y=mx+b

Yup, that's the formula of a line.  I'm sure you think this is a clever tie-in to running hills or something equally as funny, but alas, it's not. It really is just the formula for finding the y-intercept when you already have the coordinates and know the slope.  Why is this the title of today's post then, you might be asking.  Well, since it is summer and I have free time galore, I decided to fill that time with some good old professional development.  It sure was nice to have vacation while it lasted.  Ahhh the good old days.  Anyways, so I signed up for this middle school mathematics class because there were extra spots open and I figured I could use the PDPs.  Turns out though, they actually expect you to KNOW middle school math.  Now isn't that something?  We spent the majority of today graphing lines and find line stories and I was woefully lost.  Newsflash, algebra is not my strong suit.  Everything made sense when there were numbers in place, but then the person leading the class took away the numbers and turned everything into letters, and there I was, staring at the page like a cow in a tornado.  (Alright, that's a terrible metaphor, but basically, I was lost and had no idea what I was doing there.) And so here I am, googling all the different ways to find the y-intercept.  Which is all great except that it still doesn't make sense when I replace the numbers with letters, so I don't really know what to do about that.  Just be glad I'm not teaching children how to solve linear equations!

Anyways, I'm taking a break from solving line equations now and just throwing in a quick update since I missed two weeks again.  Sorry about that, but I am rather busy, and I'm pretty sure about 10 people read this anyways.  If you're interested in the woods runs, two weeks ago was the 2nd tour, which was fun but HOT.  Well, not so much hot as it was high humidity.  It was 6.5 miles of struggling through sweat and dodging slippery rocks because it had just finished raining before the race.  I do like the tours, even if they do have an elevation gain of 720 feet.

Last week was the regular old 4 mile run that always falls around the 4th of July.  I'd love to say it was easier than the tour, but I'd be lying.  By all means, it should have been easier, but for me it wasn't.  That run goes up by Stone Tower and Steel Tower, which are both large hills. I don't know, it could have been the heat again, or perhaps I've just given up at running consistently because I found myself walking quite a bit again.  At this point, I've taken on a whatever attitude towards it, which obviously isn't helping.  I've even been walking the bits of the Battle Road trail in Lexington, which is just ridiculous because it's fairly flat there.  Hot tip: Great spot for Poke stops if you're playing the hot new game of 2016.  There's one at every historical marker and if you've been on that trail, there are historical markers basically every 20 feet, and that's no lie.

Aside from the running, I've been catching up on months worth of missed reading.  I hit up all those must read book lists that Buzzfeed publishes, compiled a list of books that seemed most interesting, and hit the library.  Some of the books I ended up with were just new releases that looked good when I picked them up, others are from the lists, but in case you're wondering, here's what I've read so far.  Sorry, I don't record the author, only the title, so I can't help you with that.
-Lilac Girls
-Carry On
-Lovecraft Country
-Midair
-Modern Lovers
-The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
-Kindred
-Pym
-Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles)
-Scarlett (The Lunar Chronicles)

So far I've enjoyed reading all of them but obviously I've liked some better than others.  I'd recommend them all, but fair warning, most of them are kind of bummer stories, turns out, and not great beach reads.  Carry On would probably be ok on the beach, but the others aren't exactly light-hearted fluff.  Still, if you're bored, check out any one of them for something to do.  I do suppose I should get back to lines now, so enjoy the pictures until next time.

Oh ya, we went go-carting too. That was fun, but surprisingly tiring.

Just a picture of the beach.

After 6.5 tour.  My shoulder looks ripped, but I don't feel like it does the sweat justice, I really was covered.

4 miles, not as sweaty.

WARNING!!!

There is a picture of my blister following this, so if you do not want to see it, don't look any further!

This stupid blister has been on the side of my foot since the Boston Marathon. I've done everything to make it go away and it just won't.  I honestly think the only solution at this point is to get new running shoes.  I've tried taping, soaking, lotion, everything I can think of to get this thing to go away and stop reappearing and nothings worked.  So if you have any other suggestions, please, I'm all ears!