Ready, Set, Weekend!

Happy Friday. I thought it'd be fun to share a variety of things I've been meaning to sneak into posts, but just haven't yet. There isn't much of a theme here. So, let's get to it!

#1: Grace wrote to us because she enjoys our Food for Runners series. She sent along the link to an awesome cookbook called Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients.

Grace writes: "Power Foods starts out with info about 30-40 of the most nutrition-packed foods out there and explains why each are good for you and how to best to prepare and store them. Next, it's got tons of recipes containing all (and pretty much exclusively) these super foods."

"It's not aimed at eating light or weight loss, but at how to feed your body what it needs to keep it strong and healthy. Right up your alley. The recipes are great too. I want to make every one of them! And the majority are vegetarian. The photos are excellent to boot. I highly recommend it."

You can buy Power Foods on Amazon.com for $16.

#2: Christina writes: "I just started running this summer and really enjoy it . . . I recently came across this way of running called 'Chi running' and was wondering what you thought about it. Have you tried it, and, if so, is it worth venturing into?"

What is Chi running? Check this out . . .



I'm sharing this topic because I, myself, don't know much about it. Stephen, on the other hand, read ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running and watched several videos like the one above. He now swears by the method, which he says has "helped [him] use the downward pull of gravity to [his] advantage."

#3: Kim writes: "At a race I did recently, the results had a column for something called 'Age Grading' . . . I hadn't seen that before. What do you know about this number? Does it matter much?"


I came across the age grading thing in the same way, Kim. I had never heard of it before, but then I saw a number in the results of a race one day. Basically, age grading is a way of judging everyone -- regardless of age -- on the same scale based on their performance versus exact time. There's more information about specifics on the Compuscore site.

The scale is as follows:

100%= Approximate World Record Level
Over 90%= World Class
Over 80%= National Class
Over 70%= Regional Class
Over 60%= Local Class

To calculate your age grade for a recent race, just check out this nifty Runners World Calculator.

Do you know anything about Chi Running or Age Grading? We'd love to hear your thoughts and help answer these questions. Just leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.


And read all about our Tornado Thursday today on Writing Chapter Three. What a wild afternoon it was.

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