tomatoes, we are overflowing with them, and they have been enormous and delicious (Paul is on a mission to can some tomato sauce…I’ll let you know how that goes). But we have had issues with our veggies getting eaten by bugs and small animals. Yesterday I came across this:
This tomato is bigger than my fist, and that is no small bite. My first reaction was holy crap, that is a big animal that’s eating our produce…a possum maybe? Meth rat? And then…
Figures. I guess it’s a lot easier than stealing his favorite baby carrots from the fridge.
…and on a similar note to the previous post…
Steelhead 70.3 is this coming weekend. All those months of training are finally coming to an end and I am TAPERING! After Nashville, I am only slightly less terrified than I look in the above picture that I might crumple up in a heap and die halfway through the run. Paul and I are driving up on Friday night, I’ll be doing all race-related reporting here.
I effing hate race pictures.
If you’re bored today, check out Diana Nyad‘s progress as she attempts the 103-mile swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage (they have a kind of electrical shark-guarding field that surrounds her during the swim, but apparently it doesn’t work for certain types of shark, so she also has a team of “shark divers” to distract any sharks that go after her. Uhh…) She jumped in at 7:45pm ET yesterday, the swim is expected to take about 60 hours. She’s 61.
Track her progress on the swim here.
Update: She didn’t make it. After 29 hours she voluntarily quit, and exited the water vomiting (uhh…good call on calling it quits). Props to her for going for it.
Actually, from my parent’s garden. Thank you, Dad.
Somerset Maugham once wrote that in each shave lies a philosophy. I couldn’t agree more. No matter how mundane some action might appear, keep at it long enough and it becomes a contemplative, even meditative act.
I LOVED Kafka on the Shore, so was pretty excited when I found out Murakami had written a book about running.
Honestly, I had a little trouble getting into it…and it never really picked up speed (pun intended). He hit a few points that rang true (like the above), but overall kind of disappointing. Bummer. But it was short, so no harm done. I’ll go back for more Murakami…but maybe no more autobiographical accounts.
Non-deadly? OK.
Turns out: New job + Old jobs + Training + Paul out of town = Blog fail.
Did a few races the past 2 months. To spare you from pages of details that you don’t care about anyway, here are a few haikus to fill you in.
USMS 15K Relay National Championship (5K Open Water Swim)
Poor Buoy Placement
Can Make For Frustrating Swim
In Indiana
Markey Race for Women’s Cancer (Sprint Triathlon)
Thunder And Lightning
Cannot Stop Us From Racing
In Our Wet Clothing
4th of July Bluegrass 10K (10K Run)
Fun To Run Fast In
The Bluegrass But Blisters Sting
Go America
Music City Tri (Olympic Distance Triathlon)
Nashville Has Hills
Do I Still Like Triathlon?
Heat Stroke Feels Like Death
For full race reports (if you really want them), go here.
Books, books, books…
This Is Where I Leave You by Johnathan Tropper
GREAT BOOK. Really entertaining, parts of it are hilarious (though the subject matter is anything but…death, infidelity, being stuck in a house with your family for 7 days…) I haven’t read any of his stuff before, but will check out some other novels. Definitely worth a read.
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson
I know, everyone and their mother has already read this. Good airplane book. Plot driven, exciting, much better than the first (which I thought was kind of slow in the beginning), though it did get kind of…ridiculous?…toward the end. (Like…SPOILER ALERT: A giant man with superhuman strength and exceptionally strong bones that are impossible to break who also has a strange disorder where he feels no pain. Really?) But still a fun read. Have been told I should read the third one soon, so it’s on my list.
Baking soda can expire.
Rambulatory Ambulatory 