Eat Pray Love

I am FINALLY getting around to writing my book review for Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Here are a bunch of associated links you may like to visit:

Elizabeth Gilbert web page for the book

IMDB's article for the film (2010)

Film trailer #2

Wikipedia's article for the book

Book on Amazon.com

Rotten Tomatoes ratings and reviews for the film

So. My review on the book.

SPOILER ALERT!

Don't read any further if you don't want to know if Elizabeth finds love in the third leg of her journey.

I really enjoyed this memoir of a woman's pursuit of happiness by way of gorging Italian food, growing spiritually and galloping off in love. It is a light book that is well suited to those who enjoy travel.

My favorite part is Eat, where Elizabeth lets her self live through eating whatever she wants in Italy. Loads of spaghetti and original pizza! I liked her friendship with her Italian tutor a lot and the friends she met there. Her little apartment was quaint in my memory of her living space.

Speaking of living spaces, she had great fortune because she had an awesome room and roommate (though quiet, heh) in India in the Pray leg of the trip. I had mixed feelings about this portion of the book going into it: ugh, I don't want religion/spirituality shoved down my throat versus hmmm, I wonder what she got out of her stay in the community in India. Turns out I really enjoyed this part. I especially liked how Elizabeth came around to love the arduous prayers. I'm a big believer in the fruits of the process and hard work that goes into something. I like that Elizabeth found something in which to pour herself spiritually. The sense of community she found was therapeutic, too. And let's not forget Richard from Texas! He was one of my top favorite people she met in her trip.

And the final place Elizabeth stayed was BEAUTIFUL! Bali. Beaches. Breezes. The movie made her living quarters a little more glamorous than I imagined in my head, but it still worked well. If I go to Bali, I hope I am lucky enough to stay in a similar bungalow. But, ah, the topic of love. Love is the biggest mystery, and in the end I'd just like to say that it finds you in its own time. *shrug.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

Labor Day Weekend

I've never been so excited to have a

weekend. Why? Well, this year I am driving home with one of my best friends, Sam,

and my baby girl, Heidi,

to do some serious camping!

Today I vacuumed, washed, waxed and organized my car in preparation for the trip.

It's gonna be a long haul from Florida to Indiana!

We'll probably make it in about 18 hours. We will have CD books, MadLibs and snacks to make this  

a ton of fun. We're pretty excited. This will be Sam's first visit to the great Midwest!

We'll be passing through Atlanta, Georgia,

Chattanooga, Tennessee,

and Knoxville, Tennessee.

Then we'll brush past Cincinnati, Ohio,

before entering

AKA:

Something I've missed out on for a couple years is Sno-Castle! We're gonna have to get some on our way to the camp site.

Then, while camping, I'll spend some time near the camp fire cooking the perfect s'more,

enjoy some boating,

and play some Euchre!

Oh, I can hardly wait! T-minus 3 days!

Nike+ Goal Progress Report 5/5

This is the fifth and final progress report of five for my Nike+ goal to run 30 miles in the two week span of Tuesday, 9 August 2011 through Monday, 22 August 2011.

You may have noticed that I missed progress reports 3 and 4... Didn't help that I was in Iowa for the last 5 days. Anyway, the goal has concluded, and here are the results:

Miles Planned to Date: 30
Miles Actually Ran to Date: 22.3
Miles Short: 7.7

I realize my numbers don't match up to the image above. I calculated the 22.3 based off of individual run mileages; not sure where the missing 0.6 miles went.

Here's a snapshot of what mileage I ran on which days:

Well, I did a LOT better with this goal than I did with the last one. I improved on the progress reporting, too. I'll set up another goal to run between today and Saturday, 10 September 2011 at the Autumn Rock 'N Roll 5K:

TSRS 1/7: Celebration of Running 5K

Today was the first race of the Track Shack's Running Series: the Celebration of Running 5K in Winter Park, Florida!

Here is a snap shot of my race results (I'm 4th from the bottom - look at the bottom page for column titles):

Nike+ offers some neat statistics and graphical views. Here is a graphical view of my pace throughout the race:

Here is a breakdown of my time per mile:

Here is a map of the route (with start, finish and mile markers):

Overall, it was a great race. I only walked briefly to drink some water at each of the two water stations. It was ridiculously hot and humid, though - we were all dripping (literally) before the race even began. I am looking forward to the cooler weather to train in and compete in soon!

Added bonus: the announcer mentioned that the Track Shack was having its final day of a store-wide 20% off regular prices sale today! So, after the race, I purchased my new Brooks Adrenalines (pictured below)! I had planned to do this Monday, but who says no to saving $20? I also picked up some energy gels in a variety of flavors for my up-coming long weekend runs as I begin training for the Walt Disney World Wine & Dine Half Marathon.

And that wraps it up for my first race in the series! Next up is the Autumn Rock 'N Roll 5K in Casselberry, Florida on Saturday, 10 September 2011! Here's a snap shot of the Track Shack Running Series (link to my blog about it):

Nike+ Goal Progress Report 2/5

This is the second progress report of five for my Nike+ goal to run 30 miles in the two week span of Tuesday, 9 August 2011 through Monday, 22 August 2011.

Miles Planned Since Last Report: 8.1
Miles Actually Ran Since Last Report: 6.1
Miles Behind Since Last Report: 2.0
Miles Made-Up Since Last Report: 0.0

Miles Planned to Date: 9.8
Miles Actually Ran to Date: 7.8
Miles Behind to Date: 2.0
Miles Made-Up to Date: 0.0

Snap shot of my goal's progress to date:

While I was rummaging around on NikePlus.com I clicked Maps to see what all it had to offer. Pretty neat stuff. Here's a snap shot of my all-time running stats (since I started using Nike+ in the summer of 2007):

So, I need to make up 2 miles. I have 2 miles scheduled for tomorrow and a planned day off on Monday. Because no one ever wants to run on their day off, I think I'll run 3 tomorrow instead of just 2. I'll add the remaining mile to my planned Wednesday run of 2 miles (now 3 miles).

A few words of motivation: Today kicked off the Track Shack Running Series! Click here to read the blog about the my race!

Nike+ Goal: 30 Miles in 2 Weeks

Okay, trying things out with smaller goals and more frequent progress reports.

This Nike+ goal is for me to run 30 miles in the two week span of today, Tuesday, 9 August 2011 through Monday, 22 August 2011. I'm going to blog my progress on Tuesdays and Fridays and after the goal has completed. Wish me luck!