dear readers,
so i ran an 8k yesterday (that’s 4.8 miles for ye non-europeans and non-runners:)

i caught an old guy near the end – then he burst ahead of me – and then he collasped at the finish – and they told us to keep moving (well, it was just the two of us – small race – i promise we weren’t the very last ones:) but people with a job LOVE to issue orders – so they said “keep moving”) – so i went on and ripped my number tag off to go find momma – and the old guy raised his head enough to say “i was ahead of him” – i mean, like it was important and like i needed to follow him home so that he felt ahead the rest of the day… grrr… old people…

other than that marring, and leaving my nook home, it was a wonderful day in the state yesterday – unless you were at auburn – but who goes there anyway…

“how children succeed” by paul tough – wonderful book – i culled plenty of notes to use in class – what i liked most was the chapter on middle school – because the author’s case study was a 30-year-old punk teacher in the bronx who criticizes her chess team constantly – blogs incessantly – worries that she gets it all wrong – and the team superachieves – apparently, telling kids how “wonderful” they are isn’t always the best thing – sometimes, research apparently shows that it’s good to slap them around (okay, metaphorically – sigh…)

i’m now on a superlong book about lady bird johnson – please look up who she is before telling me i shouldn’t read about people named after birds – i’m rather excited about the book for several reasons – probably the primary one just that i’m very weak on female biographies – there aren’t as many of them as men – particularly when much of your reading is football/soccer/running biographies:)

(i do stay away from teacher biographies – because lots of times, those are about women and how much they “love” the kids:)

hope your week is a good one – ye nanowrimo people, have fun

sincerely,

mafeld

so it was a great week – except for the fact that i read a book that basically told me my childhood was a lie:)

“mint condition” by jameison – wonderful, wonderful read about the baseball card industry – the author is about the same age as i, and like i, collected for years – only to wake up in his 20s and discover all of it is basically worthless – and so he sets out to find out why – and in short, a bazillion cards were run in the days when i collected – so a big, big supply vs. demand issue – of course, i say the book destroyed my childhood belief in the inerrancy of men that lead us – however, upon any great reflection (which always comes to me when i’m listening to music in the car and singing along on a long road trip – in this case – hewitt-trussville), i realize that there are bigger things i thankfully never discovered to be a lie – so believing that baseball cards were an investment, well, i’ll just chalk that loss up to good times with my father

“feel-bad education” by kuhn – fascinating book on all the things educators do wrong – like motivational posters:) oh, and standardized testing – grades – teaching to “one” right answer – lecturing – going on power trips – it was a great book just for a different take on education – most books laude educators – like we’re missionaries in service – so a book that takes us a few pegs down, i’m all for – b/c most days, i think i goofed up more than i did right

“running with the kenyans” by finn – i saved this book all year – bought it at Christmas last year – yes, i can wait that long – story of a brit who takes wife and kid on a journey to iten, kenya – in his quest to give his middle-aged 30-year-old body:) one last go-round – and what a round he had – good reminder that we self-impose many of our own limits

happy red ribbon week – happy parade week – i’ll be out all friday morning primping and getting my hair done – right???

mafeld

big week – read three books – not sure it’s even good for me to be driving right now in my current level of post-marathon recovery-ness:) but i did read – now let’s see if i remember anything…

“king’s cross” by keller – great book – keller looks at the life of JC in the book of Mark – i was particularly struck late in the book when he said that we live in the first generation that doesn’t believe in happy ever after endings – we want our movies, our books, to end “messy” – and our desire for “messy” interferes with our ability now to believe in good endings – endings that are too good to be true – i couldn’t agree more – but i’d never thought about it much – except that today’s youth has less hope than i think they should

“any given monday” by dr. james andrews – book about youth sports injuries – lots of problems in areas i had never thought about – like the softball warm up – dr andrews has been based in the b’ham area for generations, and the book’s proceeds are to prevent youth injuries – so i thought the whole thing was great – AND – best of all – he was a pole vaulter in high school – go track and field!!!

“fortune wookiee” – it has a longer title – but it’s the third in the origami yoda series – probably was least impressed with this one just b/c it was a total set up to the fourth book to come – didn’t really advance the series so much as just spin the wheels – but hey, read it in a day, tried to make a wookiee, and isn’t that what life is all about anyway??? 🙂

hope your return to blogging is as painless as can be this week

mafeld

so, i ran chicago – 3:02:50-something – a personal best – and just one hour later than you need to order pizza around here afterwards:)

(good thing i was in the mood for dairy queen and an oreo blizzard – highly nutritious:)

so anyway, all good all around – and i won’t bore you any more with it – except to say that you don’t have to blog this week – good luck on the final tomorrow (not written sarcastically – except in the case of shelby who needs all the help she can get:)

so there’s no reason to keep going except i like to write what i read for the week – if i can remember on runner brain

book one – i read an advanced copy of a book in the room – i got from ms blount – the guy that wrote it had written the oragami yoda series – the story had something to do with your best friend suddenly getting a fake mustache and threatening to take over the world – fortunately, the kid not only defeats his friend, but he also gains a superstar girlfriend – so smiles all around

i read the media guide to the chicago marathon – fascinating facts for you – 112 runners from alabama (never saw one in the race though until much later – and the poor girl was about dead) – 1,500 port-o-lets out on the course – 45,000 runners (i finished 1000-something) – 100 countries (i ran with a guy from columbia – and one from indiana xc – and mickey and minnie mouse from japan – by the way, it’s hard to think you’re doing well when minnie mouse is kicking your tail:)

i also read another book but i truthfully can’t remember it – at all – seems like it was a county library book – oh, wait – i’m not done with that one yet – i’ve got two that i’m working on – i haven’t progressed much lately b/c it would do no good to keep reading right now b/c reading recall level is like zero

but i did post a blog so i feel less lazy – oh, and i watched the talladega race today – which is a new experience after you’ve run it – so now i’m like a certain sixth grade student and just writing about what i watched so i should go… 🙂

j