Last year around this time I posted photos of the Boston Marathon as it made tracks past our bookstore. Unfortunately I was stuck in our windowless basement buyers’ office today when the runners went by (too much work to do!!), but thanks to the microchip on her shoe I was at least able to track the path of our bookseller-turned-librarian (and self-professed "peeker"), Sarah Nixon, whom I blogged about in last year’s Marathon post.
Today Sarah is featured in the "Supercool Library Worker Spotlight" on Library Journal’s LJ Insider blog. Hooray!! And here at ShelfTalker she is the recipient of my what is only the second gold star I’ve given out to date. (The first one went to author Mary Amato.)
As if her everyday accomplishments and establishment of Fit Girls weren’t enough to earn her her "Supercool" and "Gold Star" status, today Sarah (age 43) ran the Boston Maraton in 3 hours, 5 minutes, and 25 seconds. Out of the 8,935 women who crossedthe finish line, Sarah came in 99th!! And of the 2,980 women to finishe in the Masters Division (ages 40-49), Sarah came in 17th. AMAZING!!
As if all that wasn’t enough, Sarah raised over $10,000 for cancer research today, with her 13th run as part of the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge. AND this year she got kids involved with fund-raising for Dana Farber too, by creating a Dana Farber Middle School Challenge at Blake Middle School in Medfield, where she’s a library assistant.
The BIG question of the day, though, is whether or not Sarah won the literary/running bet she had going with a fellow runner! Here’s how Sarah describes the bet on her blog:
We are racing gun time, not chip time. That is, whoever crosses the finish line first is the winner. If I finish first, then he must read Jane Austen’s last novel, Persuasion. (the Austen novel of my choice – I’m guessing that at some point in highschool he had to read Pride and Prejudice ). And if he finishes first, I will read Gravity’s Rainbow (his favorite novel) by Thomas Pynchon.
SO, Sarah, you Supercool Gold Star — do I see Thomas Pynchon in your future or will Jeff soon be cozying up with Persuasion? Do tell!
It’s Austen for Young Jeff who will be reading Persuasion AND Emma. But I am going to try and tackle Gravity’s Rainbow this summer. Thanks for your kind words. Perhaps you should try and run the James Joyce Ramble on Sunday – it’s only a 10k.
I went out to see the Marathon yesterday…what a great day they had. Congratulations to Sarah on her wonderful accomplishment!
Congratulations, Sarah, on a great run and for inspiring girls to get outside and get active (balanced with a healthy dose of good reading of course!) And it’s really awesome that you inspired all those middle school students to get involved, too.
Way to go, Sarah! All of us here at First Book DC are proud of you!!