Books

My summer reading is going strong on the iPod Touch with the Amazon Kindle software. As I mentioned the other day I downloaded and started 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days -- and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance! by Dean Karnazes. It's been slow going at first, much like Born to Run was. I am the point of Dean's eighth marathon in eight days. I thought I would have learned more juicy tips by now but most of what has been said in countless runner-oriented articles in magazines. Dean doesn't have the time for ice baths after each marathon and has no room on the bus for massages. It sounds like he regularly prescribes himself an ice bath and massage, it just didn't happen for the 50-marathon event. One juicy tip Dean shared was for the blister that formed on his foot fairly quickly into the grueling schedule. His asstistant used duck tape and sterile gauze to patch Dean up.

The second tip I found interesting was Dean's approach to training. "I train by feel. I run as fast as my body tells me to each day, though I do try to do at least two very long runs per week. Those base-building long runs are critically important to me."

My reading of Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace is not progressing as well. After seeing how it takes most folks three tries to get the jest of the story I've not stuck to the suggested number of pages per week.

Dr. Andrew Weil's book, Healthy Aging is being read when I'm sick of reading about running and when I don't want to make my brain hurt with the heavy reading of Infinite Jest. I would suggest everyone read as much of Dr. Weil and Dr. Oz as they can get their eyes on.