irony defined

Yesterday I went on search for this book to help me create healthy meals during my training. Although it is available on Amazon, I took to the book store because I both want it now and  prefer shopping in person.

I hit up a used bookstore & this was the exchange I had with the owner:

Him: Can I help you find something?
Me: Oh, no thanks. I was just looking for a specific book on running; you didn't have it.
Him: Yeah, we don't carry that sort of thing.
Me: Yep; there were only about 5 running books. It's okay; I knew it was a long shot.
Him: You know, you can get pretty much anything on-line these days; you should try there.
Me:  Yeah; it is available on Amazon; I'd just rather give my business to actual stores.
Him: Sometimes the internet is just easier though.
Me: I guess I'm just old fashioned. Thanks!

So, was this proprietor of a used bookstore actually advocating that I have not come into his store at all? That instead of trying to buy books in a brick and mortar store I just start with Amazon, his main source of competition? Really?

Although they did not have the book I was looking for the do have HUNDREDS of books; books that I (as a reader) started perusing. That's what readers do. That's why we like books stores. That's how books stores stay in business. The 2 B&N stores I ultimately visited didn't have this book, and yet I left each store with a book. I would have likely left his store with a book had he not shooed me away.

As it was, I left the store completely baffled. The only thing I can come up with the explain his behavior is that I smell. I must smell. Right?

1/2 marathon training part 1: research

As you know, I've started training for a 1/2 marathon. I am currently in the learn-how-to-train-with-out-killing-myself stage, so I'm reading.

My first book was No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running, by John Bingham.  In this book, the author discusses how he began running as a 43 year old smoker/drinker who was 80 pounds overweight. He currently runs marathons, and although he is "at the back of the pack," he is no less a runner than anyone else just because he is slow. Slow and steady does win the race, after all.  This book was really inspiring to me - a slow runner.

It is really easy to get discouraged when you are a slow-runner: to think you aren't really doing anything worthwhile, or at least was for me (explaining why I let the heat-wave end my 1st running career). For me, this discouragement often comes in the form of little jokes that others think are harmless (and should be) or well-meaning advice from those who think speed is the only measurement of running success. What I loved about this book is that it is filled with testimonials of other slow runners, talking about their successes.  It is not saying a runner *should* be slow, just that it's fine if they are. That they are still a runner.But beyond that, it asks the reader to really analyze why they want to run.  I found it very inspirational and encouraging. If you are a slowbie, I highly recommend it.

Some things to consider before buying the book (which I think any new/slow runner should do):
The book is actually geared less towards "slow runners" as a whole, and more towards those who are likely to be slow (at least at first):  inactive adults who are looking to change their lives and become more active. Because this is not me (although I am an adult who is less active than she should be), some of the advice didn't apply to me, but it was a good read none-the-less. Additionally, it can be repetitive at times, but when discouragement is all around you (or even just all inside your head), it can't hurt to hear stories encouragement more than once. In fact, I think that may have been the author's goal.

my etsy shop

After going to a few craft fairs and selling my bags and clutches, I decided to create an Etsy store to sell my current inventory  I couldn't have done it without the help of several friends  including Amy Schawlbert, a very talented graphic designer, who created the logo for me. Please check out my store, the Bewildered Bobbin!

on your mark! get set! go!

A couple years ago I became super obsessed with running. I was not fast, but I was dedicated. Within a few weeks I ran my first 5K, and I routinely ran several days a week, usually 2-3 miles a day & 6 miles on Sundays. I was obsessed with going farther, and even though I ran 15 minute miles, I was happy; I felt good. There was a cool meditative feeling to getting lost in a long run.

Then a heat wave hit.

I stopped running. I stopped going outside at all, actually. It was brutal.

The following fall I tried recapturing the joy I once felt. I just couldn't do it. Working my way back up to a mile was such a chore, and the thrill was gone.  I kept at it, however, because I was signed up for the Warrior Dash. By the time of the dash, I'd gotten back up to being able to run a 5K (barely), but had only run on fairly even terrain, so I quickly petered out on the hilly course of the event.  I happily walked the remainder of the course (which I can do as fast as I can run, give or take 30 seconds/mile), and I managed to do the awesome obstacles at the event.

After that, I pretty much hung up my running shoes, and never looked back.

Suffice it to say, I've lately started to look longingly at those running shoes. I loved it so much, why did I quit? Why did I let the hard work of building up my stamina again keep me from getting back to what I (ever so briefly) loved with a passion? So, I've decided I need a challenge; a goal. There is a 1/2 marathon in my city in late October. If I was running 6 miles straight after a 6 weeks before, I can certainly get to 13.1 after 6 months, right?

Right?

I think so, too.

And so, my running regime begins! Wish me luck.

thanks, but no thanks

In 1744, the government of Virginia offered a college education to some of the young Iroquois men. Below is the reply from one of the Iroquois (unnamed), as recounted by Benjamin Franklin (and was read at my college graduation).  Here it is:

“We know that you highly esteem the kind of learning taught in colleges, and that the maintenance of our young men, while with you, would be very expensive to you.  We are convinced, therefore, that you mean to do us good by your proposal, and we thank you heartily. But you who are wise must know that different nations have different conceptions of things; and you will therefore not take it amiss if our ideas of this kind of education happen not to be the same with yours. We have had some experience of it: several of our young people were formerly brought up  at the colleges of the northern provinces; they were instructed in all your sciences; but when they came back to us, they were bad runners; ignorant of every means of living in the woods; unable to bear either cold or hunger; knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy; spoke our language imperfectly; were therefore neither fit for hunters, warriors, or counselors; they were totally good for nothing.  We are, however, not the less obliged by your kind offer, though we decline accepting it; and to show our grateful sense of it, if the gentleman of Virginia will send us a dozen of their sons, we will take a great care of their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them.”

Source:
Blaisdell, Robert. Great Speeches by Native Americans. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2000. 15. Print.