oh, oh, oh, i have the bestest of best news!!!

so like no one will remember this but me, but we talked late in the fall about our favorite books that we read in the fall – and i mentioned “marathon woman” by katherine switzer – and then i check my e-mail this morning and instead of the typical sixth grade parent e-mail questioning my grading sanity:) lo and behold, there’s an reply to my e-mail from the fall from a Katherine Switzer – seems i wrote to the New Zealand account she checks when she’s in New Zealand – which is every six months:)

so, awesome way to begin the week – and, of course, i love her book even more now – as for reading, i got two books on loan this week – one, “once in a lifetime” came from florida – it was about a new york soccer team in the 1970s – they had a glorious three, four years – and then imploded b/c of a myriad of reasons – as a soccer nut (really, running is just a coping thing for the fact that i can’t play soccer anymore:) i loved the book – oh, and as a child of the 1970s, any references to atari are awesome

second book, “boston” came from auburn in montgomery – book about the boston marathon – i just started it – loads of photos – one i thing i learned so far is that the original course, which the course today runs close to, was built to mimic the 1896 olympic marathon in athens – neat trivia

in the world of magazines, i read how the right wing is trying to manipulate the texas education board and its new history book (or that’s at least what the writer in the ny times thought:) i read how europe is trying, again, to save greece’s economy, i read a ton about the olympics (few hockey stories which got me ready for the big win sunday night), read some baseball features (the yankees and the yankees in the japanese league – who are called the giants ironically enough – are both working together) and i finished running times (inspiring story about a 78-year-old who runs daily in a cemetery – creepy)

hope your week is great,
mafeld

yo,
so i finished the half-marathon – two months to boston – five weeks of hard training left – probably all in the freezing rain apparently…

read three-ish books last week – “columbine” – sad book – admired how the kids and the staff fought to regain a sense of control after that tragic event

“last pick” – story of the boston marathon’s race director – dave mccgillvry – very good, can-do spirit of a book – enjoyed his tale of running across america in 1978 (80 days – 3,000-plus miles – very amazing dedication – all for charity too)

“playing for keeps” – story of michael jordan – jordan was incredible when i was growing – even when i was 20-whatever and he was in the last year with the wizards – incredibly driven athlete – and i thought he was a good baseball player too his one year out

read magazines – christianity today said sports are evil, sport illustrated said that athletes are evil (or in the case of peyton manning, not evil enough) – ny times said the olympic committee and canada are evil for making a dangerous luge course – the economist said americans are evil for being so individualistic – it’s all so confusing:)

for the week, i hope to finish the jordan book – beyond that, i hope to finish season four of “how i met your mother” on dvd:)

sincerely,
mafeld

sure,
i could begin by discussing anything and everything else in the world, but i have a one-track mind, and it’s unfortunately tracked towards a date with a half-marathon this weekend in downtown – so thus the title

as for reading, i read “into thin air” by jon krakauer last week – wonderful read – tragic story – group of hikers on everest – 11 died in one day – all were left with scars from the experience – lesson? you can’t tame a mountain, and even the “safest” ways to go can pose problems

got a 1980 book on running over the weekend – it’s been interesting to compare it to current running thinking – one thing is true… there’s only so many ways to write about the experience – and then it’s recycled material unless you can write in a better way (i guess like life – there’s only so many things out there to write about – so good writing does that in a better way)

magazines – read about the us olympic winter games team – read things about the ipad – finished all the way through deuteronomy in the old testament (lots of laws and “be strong and courageous”)

hope your reading week is a good one – i have a couple of books at the library i’m hoping will come in

sincerely,
mafeld

Dear readers,
Howdy!!! I’m sitting around doing not much in eighth period – b/c it’s no fun to teach those kids:) thought I’d jot a line or two about my reading adventures from last week…

“Shooting Stars” – awesome book by LeBron James (he’s a basketball player) and Buzz something – who wrote Friday Night Lights – about LeBron’s high school basketball career – interesting so far as the things that went on and LeBron’s take – like for example, he was suspended at one point for receiving clothing – and got out of it b/c the gift was supposedly b/c he was a good student – hey, i was a good student and didn’t get $800 worth of clothing in high school… anyway, the book was enjoyable – highly recommendable if you can read books with cursing in it…

“Running in Literature” – a book about, surprise, running and stories/poems written on the subject – as always with anthologies, some of the pieces were better than others – enjoyed most the fact that three of the pieces mentioned in detail the boston marathon

“goal” – book i keep in the classroom – soccer player who overcomes adversity to do great things – i have the dvd that the book is adapted to – so now i rewatch the movie since i’ve reread the book – which i had to do before i would allow myself to watch the dvd – the book read quickly – surprised at how much came back to me about it

read my magazines – the economist, newsweek, sports illustrated – not much stands out in my memory – with the Bible, i got through Job and Exodus – i found a verse about running Job – which was cool

suppose that’s the news for now – happy reading

maf