Second Wind by Cami Ostman

Second Wind by Cami Ostman

Cami Ostman is an old classmate and friend who is a truly amazing woman. Reading this book was a pleasure as I can hear her voice in my head as I read. Having followed her blog during the process and had I the cash I would have gone to Antarctica. I eagerly awaited this book.

Second Wind is a book about many things and I recommend reading it. It is a book about running. It is a book about divorce. It is a book about finding new love. It is a book about travel. It is a book about personal growth. It is a book about finding out where one's limits are. I could go on, but the point is that this is a book about many things. Cami manages to tread the fine line between discussing deep personal issues and TMI. As a fan of personal or non-fiction narratives Second Wind holds your attention.

My own marathoning experience is very different from Cami's in that it seems inevitable that I would end up marathoning given that I transitioned into road races in 1990 upon completing college and was needing a new athletic challenge after the end of my college soccer career. I would have marathoned by the end of 1993 had I not broke my ankle and delayed the process for 5 years when UI finally ran my first in 1998. The marathon idea really started in the Summer of 1990 during the Goodwill Games in Seattle when a young lawyer I worked for simply up and ran the race, since their was public participation in that event. It made me realize that with a generally high level of fitness that I maintain, training myself to do the odd endurance event was a rational goal.

Like Cami, I too am a "Back of the Packer" as my speed is long gone, the product of numerous injuries and creeping age.

I joked to my son as I bought this book that it was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had in a bookstore ... which led to the following list:

1)Buying Cami's book and also the book store reading.
2)Meeting The Fonz with my daughter and mentioning how much I loved "The One And Only" while my daughter was excited to meet the crazy football coach from "The Waterboy".
3)Discussing the fate of The Combine and college poetry with Sherman Alexie. We were at WSU at the same time and I saw him read while there at a place that was converted into a French restaurant in Pullman.
4)Discussing Wrestlemania XIX with Chris Jericho, and his match in particular.
5)Discussing religious mythology with Clive Barker.
6)Harry Potter Book 7 at midnight in 2007 and then going into a race with my son to see who would read it first. I won with it completed before midnight the next day.
7)Meeting Yann Martel and discussing other works of Holocaust literature.
8)Watching a little girl clutch a copy of Harry Potter Book 6 looking really tired and like it might be almost too heavy for her to carry on release night of Book 6 in 2005.
9)Seeing the huge line for Mary Pope Osborne at Third Place Books in 2005.
10)Any time I meander through used book stores. Most notably the first time i walked The Ave and found the used book stores when in high school.