Books read in 2013

Between Here and April, Deborah Copaken Kogan
Bleed for Me, Michael Robotham
The Making of a Royal Romance, Katie Nicholl 
Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II, Philip Eade
The Black Box, Michael Connelly
The Painted Girls, Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Drowning House, Elizabeth Black
Killing Kennedy, Bill O'Reilly
Argo, Antonio Mendez & Matt Baglio
Mad Women: The Other Side of Life on Madison Avenue in the '60s and Beyond, Jane Maas
Marilyn Monroe: A Case for Murder, Jay Margolis 
Amelia Earhart: The Truth at Last, Mike Campbell
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Stephen Rebello
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan
Detroit: An American Autopsy, Charlie LeDuff
Top of the Morning, Brian Stelter
A Private Disgrace: Lizze Borden by Daylight, Victoria Lincoln
Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen and the Greatest Race Ever Run, Matt Fitzgerald
Waiting to be Heard, Amanda Knox
Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace, Scott Thorson & Alex Thorleifson
The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness and Murder, Charles Graeber
The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story, Lily Koppel
The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America, Christian Wolmar
Banksy: The Man Behind the Wall, Will Ellsworth-Jones 
Detroit City Is the Place to Be, Mark Binelli 
Wreck of the Wabash, Laurie C. Dickens  
Hidden History of Detroit, Amy Elliott Bragg
The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
Kate: The Biography, Marcia Moody
Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, Piper Kerman
Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City, Gordon Young
This Town, Mark Leibovich
City of Scoundrels, Gary Krist
Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America, Sam Roberts
The Princess Diana Conspiracy, Alan Power  
The Shadow King; The Bizarre Afterlife of King Tut's Mummy, Jo Marchant
Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand
Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear, Stephen Manes
Reclaiming Parkland, Jame DiEugenio
Conquering Gotham: Building Penn Station and Its Tunnels, Jill Jonnes 
JFK Has Been Shot, Charles A. Crenshaw, M.D
Women of the Pleasure Quarters: The Secret History of the Geisha, Lesley Downer

Currently Reading: Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service, James McCommons

Old State Capitol VIII - Springfield, IL

Fall Into Fitness 5K

I ran the Fall Into Fitness 5K Saturday. This was my last race of 2013 season.

The sky was blue, the temperatures were in the high 30s and it was really windy. The wind was blowing over 20 mph. If the wind was blowing so much, it would have been a perfect day to race.

I was able to park close to the start line. I waited to take off my sweatpants and jacket off about five minutes before the race started. Waiting for the race to start, I was second guessing not bringing gloves. Once the race started, that feeling went away as I just bunched my hands inside my long sleeved shirt until they were warm.

When the race started, it felt like everyone was speeding by me. I just let them go. I was able to run a steady pace and crossed the first mile marker in about 7:58. It really didn't feel like I was running that fast. After the mile marker, the route took us a couple more blocks down the street. When we made a right handed turn, we met the wind. It was really strong. I wanted to stay behind groups of people, but they started to run away from me. I did catch up to a female and got behind her. I didn't stay there long as I ended up passing her.

One of our turns took us down into a park. Inside the park, I was able to catch a few more runners and pass them. Coming out of the park, we turned left and ran up an incline into the wind. On the short incline, I caught and was able to pass a few more runners. Once over the hill, a few runners and I were running in a pack. While in the pack, I lead the pack for a bit and so did a couple of other women.

The two women I was running with, started pulling away with about a mile to go. I didn't see the street marker indicating that we crossed the second mile mark, but I heard one of the women say that there was a mile left. Usually I would have looked at my watch to see if I was on pace, but I didn't. The women were getting away, but I was running down two guys in front of me. As I passed the guys, I could hear them talking. I knew I started to pull away from them because I couldn't hear them anymore.

Turning the final corner leading into the straightaway to the finish line, I knew that people were behind me. Some of the spectators on the corner were yelling for a couple of ladies. With a block to go, I heard a guy talking. I thought it was the guys I just passed. It wasn't. It was a guy leading two women. The guy told the women that they needed to speed up if they wanted to finish in the 25 minute mark. When they sped up, so did I. I was able to keep up with the women, but I finished behind them. I finished the race in 26:18.57.

