What I Read in August 2017
Well, this post is coming to you quite late! September has been an extremely busy month, and although it's not over yet, I already know I'm going to be at an all-time low for books read in a month. But going back to last month: I read seven books in the month of August, which puts me at 73 books for the year (as of September 1st) - six books ahead of schedule to reach my goal of 100 books for the year. Let's see if that little lead is enough to keep me afloat when I don't have many books logged in September... 4 stars: How College Athletics Are Hurting Girls' Sports: The Pay-To-Play Pipeline, by Rick Eckstein: Although this was a bit dry at times due to the volume of data/studies presented, it was a really interesting topic, and has certainly given me new perspective on getting kids involved in sports. I especially loved the last chapter on potential solutions for both colleges and high schools. I would highly recommend this to anyone with kids who may play sports at all (which, these days, is everyone). The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds, by Michael Lewis: Fascinating biography of Amos Tversky and Danny Kahneman! This is an excellent companion to … [Continue reading]
Travel Thursday: “Price Gouging” on Hurricane Evacuation Flights
This week, I was back in south Florida, and I was relieved to find that (at least the area I was in) was pretty much back to normal. There were a few billboards whose advertisements were ripped by the wind, and a few palm trees with lost fronds, but for the most part, everything had already been cleaned up, and I didn’t encounter any sort of power/water issues. I was so glad to see my client's area back to normal! However, I know there are still a lot of islands in the Caribbean with horrible devastation – I hope all the hurricanes ease up and give them the opportunity to recover and rebuild :( On this Travel Thursday, I wanted to discuss some misconceptions I've heard about the airline industry with response to the hurricanes. Namely: there were a lot of media outlets falsely reporting that airlines were jacking up prices in order to profit from the storm. The more I read, the more I realized that so many people still have no idea how airline pricing works. Here's a quick primer on airline revenue management. In a nutshell, an airline’s pricing department sets the price points and rules for each fare class on a specific route. So, a Y-class fare might be selling for $2000, … [Continue reading]
Race Report: Broncos 7K Denver
Sunday morning of Labor Day weekend, I got to run the Broncos 7K in Denver. It's part of the same series as the fabulous 7K I ran in Fort Collins, but this course traded finishing at the Anheuser Busch Brewery for finishing on the 50 yard line of Broncos Stadium. Pretty fun! I spent the night before the race out in the mountains, which meant that I had to get up pretty early to get to the start. Between running the Waneka Classic 5K the day before, drinking a few beers while watching football, and staying up late / getting up early, I wasn't feeling great about how I would run. I had already decided I wasn't going to try to PR the 7K, but I still wanted to give the race a solid effort. I stopped at Dunkin Donuts in Silverthorne to grab coffee for my drive, and went with caffeinated rather than the decaf I usually drink, hoping that would help. The drive back to town at 6am was so peaceful - no traffic, good music (I was listening to Ed Sheeran on Spotify), and beautiful sunrise scenery over the mountains. I'm buying a condo this fall and had originally thought I'd buy one out in the mountains, but then decided I'd save that for a year or two and get something in downtown … [Continue reading]
Hitting the Trails… Literally
Last year, my friends Lynne and Heidi started an email group of their runner friends. One or two days a week, someone would send an email to invite everyone for a pre-work group run at one trailhead or another. But I never went even once - a combo of my work keeping me out of town Monday through Thursday, and my being scared to run on trails... especially with such an experienced and trail-savvy group. Trails have always felt a little bit intimidating to me. When I first moved to Colorado, I had no interest in even hiking until my good friend Mike dragged me out to summit Green Mountain one Saturday morning. (And that's now my favorite hike in Boulder.) After that, I thought hiking trails was fine, but that running them was only for the really advanced super outdoorsy runner people... which I was definitively not. This year, I started to challenge that assumption. On Easter Sunday, I discovered the Flatirons Vista trailhead near my house - a 3.6 mile loop that is fairly flat (300 feet of elevation gain throughout) and has gorgeous sweeping views. When the emails from Lynne and the other girls started up this spring, I decided I'd try to get some trail running experience of my … [Continue reading]
