Reading List

Made it back to Dallas and already miss things I'd forgotten that I missed about home.  The trip was so wonderful.  I have several Reverb posts in the works and will probably just publish them as I finish them, like Bella does, instead of doing one long post with several.  I'm hung up on the one doing a letter to myself in 5 years, which is fun but time-consuming! 

I can't post much about running.  I did 8 treadmill miles at my brother's gym on Monday last week.  Then 9.3 at my folks' gym on Wed., then 8.1 at their gym on Thurs, and I got a blister on the arch of my right foot, and that put an end to the running (though I was going to take off on Fri and Sat anyway).  But yesterday instead of running, I just did some biking and then some lazy exercises and weights over the course of a couple hours at the gym -- don't think I even broke a sweat. 

The blister happened because I was wearing old shoes.  Hubby and I decided at one point to leave older running shoes at houses that we frequently visit.  The shoes I have up north are great for a few miles, but don't hold up well with some more miles over a few days.  I could feel the blister starting to form on my foot, so I called it quits on Thursday on the treadmill.  When I got home, I was afraid to look at it -- bigger than I expected, about nickel-sized.  I put a blister band-aid on it and haven't taken it off yet.  It's on my right foot at the part of the arch nearing my toes.  It doesn't hurt anymore, but I've laid off the running just to be safe.

The work-out part of being home was fun.  I was at the gym each of the four days I went for more than 2 hours each time.  I'll admit that on two of the days, I spent an hour on the bike each day and that barely counted as working out.  I had a book I was reading and wanted to finish it, so I just set the bike at level 6 and pedalled leisurely, usually my rpms seemed to be in the low 60s.  But when I got timed out by the bike after an hour on Thursday, I had less than 3 pages left of my book, so I kind of stood by the bike, leaning over the book on the seat and stretching.  Reading and working out was a very fun change of pace for me!

So I thought it might be fun to post about what I'm reading or just finished over break (one I had to read, two I choose to read):

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.  Had to read for book club and found out on the plane that it was the second book in a trilogy, and of course I haven't read the first.  The book is kind of teen-fiction style and it was a quick and interesting read, but I felt somewhat lost and then was disappointed by the ending (basically, if I want closure, I'll have to read the third book).  It's set in the future and is the story about this young woman who has to fight in something like a survival Olympics to the death. 

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed.  My choice and I'm only about 1/3 of the way into it.  Very interesting!  It's described as an economic history (non-fiction), so far largely about what led to the failures of the European central banking systems in the early 1900s and the perils of the gold standard.  Pretty much can't wait to get back to reading it! 

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall.  Another fun non-fiction book.  About the author's quest to resolve his own foot pain by studying the Tarahumara Indians and their ultra-running success.  Includes some stories about races like the Leadville 100, where the Tarahumara competed, and then a race set up by the "Caballo Blanco" to pit the Tarahumara against elite ultra-runners on the Tarahumara's home turf. 

So those are the pages I'm currently turning.