• After finishing 26 Marathons (which I loved – see my review here!) I started Matt Fitzgerald’s memoir, Life is a Marathon. I was only expecting running stories, but duh Kim, the tagline is “A Memoir of Love and Endurance,” so a lot of the book is about his relationship with his wife, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder shortly after they got married. This is such an interesting read. In the book he runs eight marathons in eight weeks in a quest to answer the WHY of running – why do people do it? That part was great, but the parts about his relationship with his wife really drew me in and made me feel compassion for her struggles (and anyone with a mental illness). I will be thinking about their story a lot. And probably putting this book on my wish list, because I can see myself reading it again.

  • My only complaint is Fitzgerald’s use of big words in what seems to be just for the sake of showing off. I had to look up several words in every chapter. I couldn’t figure them out by context. We get it. You smart. Ha ha. (And I dumb.) (Here are some examples: cognoscenti, glossolalia, verisimilitude, solipsistic, seppuku. Looking up words is fine, I just hate how it interrupts the flow of reading, and having to use my phone.)
  • I started reading The Passion Paradox. Shalane Flanagan and other athletes I admire have been talking about how great it is and I wanted to check it out. Oh, and I listened to a cool podcast interview with one of the authors that intrigued me. It’s an easy, interesting read so far, about cultivating your passions and not letting them take over your life. I am curious to see if it applies to me – the only thing I seem to be remotely passionate about is running. But one chapter is about finding and developing passions, which makes me hopeful I can find more.

  • It snowed around 7″ at our house Sunday. After wrecking my car in an April snowstorm last year, I will never forget that it does, indeed, snow in April. I didn’t mind the snow. I knew it was coming, and got all my errands done Saturday, and enjoyed staying home Sunday and watching it come down!

  • We’ve tried the Impossible Burger at Red Robin! We did take out in Kansas City, and dined in last night, here. It tasted good, so Red Robin is moved to the probationary sh*t list. (One weird thing I noticed at both restaurants – there’s a bit of a dirty feet/locker room smell when you enter, even though the one by us was recently remodeled. Gross.)

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 225