The Four-Minute Mile

Yesterday I finished reading Roger Bannister's The Four-Minute Mile. It's his personal account of his life and years leading up to breaking the 4-minute mile barrier. A really terrific read if you love running and history! Might be a bit slow for non-runners, but I bet still fascinating to learn about the intricacies of this subculture of competitive track and field you might never venture into yourself. He makes a lot of poignant statements about his concerns about running transforming into a profession verse the amateur status he enjoyed while running. Roger Bannister viewed running as just a part of his life, and committed just 30 minutes a day to his training while in medical school.

Read more if you like!

Final Exam

Just finished reading Pauline Chen's Final Exam.  She came and gave a lecture at Stanford last year and I was really impressed. Her book was a good read for someone in medical school, not sure how appealing it would be to nonmed folks. She was very honest, which I appreciated, throughout the book. Good read overall!

Born to Run

Last month I finally read Born to Run, a NY Times bestseller written by Christopher McDougall that ignited the barefoot running craze. No I'm not running barefoot or wearing vibrams, but I did love the book. Born to Run is so well written, and most of all such a great story! I loved the combination of history, anthropology, data on the running industry, and the compelling characters. I was so sad when I finished reading it, I would consider reading it again, it was that good.

So if you have a chance, whether you love or hate running,  think vibrams are monkey feet or an amazing invention, I definitely suggest reading Born to Run!

Happy Winter Break!

Pediatrics, OB/Gyn, & Psychiatry are now behind me, with a month break here to stay! I start up again in January with surgery: transplant, cardiothoracic and general surgery --should be an interesting two months.

My plans for now mostly include reading and running, with a few mini vacations in between.  I think one of my New Year's Resolutions is going to be to blog more regularly, and I'm trying to get a headstart on that resolution now!