Over 100 Running Books

I have finally broken 100 books in my personal running library! Thanks to my wife (and Christmas), I now have 101 books in my library (all posted at Library Thing and also linked from this blog on the left column). Here are the newest additions:

Death Valley Ultras: The Complete Crewing Guide (2006)
I borrowed this book at the 2007 Badwater race and read as much as I could before the race started. Seemed like a good book to have if you ever wanted to run the race. Do I want to run this race? Does my wife want me to run it? Did I ask for this book?!

Healthy Intelligent Training: The Proven Principles of Arthur Lydiard (2009)
I saw this book on Amazon and added it to my wish list as fast as I could. I love the Lydiard training philosophy. This book is "endorsed by the Lydiard Foundation" (whatever that means). I've only read the first 60 pages so far and it looks very good.

The Coolest Race on Earth: Mud, Madmen, Glaciers, and Grannies at the Antarctica Marathon (2009)
This book was the biggest surprise on Christmas day...is my wife telling me something? Should I be running this crazy race...and Badwater too? Yikes!

50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days--and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance (2008)
As much as I get frustrated with this dude, Dean does get people talking about ultra running. I was less interested in the 50 marathons story and more in the "secrets I learned" part of the book. My wife will enjoy the running anecdotes and I'll hopefully learn something I can apply to my running. Hey, is that wife of mine trying to get me to run 50 marathons in 50 states...in 50 days?

The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Running (2005)
As most typical runners, I have a weak upper body. Since I belong to a local gym, I think I should start some weight training. If this works out, maybe I'll be running Badwater, and the Antarctica Marathon, and...maybe not. But maybe I'll have a bit more core body strength and fewer DNFs at those 100 milers.

In addition to these fine books, I received 3 new running related movies:

Badwater Ultramarathon 2007 Video Webcast Archive
This is a collection of all the cool webcast material from the 2007 race (where I helped crew Brian Kuhn). It also includes media coverage from news agencies around the world. Anyone that crewed or ran the race would enjoy having this archive. It's pretty cool. Wait a minute...is this another sneaky ploy from my wife to get me to run this darn race?

The Distance of Truth
This DVD tells the story of Ferg Hawke as he trains and races the 2005 Badwater race. It gets a bit philosophical and spiritual at times, but is still a very well done documentary. Has some interesting historical notes about Death Valley and the race plus high quality audio and video of the race itself. Well done.

Raw Courage: Find It or Die
I never even heard of this movie. It's about 3 ultra runners in New Mexico that run a 72 mile race through the desert and are confronted by a band of crazy militia. Interesting use of runners using their fitness to survive. Not exactly an Oscar winning movie, but I enjoyed it. MSN Movies gives it 2/5 stars.

All of these wonderful gifts...plus a 2-0 win by Chelsea over West Brom! It was a good Christmas and Boxing Day.