A couple of books you might enjoy...

I started reading for leisure last year. I know how to read, and I have read books before, but hardly anything outside of the Bible and required reading for school (BTW, I was out of school from 1999-2008...). I started last spring by reading The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. The movie had come out in theaters, and I heard that it was really good, and it was a sports related story, so I bought the book it from Barnes & Noble when the kids were getting to each pick out a book to buy. I read it cover to cover. Great book, and while the movie was good, it wasn't even close to the book.

Throughout the rest of the year I read a number of books. I was quite pleased with myself for this feat. One of the books I picked up from the library was a book by John L. Parker Jr. called Once a Runner. It's about a college track star who winds up getting kicked out of his college and running in the backwoods to train for a race,  trying to break four minutes in the mile. The same race I ran in high school, way back when. The same race I won the league championship and the large school championship my senior year. I got as fast as a 4:32 mile! That's crazy talk because I can't even think about running that fast short of doing it for a couple hundred feet. Anyway, I got hooked into the book. I saw that Parker Jr. had written a sequel (nearly 3 decades later!) to Once. I had to have it. I put it on my Christmas list.

That wonderful day came, and guess what? I got the book. The long-awaited sequel, Again To Carthage, was one of the gifts under the tree! Yay me! Now, just like the book's age gap, the main character is older, holding down a high profile job in a law firm, and has an age crisis of sorts, deciding he wants to compete to win a medal in the Olympic Games. Only this time, it's in the Marathon. I won't divulge any more details. Both are great books, which I would highly recommend, and can obviously be purchased at B&N, Amazon, locally at Fleet Feet, etc.

A running update. I was able to up my mileage to 18 last week. Still no complications with the AT. I'm shooting for 21 this week. I've got 8 so far. I got my Team MARATHON® Bar gear last week. I've worn some of the items during training. They're pretty comfortable. I posted to my Facebook friends a challenge to "win" some MARATHON® items:

Attention Friends:

Lots of requests to sample MARATHON® Bars. Here's how you can get some:

1. Get a picture of Matt running in Team MARATHON® Bar apparel.
2. Like the MARATHON® Bars Facebook page.
3. Upload the picture tagging Matt and MARATHON® Bar.

You'll get a 3 pack of MARATHON® Bars, a coupon for a discounted MARATHON® Bar purchase, and a Team MARATHON® Bar temporary tattoo.

I'll be running in North Redding tomorrow between 8 and 9:30 in the area of Beltline Rd. Just FYI.