A review and my first GIVEAWAY!!!

Yup, my first giveaway! I'm so very happy.

Caroline at Broadway Books kindly sent me a copy of Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to Be Your Own Best Coach to review and give away.

The book is written by Brad Hudson and Matt Fitzgerald. Hudson coaches elite runners, including Dathan Ritzenhein, the top US finisher in the 2008 Olympic marathon. Fitzgerald is an accomplished triathlete who has written several running and triathlon training books.

From the publisher:

Filled with runner profiles, easy-to-read charts, and illustrative accounts from the top runners Brad coaches, RUN FASTER is the first user-friendly guide to creating an individual training program designed especially for runners of all speeds and of all ages.

There was a lot that I liked about this book, starting with the sub-title: How To Be Your Own Best Coach. I'm never going to have a running coach so the idea of becoming better at coaching myself appealed to me. Unlike many other training books that I've read, this book doesn't prescribe any set plan. Rather it offers a step-by-step guide to creating, implementing and monitoring your own training plan. Hudson believes that every runner needs to have an individual plan because every runner is unique.

Hudson talks a lot about assessing yourself as a runner and how what you learn through the assessment should drive your plan. His self-assessment plan outlines 10 factors that every runner should consider in developing their training plan. I found this self-assessment to be particularly useful as I looked inward to decide whether or not to continue my marathon training. It helped me to think about the many factors that influence running success. I think that sometimes we get fixed on achieving a particular goal, period. Hudson shows that, through self-assessment, we can become better at setting appropriate goals and plans to achieve them.

He is also a proponent of hill running, specifically hill sprints. As you can imagine, this hill lover could relate to that!

Most of all, Hudson writes in a very sincere style: I felt that he really wants to help people realize their running potential. Overall, I enjoyed the book and learned a good bit about my running style and what I should and should not be doing. I almost didn't want to give the book away!

But I am.

The Giveaway!

The winner of Run Faster will be selected at random. Entering is easy!

One entry: Leave a comment on this post
One entry: Follow me (if you already do, just note that in your comment)

I'll post the winner here on Wednesday. Be sure to check back to see if you've won!

Good luck and happy Friday!

~ Felice

The outpouring.

Thank you all for your kind and supportive words on my last post. It was a hard decision to make but I am convinced it was the right one. I don't know why I was so nervous to post about it!

In other, random, news . . . poor Tom Renney, one of my favorite Canadians (although I am pretty fond of all those blogging Canadians!), was fired. I don't even know what the new guy sounds like. Harumpf! Rangers games have lost their luster.

A few of you have asked how my mom likes her Ab Rocket. She was into it right after the holiday but I haven't heard much about it since. Two months seems like an adequate amount of time to get a feel for the equipment so I'll try to wrangle a review from her.

I've become a big fan of Rudi's Organic Honey Sweet Whole Wheat bread. And not just because it rhymes, although that doesn't hurt.

I'm excited -- I mean, really excited -- about my 4-mile race on 3/7. It will be my first race since last fall and I'm excited. Did I mention that I'm excited?

Well, that's it. I'm grateful for your support!

A heap of honesty.

Or, Good thing that plan was written in pencil!

OK. Here it is: I'm not going to run the NJ Marathon.

Ooooooooh, I know. I wanted to. I wanted to suffer through the long runs until, suddenly, 15 miles would feel easy. I wanted to be hungry all the time because I was running all those miles. I wanted to run mid-week 8 milers. I wanted to train well. I wanted to run the NJ Marathon and I wanted to finish in under 4 hours.

And yet, I'm not. I'm not doing any of that. After many long conversations with myself I am backing out.

I feel crappy about it, to be honest. I feel like I'm letting everyone who has left me supportive comments -- or even just thought those supportive thoughts -- down. But, I am simply not prepared. I've been struggling with the training and when I stopped to think about what was going on, I realized that I had put the marathon on my schedule for the wrong reason. Yes, I want to run another marathon and I believe that I will. But, now? No.

After getting some rotten news in December, I decided to train for the marathon. It would get my mind off of things and give me a big, exciting goal to work toward. Unfortunately, the marathon training came to feel like punishment. Not exactly what I was looking for.

So, I thought about what I was doing and why I was doing it and it occurred to me that now is not the right time for me to run a marathon. I backed out.

Instead, I'm running just because I love it. And, believe me, I do. My recent runs have been fun and fast (for me) and have left me feeling reinvigorated. This is good. These runs are making me feel a little less crappy about my decision. I've got a 4 mile race scheduled for 3/7 and I'm hoping that running it well will shake off any residual crappy feelings about the marathon.

Sheesh. What a downer, huh? I don't mean to be so let's move on to something a little more fun . . . I'm going to be posting my very first giveaway on Friday! Yay! Be sure to check back to find out all about it.

And don't forget about the Runners' Lounge book! The essay deadline is 2/28 . . . tick, tock, tick, tock.

~ Felice

Have I mentioned that I'm a maniac?

Not in any ultra-running or jumping-in-frigid-water-in-January sort of way. No. I'm a maniac about stuff I decide is good. Good for me, good for my son and husband, good for the environment. Once I decide that something is good for . . . then I'm all in. In like Flynn!

So it is with the high fructose corn syrup. I'm all in! Gimme more!

Oops! No, not that kind of all in. I'm actually against it. Once I learned how yucky (to use one of those technical terms that I'm always bandying about) it is, I decided to cut as much of it out of my (and Conal's and Owen's) diet as possible. And now I'm a maniac about it.

Yup, I'm that woman who walks around the grocery store and reads Every Single Label and when -- Holy Cannoli! -- the HFCS-free bread is on sale, buys six loaves! Six loaves. I kid you not. Right now, my freezer is packed with HFCS-free 7-grain bread that was a steeee-al at $2.49 per loaf.

Maniacal. I was this way with the cloth diapers give it up for the Kushies! and the homemade baby food, yogurt, flax, oats, sitting on a tennis ball, and, oh, and lots of other things. Still am. I'm nothing if not loyal to my personal good fors. And now I can add Down with HFCS! to my list.

If you are interested at all in the whole HFCS thing, I recommend the blog A Life Less Sweet. The site is a great resource for avoiding foods that contain HFCS.

Speaking of foods (and not, apparently, speaking of running today), thanks for all of the chick pea recipes! And keep 'em coming.

That's it from Manical Me. Have a great Monday!

~ Felice