2012 Books Read

Its that time again!  At the end of year I post my list of books that I read at year and link them to Amazon so you can check them out if interested. Here is my list for 2012. I put a * behind the ones that are worth reading.  I have a couple more books that are in process right now and if I finish those before the end of the year I will just add them onto next years list.

If you have any suggestions of books to check out for 2012 I am all ears. I try to read at least 12 a year but if I ever want to knock down my growing list I am going to have to read more than 25.  The only reason this list is so long is because there is a bunch of Kindle Singles on here and short books on investing.   Hope you find something that you will enjoy!  Happy Holidays!


2012 Books Read

1. Running the Edge

2.  The Long Run- Mishka

3.  Be Brave, Be Strong *

4.  The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook

5.  AWOL on the Appalachian Trail*

6.  Running for the Hansons*

7.  Three Cups of Deceit

8.  Happier Than a Billionaire

9.  Iron War*

10.  Lost in Kandahar

11.  The Wall Street Money Machine

12.  The Duel*

13.  Desert Solitaire*

14. The Beast in the Garden*

15.  A Few Degrees from Hell*

16.  The Ledge*

17.  The PrimalBlueprint

18.  Foundation

19.  Ghost Trails*

20.  Bad Blood

21.  My Seinfeld Year

22. The Last Ridge*

23. The Millionaire Next Door

24.  Long Distance*

25.  Merle's Door*

26.  Beginners Guide to Stock Market Investing 

27.  Run to Overcome 

28.  Unbroken *

29.  I'm Here to Win *

30. Mud, Sweat, and Tears *

31. Just Tell Me What Stocks to Buy 

32.  The Thrill of Victory *

33.  A Life Without Limits *

34.  Eat & Run *

35.  Ultimate High *

36.  Addicted to Danger *

37.  Rough Ride 

38.  How to Win 

39.  Rich Dad Poor Dad 

40.  Warren Buffett 

41. Dividend Investing 

42.  Oxygen Debt *

43.  5 Simple Rules for Investing in the StockMarket 

44.  Ravings of a Runner 

45.  Finding Ultra *

Books Read in 2011

At the end of year I post my list of books that I read at year and link them to Amazon so you can check them out if interested. Here is my list for 2011. The ones that I put the number in bold are worth the read, the rest were either for work or just plan crap.

If you have any suggestions of books to check out for 2012 I am all ears. I try to read at least 12 a year but if I ever want to knock down my growing list I am going to have to read more than 25. I just don't see that happening.

1. K2: Life & Death on the Worlds most dangerous mountain
2. The Extra Mile- Pam Reed
3. In Defense of Food
4. Coaching for Performance
5. Food Rules
6. Eiger Dreams
7. Paleo Diet for Athletes
8. Relentless Forward Progress
9. Running on empty
10. Seal Team Six
11. Cycling home from Siberia
12. The Big Year
13. The Man Who Cycled the World
14. The Big Book of Endurance Training
15. And Then the Vulture Eats You
16. The Raw Truth
17. Now Discover Your Strengths
18. The Paleo Diet
19. Steve Jobs

Bear Chase 50K

I finally got back on the horse this past weekend and ran my first ultra since last year's Leadville 100 by running the 50K version of the Bear Chase. I just have not had the interest this past year with everything going on in our family's life to do the long races. Anyways a super quick report and some pictures.

I signed up for this race without really putting in any long runs. I was running about 50-60 miles a week for a while just as a stress relieve but my longest run was only 14 miles every weekend doing the Dirty Bizmark loop. About 3 weeks out from the race a I did a 24.5 mile run in the Marshall Mesa/Dowdy Draw area in 3 hours and 45 mins at an easy pace. After that weekend I took the next 2 weekends off due to family coming to visit, needless to say I was a little under trained.

I had 2 goals in mind for this race- A) break my PR at 50K distance which is 4 hours and 31 mins or B) Finish before noon which is 5 hours and 10 mins.

To keep this short I went out at a moderately hard pace but never close to the red line with the exceptions of the small hills on this course. I was able to finish the first 19 miles in about 2 and half hours or so. The third and final lap (12.4 miles) I was doing fine the first 5 miles of the loop then gradually got slower and slower until by mile 29 I was on my hands and knees with the puke fountain turned on in full force. My stomach just shut down again and my body quick absorbing what I was drinking and eating. I was able to walk it in losing about 4-5 places in the standings to finish in 4:50:22 for 14th male and 16th overall. At least I hit my B goal, got an ok time, and got back into ultras again.

What is next? I am pondering doing either the 6 hours or 12 hours of Boulder on Oct 15th. I am leaning towards the 6 hours so that I can go see Braden's hockey game that morning but I am unsure right now. I kind of want to go out for 50 miles which should be very doable on this course in 12 hours. We will see, here are some pictures from the race.