I really wanted to finish the race in 25 minutes, but I was 18 seconds off. I was happy with my effort. I just fully recovered from a bad strained hamstring and running 26 minutes isn't bad at all. Especially with how very windy it was and how I haven't ran an interval workout in a while. I had a great racing season. I'm happy with how it all turned out.

Old State Capitol VII - Springfield, IL

Old State Capitol VI - Springfield, IL

Books read in 2013

Between Here and April, Deborah Copaken Kogan
Bleed for Me, Michael Robotham
The Making of a Royal Romance, Katie Nicholl 
Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II, Philip Eade
The Black Box, Michael Connelly
The Painted Girls, Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Drowning House, Elizabeth Black
Killing Kennedy, Bill O'Reilly
Argo, Antonio Mendez & Matt Baglio
Mad Women: The Other Side of Life on Madison Avenue in the '60s and Beyond, Jane Maas
Marilyn Monroe: A Case for Murder, Jay Margolis 
Amelia Earhart: The Truth at Last, Mike Campbell
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Stephen Rebello
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan
Detroit: An American Autopsy, Charlie LeDuff
Top of the Morning, Brian Stelter
A Private Disgrace: Lizze Borden by Daylight, Victoria Lincoln
Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen and the Greatest Race Ever Run, Matt Fitzgerald
Waiting to be Heard, Amanda Knox
Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace, Scott Thorson & Alex Thorleifson
The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness and Murder, Charles Graeber
The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story, Lily Koppel
The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America, Christian Wolmar
Banksy: The Man Behind the Wall, Will Ellsworth-Jones 
Detroit City Is the Place to Be, Mark Binelli 
Wreck of the Wabash, Laurie C. Dickens  
Hidden History of Detroit, Amy Elliott Bragg
The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
Kate: The Biography, Marcia Moody
Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, Piper Kerman
Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City, Gordon Young
This Town, Mark Leibovich
City of Scoundrels, Gary Krist
Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America, Sam Roberts
The Princess Diana Conspiracy, Alan Power  
The Shadow King; The Bizarre Afterlife of King Tut's Mummy, Jo Marchant
Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand
Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear, Stephen Manes
Reclaiming Parkland, Jame DiEugenio
Conquering Gotham: Building Penn Station and Its Tunnels, Jill Jonnes 
JFK Has Been Shot, Charles A. Crenshaw, M.D

Currently Reading: Women of the Pleasure Quarters: The Secret History of the Geisha, Lesley Downer

Big Ten Cross Country Championships

iuhoosiers.com

The Big Ten Cross Country Championships took place Sunday in West Lafayette, Indiana on the Purdue Boilermakers Cross Country Course.

msuspartans.com

For the first time in 14 years, a team other then the Wisconsin Badgers won the men's title. The Indiana Hoosiers won the men's team title with 51 points. Michigan Wolverines placed second with 66 points and Wisconsin was third with 71 points.  This is the Hoosiers first Big Ten Title in 33 years.

mgoblue.com

Even though Indiana won the team title, a Badger won the individual title. Malachy Schrobilgen won the 8K race in 24:16.9. Matt McClintock of Purdue was second in 24:17.9 and placing third was Matt Fischer of Penn State with a time of 24:19.7. Indiana's first finisher was Jason Crist in the fifth spot in 24:24.9. Indiana had four runners in the top 10 and the fifth runner crossed the line in 21st.

In the women's 6K race, Michigan State Spartans topped the Michigan Wolverines to win the women's cross country title. Michigan State won with 43 points. Michigan was second with 55 points and Minnesota Golden Gophers were third with 68 points. Michigan State won its first title since 2011.

Winning the individual title was Michigan's freshman Erin Finn. Finn stayed in the lead pack from the start of the race and ended up breaking away after the 3K. Finn won the race in 20:48.3. Coming in second was Michigan State's Leah O'Connor in 20:56. 9 and placing in third was Michelle Thomas from Ohio State in 21:03. 9. Michigan State placed their first five runners in top 15.

All of the Big Ten cross country teams will run again in the NCAA Cross Country Regional on Friday, November 15. Penn State will run in the Mid-Atlantic region in Bethleham, PA. Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin will run in the Great Lakes region in Madison, WI.  Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern run in Ames, Iowa in the Midwest region.

