A Life Without Limits: A Great Read

What an excellent book.  While on my flight to Austin, I started reading Chrissie Wellington's A Life Without Limits: A World Champion's Journey.  It was such an easy and inspiring read that I found myself getting up early, heading down to breakfast by myself, and devouring more pages with my morning coffee.  I have tackled a handful of sprint triathlons and have always thought about training for something more challenging.  But what I liked most about this book was learning about her dedication to nonprofit work and various causes as well as her travels.  She was an accidental triathlete and ended up being one of the best in her field, while also inspiring many with her kindness.

Never, ever give up - and smile.  What a great mantra that we should all adopt.

My Life in Lots of Poses

Earlier this week, I finished reading Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer. The book is 332 pages in length and since I'm a mom, wife, full-time worker and part-time runner, it took me nearly a week and a half to knock out. Glad I hung in there because I really enjoyed the book. She's very witty and I loved how she could tell a story about a certain point in her life and relate it to a single yoga pose. I'm not a fan of yoga how-to books, but after reading her book all I could think about was attending a yoga class...and stat!

Throughout the book she discusses her teachers - what she likes and dislikes, their style of yoga taught, music, chanting, meditation. It got me thinking about what I enjoy about yoga. For me, it's the music first. I simply do not enjoy that new agey (sp?) kind of music. If I wanted to listen to Enya, I'd download songs on iTunes (who am I kidding, I'd go to the library where it's free!). I enjoy more modern songs because I like getting lost in the music...and isn't that partially what yoga's about...getting lost in your practice? There's a teacher at my yoga studio, Kristen, who mixes in Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, and Radiohead. She's my favorite. She's also a runner and teaches a more athletic class that focuses on the legs, which let's face it, runners are weak on leg strength. But her music brings me back every time.

Last night, my daughter Meg and I attended a class with Jen. I had taken one of her classes before and I consider her music selection top notch, too. After the basic warm-up of Om, we moved into poses. Her first song was Just Breathe by Pearl Jam...the acoustic version.

So today's guilty pleasure will be beautifully done acoustic songs - and I'll leave you with this one:

The Lover's Dictionary

I just finished reading one of the most smartly written, witty, and enjoyable works of fiction. I'm not sure when I read a fictional story I enjoyed so much. The newly-released The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan, the same author of Nick and Nora's Ultimate Playlist, winds through the alphabet weaving stories in way as to define the word being used. No chapters, just a word in bold followed by a story that illustrates the meaning of the word at a point in time in a relationship. If you're looking for a sappy love story, this is not for you, unless you enjoy dysfunction and messiness at its finest. A couple "definitions" I enjoyed are:

punctuate, v. The key to a successful relationship isn't just in the words, it's in the choice of punctuation. When you're in love with someone, a well-placed question mark can be the difference between bliss and disaster, and a deeply respected period or a cleverly inserted ellipsis can prevent all kinds of exclamations.

bolster, v. I am very careful whenever I know you're on the phone with your father. I know you'll come to me eventually, and we'll talk you through it. But I have to wait - you need your time. In the meantime, I'm careful what songs I play. I try to speak to you with my selections.

It's a quick read at 211 pages and I know I will want to revisit this book again.

Amazon recently interviewed David Levithan and asked him what inspired him to write The Lover's Dictionary. I not only loved his answer, but I would really like to be in his circle of friends for next year's Valentine's installment! Read the interview here.

Something Cool

Just came across a cool website and immediately signed up. If you're a book reader, give it a try! The site will organize and track what you've read, what you're interested in reading, what others are reading, and what's trending They even have a category of worst books ever!

goodreads.com

Got another run in - looks like a habit is forming :)

Awesome Read

While on our trip, I finished Complications by Atul Gawande. Amazing read. Quick, witty, intelligent, and very easy to follow. I became interested in Gawande while teaching at Ohio University. When we left Athens for Cleveland in mid 2003, he had just published Complications. His parents teach at the College of Medicine at Ohio University. I came across the book while browsing at Half Price Books and grabbed it up. I jumped into this book and simply couldn't put it down. Completely made me appreciate and fear the medical profession at the same time. I'm now reading his second book, Better, and will immediately move into his newest non-fiction book, The Checklist Manifesto.

Book Review: Shooting Stars

I just finished Shooting Stars by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger (of Friday Night Lights). I started the book on my plane ride to Miami and finished it as the wheels were hitting the Tarmac on our return flight to Cleveland. Very quick read. Lebron is humble in this book (as he seems in real life as well). I truly enjoyed learning about his unbreakable bond with his friends as well as learning more about Willie, Dru, Sian and Romeo. If you haven't seen the movie and want a quickread, I would recommend picking up this book.