The Runner in Winter (Boulder Colorado)

Here is a great video of the local trails that I run before work sometimes and on weekends. Thanks GZ and Brandon for pointing this out.

Log for the week of 3/10-3/16

I finally started feeling better last week and was able to resume my running and training. I did not do much in the way of cross training like I usually do but did get some runs in. All of my runs were outside on trails, no treadmill time at all! The weather was just Awesome last week and I hope it holds this week so I can start rebuilding my mileage and base.

Anyway here you go:

Monday: Off (still feeling a little sick)

Tues: Run @ Green Mountain lower 5 miles

Wed: Run @ Apex (hills) 5.25 miles

Thurs: Run @ Mattew Winters 4.75 miles
Elliptical machine for 30 mins

Friday: Off

Saturday: Run @ Green Mountain to summit and back 5 miles

Sunday: Run to Morrison and back 13.25 miles

Total miles ran: 33.25

Need to get this over 40 next week and get back to 2-3 hours of cross training.

Have a great week!

Shad

DENVER MARATHON 10-14-07

It finially arrived, race day. My uncle Steve and I signed up for this marathon almost 10 months ago when they were running a special of when you signed up you got a free entry. I never thought it would get here and at the same time I was hoping that it wouldn't. I have had nothing but bad experences with marathons the last 2 years and have not been able to figure them out. I always seem to crash around mile 22 but at least I finished every one. This year on my third attempt it is different, I have been running a lot more and even got a 33 mile run under my belt to prove to myself that it was not the distance but a mental block that I put on myself. All week I have been ready until I saw the weather forecast, rain, rain, and more rain. I hate running in the rain. Don't really know why but I do. Maybe it is because I can not get warm or that I can not hear since I can't wear my hearing aid. Either way I just plain hate the rain.

So Sunday morning everyone gets up around 6am, we get all the kids loaded up into the van and on the way to the race downtown around 6:45 for the 8am start. Having already gotten our chips and race number all we had to do was show up and run. It was a cold and wet morning when we got there, I am guessing around 40 degrees and a constant drizzle of rain. I do not think it got above 50 all day long and it never stopped raining.

As the 8am start got closer Steve and I got into the chute for the mass start. They had different sections marked off based on what pace you were expecting to run. We lined up between the 7 and 8 mins per mile signs. Knowing that people always line up in a faster group than they usually run we worked our way up closer to the 7 min sign. Shortly after 8am we were off to a quick start. About 1-2 miles into the run Steve and I caught up with the 3:20 pace group. I told Steve at this point that my goal was to try and stay in front of this pacer. At that point Steve must have decided to back off a bit because I looked to my side and he was not there, that was the last time I saw him until the race was over. I passed the 3 mile mark at 21 mins, right on pace and feeling good. From mile 3-13 I do not really remember anything. I just went on auto pilot and chugged along. I pasted the 10K mark in 43 mins and the 13 mile mark in 1:31.

At the halfway point I realized that maybe I can qualify for Boston, I had 1:39 to get the finish. The qualifing time for my age group is 3:10. It is possible. From mile 13-22 the course has you running through houses south of downtown and through Wash park which I hate. Since I could not really hear anything or see anything due to not wearing my hearing aid and glasses I basically just looked at the 6 feet of pavement in front of me and tried to hang on as much as possible. Around mile 16 I think it was I did finally see Ashley and my uncle's family though!!! That was a huge mental boost for me. I knew that they were on the course cheering me on but I could not pick them out due to not being able to hear or see well. I was very relieved when I saw Ashley and picked up my pace.

As we were heading back downtown for the finish I pasted mile 21 at 2:30. That gave me 40 mins to run 5.2 miles, just under 8 min miles. I tried with everything that I had but the cramping in my legs hurt to bad and I was so cold from being wet. I finished in 3:13, 3 mins off from qualifing for Boston. Crap, so close! I ran the second 13 miles in 1:42. As I crossed the finish line I almost fell, my joints hurt so bad and one of the volunteers caught me. Finally I saw Ashley again, she was so happy for me and that is what I needed to hear. I was bummed about falling 3 mins short but like she said, I took off 1:15 from my best marathon time in only 1 year, not bad. If I keep this kind of improvement up I will be under 3 hours before to long. I am so lucky to have her to help me keep things in persective.

After the race we all went back to the condo to warm up. Steve and family took off back to Nebraska. Ashley and I on the other had some friends over for food and drinks to celebrate an end to a great summer and to cheer on the Rockies as they beat the Diamond Backs. What a great day!!!

My results.
Overall Rank Class Rank Pace Sex Rank Age Final
61 of 1563 16 of 159 00:07:23 53 31 03:13:45

Steve's Results
Overall Rank Class Rank Pace Sex Rank Age Final
542 of 1563 65 of 125 00:09:17 405 43 04:03:37