Books I Read in 2012 - What I'm Targeting in 2013

Let me just say...yes, I know it's been a while since I've written anything.  Do I have a good reason for being so absent?  It depends on your definition of 'good'.  To give a quick insight into life right now, I am still working full-time at UA, I started Grad School in August, there's a 4 month old in the house, and in July I was called to be our ward's Executive Secretary.  When you combine a small child, school projects/finals, the annual benefits Open Enrollment and University's charitable giving campaign (I provide functional-type tech support for both projects), and tithing settlement in a ward of over 600 people...it takes up 25 hours of a 24 hour day.

How do I manage to stay sane?  Either reading, or listening to, books.  That and looking at my daughter's smiles, but this post is about books.  This year's reading went in two very different directions.  One direction was 'grown-up' books.  The other direction...children's books.  I ended up reading 40 books last year...with a ratio of 23 grown-up books to 17 children's books.

As a recap, last January I had written that I planned on reading these books:

• In the Garden of Beasts - Erik Larson
• The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 - Mark Twain
• The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man - Brett and Kate McKay
• The Garden Tomb - Andrew C. Skinner
• Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN - James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales
• Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? - Steven Tyler
• Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman - Jon Krakauer
• Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
• John Adams - David McCullough
• The Ancient State: The Rulers & the Ruled (The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Volume 10) - Hugh Nibley

Of those, I only got through three of these books, so the rest will just roll over to this year's 'to-read' list.  The three lucky books: In the Garden of Beasts, The Art of Manliness, and The Garden Tomb.

In keeping with last year's template, I'll run through a few of my favorites from the year and give a brief description of what they're about and what I thought.

In the Garden of Beasts - Erik Larson

This is the story of William E. Dodd, FDR's first ambassador to Germany.  He was in the US Embassy in Berlin during Hitler's rise to power in Germany.  You get to see from the inside what the US saw in Germany during the Nazi Party's rise to power, how family conflicts influenced diplomatic power, and why the US Government didn't respond as it probably should have to the Nazi rise in Europe.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen - Christopher McDougall

The Tarahumara are a tribe of Indians in Mexico that has survived by using the 'flight' side of the 'fight or flight' instinct.  They are tremendous long distance runners.  And I don't mean 5k or 10k, I am talking about 50+ miles.  This person built a relationship with these people, and then managed to bring a group of ultra-marathoners to their grounds to participate in an annual race amongst the tribe.  The author also participated in the race, as he looked into 'alternative' methods of dealing with injuries he would sustain while running.  What he found out...he was doing it all wrong from the beginning.

The Absolute At Large - Karel Capek

A story about how outside influences can bring down an entire civilization when different people interpret the same entity in different ways.  Draw whatever parallels you wish.

The Big Miss - Hank Haney

Hank Haney was Tiger Woods' swing coach from 2004 to 2010, a time period in which records were set and 6 major championships were added to Tiger's current tally of 14.  He tells about what he experienced, what he saw, and what it took for Tiger to become the #1 golfer in the world and what brought about his very public fall from grace.

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Colonel Roosevelt - Edmund Morris

The first and third parts of a 3-part biographical series on our manliest president, Theodore Roosevelt.  Read them for yourself, and learn from Roosevelt's manliness.

The Unforgiving Minute - Craig Mullaney

Mullaney is a West Point Graduate and Rhodes Scholar.  He wrote about his military education, his time at Oxford, his training as an Army Ranger, and his experiences leading a platoon in Afghanistan.  The point of the book is the question he asks the reader to answer: Did his education prepare him to be a leader of men in a war zone?

A full list of what I read in 2012 can be found on my Goodreads profile, if you're curious about the rest of the titles that went into the 40 books I read last year.  As for 2013, I have a few things on the radar:

• Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN - James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales
• Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? - Steven Tyler
• Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman - Jon Krakauer
• Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
• John Adams - David McCullough 
• The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 - Mark Twain
• The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Globetrotter - Christian Graugart
• The Voice of Reason: A VIP Pass to Enlightenment - Chael Sonnen

Now, let's see how many of these I actually end up reading.

Thus Sayeth Your Haus

Halloween 2012

Our first Christmas together, Em and I received an unique gift...Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts from my parents.  So, as we planned for the arrival of our little one (by the way...the baby came...her name is Annie...she's the little one in the middle of the picture...I'll write more about her later), we decided that there was only one logical Halloween costume for her...

...introducing our little Thing 3!

A Happy (Belated) Halloween!

Thus Sayeth Your Haus

Running Journal: Weeks 9 through 12 and Race Day

I have been remiss in writing about my running experiences.  For weeks 9 through 11, this was because of my absence from home (Em and I visited New Jersey/New York, Germany, Austria, and The Netherlands...I'll write about that later).  For week 12..well, I don't have a good reason. 

I found that training overseas was considerably more difficult than anticipated, largely due to my allergies.  It's truly spring in Germany right now, which made breathing difficult on its own, never mind trying to breath while exerting myself physically!  I did make it through the trip, and put in a few miles after getting back into the country.

The Meet Me Downtown Tucson 5K was last Saturday.  The race has been run and I have survived.  Here's a quick chronicling of the running that has taken place over the past month.

