u/Dear_Chemical4826

Looking for something fun and interesting as a summer ride. Needs to be able to fit three people (and maybe my dog).

Mostly, I'd just daily it in summer. I also live just outside Minneapolis, which has 60+ miles of lovely parkways meandering around lakes, golf courses, creeks, and the Mississippi, so a lot of slow drives at 20-30 mph. Drive to a beach, drive to a hiking or mountain bike trailhead.

My dream car is a Miata, but that is out until kids move out.

I don't want a project. Needs to basically work from day one. I'm ok with a little tinkering to keep it going.

I'd like something that will likely hold its value and that has enough of a following that it would be easy to sell in a few years. Doesn't need to be an investment, just not a pain in the ass to get rid of when the time comes.

Some thoughts:

VW Vanagon/Bus. Seems like a great beach day car. Keep it loaded for camping and go on close by. I know a guy in a VW club, so have a connection to find one, maybe even a camper.

Toyota Solara convertible. Not all that cool, but drop top with Camry reliability for cruising with kids sounds great.

Older Wrangler. Old 4cyl pop up relatively cheap pretty regularly. Gutless, but I'd mostly just be cruising the city. Again, cheap convertible is the appeal. Maybe find some easy trails too.

Old truck. Bench seat w/ the kids.

What else should I consider?

Just signed up for Twin Cities Marathon in the fall. Race day is Oct. 4. I've been a runner for about 5 years now (43m) and in that time I've done several longer trail races (25k, 17 milers, etc). I'm not fast, just aiming to finish, probably aiming for 5 hours.

EDIT: This would be my first completed marathon. Signed up a few years back, but without a defined plan. Persistent knee pain made me drop out about a month out from the race. Changed shoes, did some PT, haven't had persistent knee pain since!

Aiming at three runs per week with the intention of leaving space for other activities during the week too--biking, rock climbing, gardening, etc. Will probably also throw in a day of yoga for stretching purposes.

I looked at a few plans and threw this together:

Week 1: 3 mile/3 miles/9 miles

Week 2: 5 miles/35 min tempo/10 miles

Week 3: 4 miles/4 miles/8 miles

Week 4: 6 miles/4 miles/12 miles

Week 5: 7 miles/40 min tempo/13 miles

Week 6: 5 miles/5 miles/RAGNAR Weekend (doing RAGNAR MN ROAD)

Week 7: 7 miles/4 miles/15 miles

Week 8: 8 miles/45 min tempo/16 miles

Week 9: 6 miles/6 miles/10k fast (sign up for a race if possible)

Week 10: 8 miles/50 min tempo/18 miles

Week 11: 9 miles/6 miles/15 miles

Week 12: 10 miles/60 min tempo/20 miles

TAPER

Week 13: 4 miles/4 miles/8 miles

Week 14: 5 miles/Bike ride/1-2 miles/ MARATHON SUNDAY

Thoughts? Goal is to make a middle aged body go 26.2 miles without injury. No real time goal, but would prefer to finish under 5 hours.

Longer taper for an older body? Squeeze one more 20 somewhere? Thoughts on three runs per week? Less attention to individual run length, more attention to weekly mileage? Cut the "tempo" runs and just define a distance or define a specific workout (sprints, hills, etc.)

I teach credit recovery and I'm working to create courses that are somewhat compact so that students can complete them with a bit of speed if they are motivated, but I am also working to make sure students are still learning skills and exposed to a variety of literature and nonfiction writing.

I'm fairly proud of a Harlem Renaissance unit I teach which I immediately follow with a unit on The Great Gatsby. I don't necessarily love Gatsby, but it is very teachable book is relatively short.

What are other relatively short novels or nonfiction books I could build units around? I think Gatsby is about the most difficult book I could teach here. Bonus points for books with some variety in terms of author background, time period.

tl/dr Looking for a broad brim hat for summer for casual wear.

43m. Skin cancer runs in my family a bit, so looking into sun protection for summer. I'll use sunscreen, but also want a good casual hat that doesn't give off dorky vibes. Something that looks equally good walking the dog, chilling on a patio, or at a picnic or bbq. Think, pair with a linen or chambray shirt.

Also, I'm a teacher, so around $100 is probably the max I would spend.