Men's results
Top Ten

  1. Malachy Schrobilgen, Wisconsin                  24:16.9
  2. Matt McClintock, Purdue                         24:17.9
  3. Matt Fischer, Penn State                        24:19.7
  4. Caleb Rhynard, Michigan State                   24:21.0
  5. Jason Crist, Indiana                            24:24.9
  6. Jannis Topfer, Illinois                         24:31.6
  7. Rorey Hunter, Indiana                           24:34.7
  8. Carl Smith, Indiana                             24:34.9
  9. Mason Ferlic, Michigan                          24:36.2
 10. Matthew Schwartzer, Indiana                     24:36.2

Team

  1. Indiana           51
  2. Michigan          66
  3. Wisconsin         71
  4. Minnesota        136
  5. Illinois         140
  6. Purdue           163
  7. Michigan State   170
  8. Ohio State       182
  9. Penn State       209
 10. Iowa             275
 11. Nebraska         314

Women's results 
Top Ten

  1. Erin Finn, Michigan                        20:48.3
  2. Leah O'Connor, Michigan State              20:56.9
  3. Laura Docherty, Minnesota                  21:03.9
  4. Michelle Thomas, Ohio State                21:04.1
  5. Katie Landwehr, Michigan State             21:04.4
  6. Katie Borchers, Ohio State                 21:07.2
  7. Samantha Ginther, Indiana                  21:08.4
  8. Molly Kayfes, Minnesota                    21:10.8
  9. Lindsay Clark, Michigan State              21:12.3
 10. Megan Weschler, Michigan                   21:20.2

Team 

  1. Michigan State    43
  2. Michigan          55
  3. Minnesota         68
  4. Penn State       143
  5. Ohio State       157
  6. Indiana          158
  7. Wisconsin        158
  8. Purdue           221
  9. Illinois         241
 10. Northwestern     264
 11. Nebraska         320
 12. Iowa             369

ING NYC Marathon

ING NYC Marathon

The ING New York City Marathon returned Sunday after canceling last year's race due to Hurricane Sandy.

The women's race had a breakaway of two runners from the start of the race. 
Buzunesh Deba and Tigist Tufa ran away from the pack in the beginning and built a three minute lead. Around 16 miles, Priscah Jeptoo started to pick up her pace and broke away from the chase pack. In six miles, Jeptoo was only 38 seconds behind the leader Deba, who dropped Tufa. A couple of minutes later, Jeptoo caught second place runner Tufa and passed her.  Around the 24th mile, Jeptoo pulled up to Deba and passed her. Jeptoo ran away and won the ING New York City Marathon in 2:25.07. Deba placed second in 2:25.56 and Jelena Prokopcuka was third in 2:27.14. The highest placing American woman was Adriana Nelson in 13th (2:35.05).

ING NYC Marathon

On the men's side, Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya won his second ING New York City Marathon. Mutai won the marathon in 2:08.24. Finishing in second was Tsegaye Kebede in 2:09.16. By finishing second, Kebede won the 2012-2013 World Marathon Major title. Lusapho April was third in 2:09.45.

In the first half of the race, Americans Meb Keflezighi and Jason Hartmann were in the lead pack. Keflezighi fell back from the lead pack because of an injury to his knee. Keflezighi finished the race in 20th place (2:23.47). Hartmann ended up dropping out of the race at 20 miles. Ryan Vail was the highest placing American. Vail finished the marathon in 13th place in 2:13:23. Jeffrey Eggleston, another American, finished behind Vail in 14th place (2:16.35).

Associated Press/Kathy Willens

In the women's wheelchair race history was made when 24-year-old American Tatyana McFadden won the grand slam of marathon titles. McFadden won the ING New York City Marathon in 1:59.13. McFadden won her fourth marathon title of the year. She won London, Boston and Chicago earlier this year. McFadden finished over three minutes ahead of second place finisher Wakako Tsuchida (2:02.54) and third place finisher Manuela Schar (2:03.53).

Marcel Hug was the winner of the close men's wheelchair race in 1:40.14. Second place finisher Ernst Van Dyk had the same time as Hug. Kurt Fearnley placed third in 1:40.15.