'The Long Run' Book Review

The Long Run: A New York City Firefighter's Triumphant Comeback from Crash Victim to Elite Athlete

I learned about this book from a blog that I follow.  I ordered the book on amazon.com (here).  It arrived on a Friday and by Sunday afternoon I was done.  It was defiantly a book that was hard to put down once you start reading!

You can read the first chapter here.

The book is the true story of New York City Firefighter, Matt Long's journey from elite athlete, to accident victim, back to being a runner and triathlete. 

Warning:  There is very graphic detail of his injuries.  I found myself closing my eyes and saying "oh my gosh!" out loud as I was reading!  However, it only intrigued me more and made me want to find out what happened next.

Most of the book goes back and forth between his life before the accident and his recovery journey after the accident.

I found this book full of inspiration.  It is definitely a book that leaves you saying "if he can do that I can surely run _____ miles."  Whatever your current goal, it is easier then what Matt Long had to endure to first walk again and then against all odds begin running again.

I highly recommend this book for all runners and non runners alike!  If you can't find strength, hope and motivation from this book there really is no hope for you!

The Book Trailer from YouTube.

In other news....

Our dog slipped into the freezing swimming pool yesterday.  Not sure exactly how long he was in there when I found him.  Being the super hero I am, I pulled him to safety.  We used the blow dryer to get his fur dry.  Then I warmed blankets in the dryer and we wrapped him in them for about 40 minutes.  He definitely had some early hypothermia going on.  Shivering uncontrollably and labored breathing.  Thank goodness all is well now.

And I'm officially ready for SPRING!

Read this book and let me know what you think. What other motivational books do you recommend?

Icemageddon 2011

Still iced in!  Expecting more snow tomorrow.  Fourth day of schools being closed.  Crazy!

They hubs and I went for a walk around the hood today.

Welcome to Icemageddon 2011

Me pretending to run.  I was scared of slipping and hurting myself.  I'm pretty sure I burned 4 calories on my slow moving 1 mile walk.

I'm hoping we can do our long run on Saturday!

Not looking good unless we do it later in the day!  We need this ice to melt and go away!

Groundhog day around here.  Tomorrow will be a repeat of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Wake up, have coffee, check facebook, look for a new car, lunch, wine, dinner, bath, bed.  Not a bad cycle to be stuck in!

Pedaling to Nowhere

Workout:  45 extremely boring minutes on the recumbent bike.

So this morning we got up extra early to get to the gym for our workout.  At 4:50am Randee and I pull into 24 Hour fitness to find out....it's not 24 hour fitness!  WTH?

Something else for Randee to bitch about!

They open at 5am.  We did 45 minutes on the recumbent bike.  Boring!  We bitched the entire time.  We were hot.  We were bored.  We watched people on the elliptical going 90 miles per hour, and wondered where they found the motivation to do this everyday.

Doesn't Randee look thrilled to be there?  She was cussing my dang hamstring!

I'm pretty sure my butt was numb by the time we took this picture.  

This was my thrilling view for the entire workout!

At least we broke a sweat.  I think more from being overdressed then from the workout.  Oh well, better then nothing.  We will be back tomorrow for another exciting morning of pedaling to nowhere.

Then I came home and did my now regular routine.  First stretching and the foam roller.

Don't mind my super sized thigh!  But do check out my new compression tights.  They do feel good on the hammy, but not on the pocket book!

Then it was time for coffee, facebook, and icing!

More mega thigh, but aren't the monkey slippers cute?

Enough of our less then exciting morning., now my weekend in a nutshell.

Started Saturday morning with my friend Cynthia massaging my hamstring.  It was wonderful!

I forgot to take a picture of her rubbing on me, but here we are in Cancun this past summer! 

Then I went and got my hair did!

I really do have to work on my posture.  I'm so hunchback I'm about to fall out of the chair.

Oh yes, and we tried Subway's new gluten free bread.  Not bad!

Audrie thought it was super yummy!

And a weekend in the hood would not be complete without a little garage time.  I ventured over to the neighbor's man cave for a glass of wine and red neck entertainment

Here is my sexy husband and Chuck doing air guitar (that's the entertainment party).  

And then we were chatting on the cozy garage couch (I guess that's the redneck part).

Do you workout at the gym?  How do you stay motivated?  What fun things did you do over the weekend?