Week 9-12 Totals: 5 Runs, 10.90 Miles, 2:34:37

Week 9:
Thursday, 10 May - 2.00 Miles, 21:29

Week 10: 
No Running Took Place

Week 11:
Monday, 21 May - 2.92 Miles, 1:06:51

Friday, 25 May - 2.00 Miles, 22:40

Week 12:
Tuesday, 29 May - 2.12 Miles, 21:20

Wednesday, 30 May - 1.86 Miles, 21:17


Overall Training Totals: 35 Runs, 63.48 Miles, 13:40:26

Race Day:
Saturday, 2 June - 3.10 Miles, 35:37.6 (Average Pace - 11:28/mile)
998/1734 Overall, 65/81 in Male 25-29 Division

The race went fairly well.  It was hot (right around 90 degrees at the 7pm start time), and there were a number of local residents that were kind enough to turn their hoses on us as we ran by their homes.  There were also three watering stations, which was also a good thing.  While I didn't run the route as quickly as I would have really liked, I did considerably better than I would have if I hadn't put in those 35 training runs.

I've decided that I'm going to re-do the same 12 week training program, and see if my time improves.  I'm considering running a 5K on Labor Day to test my improvement.  We'll see how that ends up working out with the impending arrival of our first-born child in September.

Thus Sayeth Your Haus

Running Journal: Week 8

This was a week of ups and downs.  I had one of my best runs ever early in the week, and by the end of the week I was limping once again.  Luckily for me, the limping is coming right before a week where I will have to dial back the running, as there's not a lot of room to run on an airplane.

I also began using a new toy this week.  As I've brought up before, I use Nike+ to help record my runs.  Briefly, it works by placing a sensor in the sole of your shoe (I happen to wear Nike shoes, and they conveniently create a place for this sensor, but if you don't wear Nike shoes there are companies that make holders for this sensor that connect via the shoe's laces), and the sensor transmits a signal that is picked up by a receiver on/in an iPod (the receiver is an external unit on my Nano and is built in to my Touch).  Through the miracle of technology, the sensor can tell how far I've gone and send that information to the iPod, and I can then upload the information to the Nike+ Running website.  Now, the new toy for this week happens to be another gadget that will transmit data to the iPod, and will then upload to the website...a heart rate transmitter!  I had been wearing a different heart rate monitor previously, but there was no way to keep track of the data.  Now I can not only keep track of my heart rate while I run, but I can access the data again later and it's all contained in a single website.  These are good things, in my opinion.

The next couple weeks of running will be taking place in New Jersey and Europe (I'll become an International Runner!), and that means that I won't be writing consistently while I'm away (if at all).  But, I'll try to take a few pictures and write about something here that isn't just me running.

Here's how the week turned out for me:

Week 8 Totals: 5 Runs, 9.40 Miles, 1:53:53

Monday - 2.00 Miles, 20:47
Wednesday - 3.10 Miles, 33:00
Thursday - 1.43 Miles, 29:56
Friday - 2.00 Miles, 22:42
Saturday - 0.87 Miles, 7:48

Running Journal: Week 7

I am quickly learning that running requires finding a balance between following the training schedule and listening to your body, between figuring out when to push yourself and when you're doing too much too quickly.  But, in finding that balance, I'm also finding improved times and that makes me happy.  I still have more improvement to go before 2 June, but I'm confident that I'll be able to get there.

I also started using a new piece of equipment this week: a 6th generation iPod nano.  A few years ago, I purchased a 1st generation nano, and had enjoyed using it for some time.  It was with this 1st gen nano that I was introduced to the Nike+ Running concept.  Earlier this year, I found out that Apple issued a recall for the 1st generation nano due to reports of batteries overheating.  So, I sent mine in and a week or so later I received a replacement, 6th generation nano.  Since it also works with Nike+, and it's small, I decided to start using it instead of strapping my iPod touch to my arm.  This will sound a bit geek-ish, but the 6th gen nano is the one that you can actually wear as a watch, so I bought a wristband for it and turned it into a running watch.  My headphone cable is a bit long for this setup, so I'm figuring out how to work around that still, but I've enjoyed using this new toy.  I did run into an issue of actually wearing two watches (as I use a heart rate monitor), but I've figured out a way around this, and will write about it in the future.

The more I'm sticking with this, the more I'm actually enjoying running.  Now, if only the weather would cool down just a tad bit when I get home from work, I'd enjoy running just that much more.  But, after this week I'll be running for the next three weeks in the temperate German weather instead of the Arizona heat (well, I'll have a couple days in New Jersey before I get to Germany, but that's still running in a place other than Arizona).

Here's this week's breakdown:

Week 7 Totals: 6 Runs, 11.81 Miles, 2:25:53

Monday: 3.00 Miles, 36:32
I actually don't remember much about this run.  It was getting dark when I left to run, so I was more focused on not tripping on potholes than anything else.

Tuesday: 1.31 Miles, 26:06
As the time might indicate, this was a walk.  My wife and I decided to take a stroll through the neighborhood, as it was getting dark and my legs were very tired after returning to regular training last week.

