Running the World (running, European travel)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Running the World, by Taylor Lynn Chase and Kate Lincoff

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.runningtheworldguide.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Information about running culture and specific route information about the best running routes in Europe's top cities and tourist destinations.

MY REVIEW: I cannot recommend this blog highly enough. It's two blogs in one - a running blog and a European travel blog. I love it. (Well, I'm a biker, not a runner, but the ethos of the runner, walker or biker is much the same, we want to be out and doing, with a heart for any fate.)

The two authors are writing for Blaze Travel Guides, a company they intend to launch in June, and this is the companion blog. If you're a runner, or if you're interested in European (west and east) travel, you'll find much to enjoy in this blog.

Sample post:

Terviseks Estonia!

Don't giggle. "Terviseks" (yes, pronounced "ter-vee-SEX") is Estonian for cheers, and today Blaze Travel Guides would like to congratulate this small nation on its being one step closer to adopting the Euro.

Okay, so being part of the Euro zone is not quite what all the cool kids are doing these days (see Greece, Current Economic Crisis In). But still, raising their economy to this level is quite an accomplishment for the Estonians. And it will make active travelers lives easier.

See, there's a reason we recommend a training program for those of you preparing to go to Northern, Central, Southern, or Southeastern Europe this summer. Of all the countries in this region, only Slovenia and Montenegro use the Euro (and why Montenegro? We're not sure. But it was only founded it 2007, so maybe it's too new of a country). This means that, as you travel from one capital to the next you will also be running from one currency exchange booth to another. As in, Estonian Crowns to Latvian Lats. Latvian Lats to Lithuanian Litas. Lithuanian Litas to Polish Zlotis, and Polish Zlotis back to Crowns but this time of the Czech variety. Don't mix them up. One is worth a lot more than the other (but after all our travels, we don't remember which).

So it's nice to learn that, despite the chaos being wrecked on the Euro at this moment, there is an economy somewhere that has proved its stability. And indeed, despite some uncertainty over inflation, Estonia's is cruising. This is because, even though it is a small country, it does have an industry.

Tech.

Tallinn has been called the Silicon Valley of the Baltic Sea, and among the numerous successful and influential startups that have come out of that reason, you might be most familiar with a little one called Skype. It's amazing to think that a city which was, a mere twenty years ago, locked behind an Iron Curtain, is now a major player in the communications world.

You can learn more about this and all sorts of other interesting things about Estonia, including where to run, when we launch Blaze Travel Guides this June. In the meantime, drink a toast to your Baltic brethren!

RECENT POSTS:
--"One Bottle of Still Water, Please"
--A Sunday Morning Triumph
--Running Attire
--Someone(s) to Run With
--Terviseks Estonia!


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Ms. Cairo writes several blogs including:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

Six Sports Blogs

From now on, at least one entry per day (of the two I intend to make) will be devoted to one of the ten categories into which the blogs at Amazon/Kindle are divided. The other entry will be on one or two blogs that catch my fancy.

So, let's start with six sports blogs. I had hoped to find some that talked about the Olympics or Olympics sports - but could find none. (Mostly what's on offer are baseball, football and basketball blogs - and I'll be reviewing them all, eventually.)

1. Girly Fitness NO
2. Motorcycle-Intelligence.com NO
3. Podium Café YES
4. The Prep Beat MAYBE
5. Running Blog (LogThtRun.com) NO
6. Surviving Grady NO

Girly Fitness. Women's fitness advice and tips. Women's nutrition & workouts
Well, first off I hate the title. “Girly fitness.” Please. Girl’s Fitness or Women’s Fitness. But “girly”? Sounds kind of pejorative to me. The posts may be of value, but unfortunately the blog has not been updated since October 29, 2009. And it’s not the Kindle, because I double-checked their website, and its moribund there, as well. girlyfitness.com.


Motorcycle-Intelligence.com . Motorcycle-Intelligence.com is a popular motorcycle blog about bikes, gear, destinations, and rider safety. Heck, some of the comments alone are worth the price of admission! ;-).

I have to give this a no because the interface is unsuitable for Kindle. At the original blog (and you see the website URL in their title) the title is a hotlink, and below that is the first paragraph of the article. If you want to read more, you click on the title and are taken to the complete text. Not so on the Kindle. The title is not linked to anything, so all you get is a useless first paragraph of an article that goes on for pages and pages. I know there’s software that allows the entire entry to be viewed on a Kindle – Podium café uses it, as does The Hermitage (green living) which I reviewed a couple of days ago, but this one doesn’t.

I left them a comment on their blog, so perhaps they’ll fix the problem.


Podium Cafe. Podium Café provides news and updates of the latest cycling stories. This blog is for cyclists and cycling enthusiasts, and provides valuable advice in addition to the latest event recaps.

They are still road racing right now in Europe! In winter. Who knew? If you’re a bicycling enthusiast – from road racing to cyclocross (and I was delighted to see the author of the blog was featuring both men and women – he has a profile of cyclocross rider Amy Dombrowksi who is touted to be of champion caliber, for one thing) you will enjoy this blog. www.podiumcafe.com/ to see their home.

The Prep Beat. News updates on area high schools, including North Kitsap, Central Kitsap, Olympic, Bremerton, South Kitsap, Bainbridge and North Mason high schools. By Sun sports staff writers Chuck Stark, Jeff Graham, Annette Griffus and Nathan Joyce. pugetsoundblogs.com/kitsap-preps

I give this blog a MAYBE. If you’re in the area – and I believe the area is around Puget Sound, Washington, you’ll be interested in this material, so it deserves a YES. (They cover both boys and girls sports, which is refreshing.) But if you’re elsewhere, I don’t think the same interest applies. So, we’ll compromise with a maybe.

Running Blog. Running blog that covers running tips, hints and more. As well as covering information on upcoming races, running news, info about changes to our website's running log and other related information in a runner's world.

This is a blog attached to a commercial site that sells a computer program to help runners log their run. It’s at LogthatRun.com.

Unfortunately, they update it about once a month. This would not necessarily be a bad thing, if they updated it with information about running, as they promise in their blog description. But instead, its just updates to their program. So, not worth bothering with, I don’t think. I’ll keep an eye on it, and if they start proving other material on a regular basis, I’ll report it here.

Surviving Grady. Like most Red Sox fans, we were sick after Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. Couldn't sleep. Didn't want to eat. Listened for hour after hour as fans lambasted Grady and dissected the game on sports radio. Watched with some sense of satisfaction as the Marlins celebrated on the Yankees' turf. But it couldn't keep us from thinking that it should have been us. Spiraling, we caught our breath and decided to channel our energies into something positive. No more punching walls, throwing beer cans or threatening the kids when the Sox dropped a game. No, we'd start a weblog! A place to vent our frustrations and slather our joys as the Sox, restocked and reloaded, make their way through the 2004 schedule in a bold attempt to right the wrongs of last season, set the universe back on its proper axis, and stuff a bat up Steinbrenner's south 40.

I give these guys a no, for a simple reason. They actually would have been willing to accept Manny Ramirez back in the clubhouse, had he chosen to leave the Dodgers this trading season. They actually hoped it would happen!

They are clearly insane. (Also, from their website: survivinggrady.com - it appears they may be having to move hosts soon, so one wonders if their Kindle feed will continue unabated. If not…no loss! Manny Ramirez back in a Red Sox uniform – gag me with a spoon!