I practice karate, and spar in class as well as in tournaments. I used to use on of those boil and bite type mouth guards. They worked great. There are cheap ones, but I usually used one of the better quality mouth guards made by Shock Doctor. When you boil the traditional boil-and-bite mouthguards, they become soft, then mold to your teeth when you bite down on them.
But when I got my braces put on, I couldn’t use those mouth guards anymore. The problem is that when you bite down on the softened warm plastic, they will stick your your braces. Shock Doctor makes a mouth guard for braces, which I bought at the local sporting goods store. You don’t boil it. It is this big bulky soft plastic thing. I used it for lack of anything else. It wasn’t very comfortable. It didn’t fit to the teeth, so it was difficult to talk. When I kiai’d while sparring, I have actually had it come flying out of my mouth.
So I continued searching for an alternative. I found a mouth guard for braces made by a company named Shield. It is called Extreme Braces Mouth Guard. If you do a Google search for “shield extreme braces mouth guard”, you find various places to but it. The mouth guard is made of two different types of plastic. On of the plastics gets softened when placed in boiled water, the other type doesn’t. I boiled some water in a hotel coffee maker, and placed the mouth guard into the hot water for the 35 seconds according to the directions. I pulled it out, put it into my mouth, and bit down. Then I ran it under cold water. It fit great! It fit as well as the traditional boil-and-bite mouth guards, but worked with my braces! I used it for the karate tournament. It was great!
Becoming an Ironman: First Encounters with the Ultimate Endurance Event by Kara Douglass Thom
SUMMARY: Great book! Funny! I think anyone would enjoy these stories!
I really enjoyed this book! The book is a collection of people’s stories about their first Ironman Triathlon. The stories are told in their own words. Some of the stories are serious, but many are funny. One of my favorite stories was about Bob Babbit’s first Ironman Triathlon. He showed up thinking the race was two days, and had bags loaded on his bike with tent and sleeping bag, etc. I was laughing out loud as I read his story. But as I said, many of the other stories were also funny. There were all very interesting as hey talked about what got them to try racing an Ironman Triathlon, and then how their race went. I have never really considered racing an Ironman, but I am considering trying a shorter length triathlon. I just need to improve my swimming. If you are interesting endurance events, running, swimming, biking, etc, you should check out this book!
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And Then The Vulture Eats You by John L. Parker Jr.
SUMMARY: Great collection of ultramarathon stories!
This book it out of print, and not easy to find. But I checked Amazon, and there was a copy listed. Yet everytime I tried to order it, it said no more copies were availble. Then a copy showed up for $2. I ordered that, only to have it cancelled. I finally managed to find a copy of the book for $20. I was more than happy to pay the $20 to get it. This is a great price compared to the $70 copies I have found.
Anyway, I was looking forward to reading the book after seeing how highly recommended it was. The book contained stories by some big names in running: James E. Shapiro, Don Kardong, Kenny Moore, Hal Higdon, Ed Ayres, Tom Hart, Mark Will-Weber, and John L. Parker Jr.
The ultramarathons aren’t all your tradition 100 mile runs either. It starts off with a 6 day race (144 hours) story by James Shapiro. The next story is by Don Kardong about the Le Grizz 50 miler. This is followed by Kenny Moore describing The Great Hawaiian Footrace and 18 days of running 313 miles. Then comes Hal Higdon describing a run across Indiana. Ed Ayres dscribes his failed attempt at the Western States 100. Tom Hart describes his running 37 miles just to see if he could do it. Mark Will-Weber writes about a five stage race in England named Tour Of Tameside. John L. Parker Jr, closes out the book with a story about a race called The Ultimate Runner which consists of running a 10k, 400 meters, 100 meters, 1 mile, then a marathon.
All of the stories were good. I am sure I will be coming back and re-reading this book often.
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Breaking Through the Wall: A Marathoner’s Story by Dolores E. Cross
SUMMARY: Disappointing! Very little about running! Mostly about her life as a black woman, and minority issues. Wasted my time!
I got this book at the library. Thankfully I didn’t buy it! I took the time to scan it and convert it to an audio book. I started listening to it. At the beginning of each chapter she starts with a small bit about running. In fact the chapters are even named stuff like “Mile 1″, “Mile 2″, etc. I listened and listened. I was halfway through the book and wanted RUNNING! I went back and skimmed the book, and found that running seemed to start at chapter 23. This is two-thirds of the way through the book. So I started listening at chapter (Mile) 23, and she talked about training for and running her first marathon. Then the book went back to minority issues! I finally got fed up, ejected the CD from my car stereo, and chucked it along the rest of the Cd’s into the back seat. The author wasted my time! If you are going to name a book “Breaking Through the Wall: A Marathoner’s Story” and have a photo of a runner cross a finish line…have the book be something about RUNNING!!!!!
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Ten Million Steps: The Incredible Journey of Paul Reese, Who Ran Across America-A Marathon a Day for 124 Days-At Age 73 by Paul Reese
SUMMARY: Awe inspiring! That anyone could run 26 miles a day for 124 days, let along a 73 year old man! Wow!
I have been reading pretty much every running related autobiography I can get my hands on. I was surprised to learn that people have actually run across the United States. This book was written from the log kept by Paul Reese as he ran across the United States. Reese ran an average of 26 miles a day for 124 days, and at age 73! Most people have a hard enough time running 26 miles alone. And here this 73 year old man was doing it day after day! Just incredible. I enjoyed his writing. It was fascinating reading about various problems he encountered, such as trying to get a larger pair of the New Balance shoes he liked. It was also interesting reading about the various people he encountered along the way. While I have no desire to run across the America, it did inspire me to consider riding my bike across the state.
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