Running and Reading is so different. One is pure mental, the other pure physical. And yet, surprisingly, I enjoy these two past-times tremendously.
1. Dean Karnazes - 50 Marathons, 50 Days (extract and picture of book taken from a book store website)
I wanted to relate two finds in Australia - the price of books being slightly more expensive, I seldom buy books overseas except for bargain offers. But these two were a great find.
Dean Karnazes 50 marathon in 50 days was a great find - it is about the race where he raced a marathon in a day in 50 days in 50 different states in US in 2006. He actually did 50 marathons in 50 days! He recreated some of the marathons by asking for the race directors to point out the route of the state's marathon, and ran 8 of the marathons "live", including the last race, the New York City Marathon in December 2006 - the same first race Lance Armstrong ran as his marathon debut. Although this guy is pretty much a marketing man (he has written the Ultramarathon Man book and essentially gotten North Face funding for this race) he definitely captivated the spirit of running. Good tips are all over the book - I am on Marathon number 11 now, and when I finish the book, I will pass it on other runners. I think it is absolutely inspirational - he writes about not only various tips but also the different learnings or runners who join him in some of his 50 runs. Drop a note if you want to borrow this from me.
Lincoln Hall's Dead Lucky is a slightly older book (2007), which was on a bargain corner, next to another book on climber's ethics - as also in the same year 2006, there were 11 or 12 people who died in the Everest, raising the highest death toll for the year and raising questions on how ethical it is to leave injured climbers and take care of yourself first. Lincoln Hall turns out to be an Australian experienced and famous climber who collapsed on his way down and he was left for dead, and then he turned out alive the next day, where he had spent a blistering night on the peak of everest. The book is written by him, so it would be interesting to find out how he managed to survive and what happened (I've not read it yet!).
I am looking for a nice curled up weekend on reading. And then out to train for my next marathon after that... or was it before that?
Footnote : I've always enjoyed book stores - and it was no different this time. When I walked into the book store even overseas, there was a sense of calm and serene about browsing around. Where I was sick or even tired from a long day, I swear I felt my heartbeat slow down to a slower more restful peace around the book store.
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