Thursday: 2.48 Miles, 28:04
This was the first time I had gone to a park to use a jogging path.  It wasn't a bad experience, but it wasn't my favorite.  That could be because I had issues figuring out how far I had actually run.  This park has two paths, so running path 1 is .5 Miles/lap, path 2 is .62 Miles/lap, and path 3 (which is a combination of 1 and 2) is .8 Miles/lap.  I had thought I was on path 1, and I was upset after running 2 miles in 28 minutes.  I then took a second look, and realized I was on path 2 and had run almost a half mile further than I had planned, and had actually run it at an acceptable pace (11:20-ish/Mile).

Friday: 1.01 Miles, 9:39
This was a run of a known distance in order to calibrate my new iPod nano.  Once I finished pushing all of the buttons I had to push, I continued on with the run below.

Friday: 2.00 Miles, 23:50
I had a three mile run on the schedule, so I figured that breaking it up wouldn't be a bad thing.  Of course, when I thought this, I didn't realize that I'd run my first mile a lot faster than I typically run the first mile of a multi-mile run, and I was hurting before I even finished the first half mile of this second run.  But, the combined total of these two runs put me at just over 34 minutes for 3 miles, which means that I'm getting closer and closer to finding/maintaining the pace that would help me reach the goal of completing a 5K in under 30 minutes.

Saturday: 2.01 Miles, 22:02
A nice late-afternoon run was a good way to relieve a little stress.  Not that the weekends are all that stressful, but there was a situation that arose during the day that had me a bit unhappy.  When I got in, I was surprised to see a time that suggested a sub-11 minute pace was actually attainable.  Progress, wherever it can be found, is a good thing.

Week 8 Schedule: 5 Runs, 16 Miles


Thus Sayeth Your Haus

Running Journal - Week 6

This was my first week getting back into a semblance of a training pattern.  My legs felt pretty good.  I also began to break in new running shoes, a pair of Nike Free Run+ 3 LAF's.  They feel very good so far, and I'm excited about using them.  My health is well, so it's now a matter of re-acquiring stamina and getting in a full week of running.  I have a good idea of how I'll get through this week's schedule, so that's a good thing.  My only real distraction from running this week will be Wednesday night's Bruins/Capitals Game 7, but I'll make sure I either get out during an intermission or right after the game is over.

Anyway, here's my rundown for the past week:

Week 6 Totals: 3 Runs, 4.89 Miles, 56:16

Tuesday: 2.01 Miles, 24:49
This was a tough run, as I could feel the affects of not running consistently for two weeks.  I had to stop and walk a couple times, but I made my way though the run.


Thursday: 1.01 Miles, 10:09
A short run to feel how my new shoes felt.  I enjoyed it, and I managed to keep a good pace throughout the run.  It was also a late run, so it was dark and I didn't want to be out there for too long.

Friday: 1.87 Miles (3 Kilometers), 21:28
I decided to change things up a little bit and measure my run by kilometers, since I'll be running a 5k afterall.  It was another night run for me, so I made sure to take care of where I was running and made sure I wasn't going to fall in a pothole and break my ankle.  But, I only had to slow to a walk twice, and I managed to keep those stints fairly short.

Week 7 Schedule: 5 Runs, 15 Miles

Thus Sayeth Your Haus

Running Journal - Week 4 and Week 5

The past two weeks have been absolutely awful for my running.  First, I was hampered by the shin splints.  That kept me off my feet for 2 of my scheduled training runs (the golf really didn't help my shins all that much, but at the time it didn't feel like it was hurting them either).  Then I came down with a sinus infection, which kept me in bed for most of the week.  I missed another 4 runs.  As you'll see by my run breakdown, I wasn't able to get out much at all.  I am, thankfully, feeling considerably better.  Here's hoping for a more productive Week 6.

Week 4 Totals: 2 Runs, 1:10:37 + 2,311 Yards, 3.5 hours and 92 strokes

Monday - 1.98 Miles, 39:47
This was, obviously, a walk.  I wanted to keep my legs moving, and I took the wife on a two-mile stroll.  It was a little chilly, but it wasn't too bad.

Wednesday - 2,311 Yards, 3.5 hours
I took a vacation day and played a round of golf.  Obviously, from the yardage, it was a Par-3 course, but it was a full 18 holes.  Also, I shot a 92, breaking 100 for the first time in my life!

Saturday - 2.41 Miles, 30:50
After taking a few extra days off, I decided to test out my legs once again.  Knowing that I was supposed to start doing 3-milers during week 4, I tried my first on this evening.  Of course, I wasn't able to run the entire way, and I found that my shin area was tightening up as I walked.  I didn't want to risk re-injury, so I cut the run short and headed in.  It felt good to get back out there, but I was disappointed that my legs didn't feel as good as I would have liked.  My head also felt a bit out of sorts.  Little did I know, that was just a precursor of what was to come the following week.

Week 5 Totals: 1 Run, 21:15

Friday - 1.1 Miles, 21:15
A walk after having been sick all week.  I still felt terrible, but I knew I needed to move around a little bit.

Week 6 Schedule: 5 Runs, 12 Miles


Thus Sayeth Your Haus