Book Review: Power Travel

I recently read The Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel by Scott McCartney. He is a regular columnist for the Wall Street Journal. I received this book as a present from my sister-in-law for Christmas and could hardly put the book down. I would consider myself a pretty experienced traveler, but found a vast amount of information in his book to be “eye opening”. The chapter on Air Traffic Control shocked and educated me – I will forever be leery anytime my flight is now “delayed”.

Below are 10 interesting points I noted in this book. Read on, you might find them helpful, too:

1. Know the best day to buy. Airlines file price increases on Thursdays to see if competitors will match these increases over the weekend. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays are the best days to buy.

2. Seasons and weather matters. During the winter, consider flying later in the day to allow for snow removal and delays to get worked out. In summer, travel early in the morning as opposed to late afternoon when thunderstorms are more likely. FlightStats.com is a great source for checking the history of a particular flight, airline, city and specific route – useful for determining delays, disruptions or cancellations. FlightStats.com will also give you a graphical image on a map of where a particular flight is.

3. Frequent Flier Programs. Did you know the first frequent-flier mile program was offered in 1981 by American Airlines? It was patterned after the Green Stamp program and became a great way to encourage brand loyalty. But not all frequent-flier programs are created equally. Know your program and the parameters (fine print).

4. Take advantage of technology. Airlines offer flight alert notifications for your cell phone, either as voice, text or email giving you gate information, departure or schedule changes, and baggage claim information. The alert comes in before the gate agent makes the announcement. This can give you an advantage over other travels if you need to rebook a flight or find a hotel before the rush.

5. Be prepared with travel information. Always have your hotel phone numbers with you for both your location destination and, if you have a connecting flight, for that location as well. You never know if your flight might get cancelled and you find yourself competing with a gate-full of people for the same grouping of hotels.

6. Travel light, but if you have to, know who can ship packages. FedEx, UPS, Luggage Forward and Sports Express can often ship your larger packages much cheaper than an airline can. Not to mention, these shippers can track your package – airlines can’t (and you don’t want your package lost - especially if it's your tri-bike).

7. Your ass isn’t getting larger, the seats are getting smaller. Airplane seats are based on a 1950s Harvard University study of New England passenger trains that found 18” inches as an acceptable seat size. So if 18” is acceptable, then, we don’t mind being squished in 17” seats for short flights. After all, who needs comfort for an hour or two? (Uhmm, me, that’s who and Kevin Smith!) Also, not all seats are created equal with respect to leg room – go to SeatGuru.com to find out the best seats for your particular airplane/flight.

8. If you feel wronged, get the Federal government involved. You can find a wealth of information as well as recourse information at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov.

9. Booking your hotel is an important part of travel. I wasn’t aware that certain online sites have exclusive agreements with hotel chains. This means you might find one price for a Kimpton Hotel on Expedia and a different price on Travelocity. Check all sites and comparison shop, but also be aware that sites “own” each other – i.e., Expedia.com also owns Hotels.com. It's also a good idea to always check the individual hotel site just to make sure you're getting the best deal.

10. McCartney has a section called “Power Splurges”. I liked this section because we sometimes are fooled into skimping at some point on flying/staying/driving a rental car resulting in sacrificing comfort and pleasure. Remember, he says, that travel is an adventure and should be enjoyed. And I am a girl who sure does love traveling :)

I will definitely start following McCartney on his blog . As I try to cross off a few more states this year, resulting in more airplane rides and hotel stays, I will certainly remember the good advice I received from this book!

Book I'm Raving About

I just finished Mud, Sweat and Gears: A Rowdy Family Bike Adventure Across Canada on Seven Wheels by Joe "Metal Cowboy" Kurmaskie. I came across the Metal Cowboy in Bicycling magazine, which ran a featured article on his trip in an issue within the past few months. I logged the title into my iPhone notes (I love love love that feature) and made a point to pick up the book. I am so glad I did. Joe wrote the book, but his wife Beth inserts footnotes that are hysterical. I started the book on Thursday evening and laughed until I finished it last night. I highly recommend this book for anyone with a family and some athletic goals. Poor Greg had to hear me wax on about how I want to drag our family on a bike adventure around Mount Rushmore! As any good husband would do, he just nodded his head hoping this was just another one of my fleeting, wild adventures and that I would soon dismiss it. Honey, I'm serious :)

Joe takes along his 3 boys, one of which is still nursing and turns a year old on the trip. Joe leads a tandem with his 9-year old son Quinn and younger brother Enzo attached on a trail-along-bike. Bringing up the rear was Matteo in a tag-along while wife Beth joined on a bike all to herself. I loved being able to identify with Beth's lack of bike skill, yet her love for adventure.

A line I found laugh-out-loud funny was how Joe explained why Enzo sang so much on the trip. He wrote that the Trail-A-Bike rider (Enzo) "wears more of the road trip that anyone else...seems that when the world treats you like a rolling Jackson Pollack canvas, singing helps."

If you're thinking of a crazy family adventure that no one will forget, this is the book for you.