December Running and Life in Review

December In Review

Total Miles:  61 down from 101 last month.

Total Time: 9:46:53 down from 16:19:26 

Total Runs: 

Highest weekly mileage:

 12/26/2011-1/1/2012 28 4:28:55  I've yet to get my run in for today, so it'll be a smidge higher than that, 

but it's January so that doesn't really count anyway.

Favorite run: The 2.22 miles that Kyle ran with me this week.  Collectively now... awwwww.  After saying he wanted to start running with me a couple of weeks ago, he finally did this week.  He said I was in a crummy mood so he thought it'd cheer me up.  What a guy.  We went the farthest he ever has with me (we usually do 1.75-2 miles) and I was pretty stinkin' proud of him.  Doing the run/walk thing he almost ran 2 miles in all.  **immediately scans the local running calendars for goal 5ks to run with him**

Most hardcore run:  My tempo run this week.  It wasn't really *that* hardcore because I hadn't really planned on doing it, thus not able to psych myself out about it prior to the run.  I had 6 miles to run and after my 2 mile warm up I wanted to pick up the pace for a bit.  Since I haven't done any speedwork outside of some striders, I thought it was be abysmal at best.  The first "tempo" mile was a 8:48 and it sucked.  But like it always does, it got so much easier after the first tempo mile.  I decided I'd shoot for my remaining miles to be in the 8:30s, 8:20s, and 8:10s.  8:48, 8:20, 8:09, 7:52

And my heart rate only started creeping to the upper levels of my tempo HR zone at the end of the 6th mile.  Maybe there's something to this heart rate training, eh?

Favorite race:  zero.

Bike Miles: 14.6!  I biked!  Look at me a-cross trainin'!  My achilles was being a turd and I needed some endorphins.

Favorite Jams: I've just been listening to my playlist from Philly.  Any new tunes out there I need to explore?

My subpar training in December can be explained by a) burnout b) possible injury on the horizon and c) too much fun stuff going on.

To recap my life, because I've really been slacking on the blog (which I'm sure no one is really concerned about):

• I finished my first semester of grad school.  And I knocked out a 4.0.  What's that, I already bragged about this?  Well now I've bragged about it twice.
• I got to spend some quality time with my lover Jenn.  We celebrated her loverboy's, little bro's (got that?) 21st birthday.  

For some reason, the only picture I have documenting the night is to show off the sweet shirt that she got me for my birthday. L-o-v-e.  For reals.

• And then I had the most delightful Christmas I can remember in a really long time.  I got spoiled, I got to do some spoiling, win win all around.  True story:  I wish i was richy rich and could just buy people gifts all the time, but I'm not so I look forward to the once a year that I set aside money to do that.  
• Followed swiftly by the best birthday ever.  I'd like to think that Jenn flew back to the states just to attend my 28th birthday.  Please don't tell me otherwise. More pics to come in a further post, I'm sure.

• I finally started to get some decent mileage in this past week, including an impromptu progression tempo run that ended with a sub-8 mile, and my first double digit run since Philly, with 12 miles knocked out yesterday.  I know I keep saying "I'm back" but perhaps I really am now.
• Last night I got to ring in the new year with some of my favorite people.  Many thanks to this guy who helped to make 2011 one of the best years yet!

2011 Goals: Win, Lose, or Draw?

I, along with the rest of the blog world, threw out some lofty goals a mere 365-ish days ago.  Some were a bust, and some were a giant win.  Shall we take a gander?


Running and Fitness

• Break 4 hours in the marathon

FAIL.  But not for lack of trying.  2012 will be there year for this.

• Run a sub 1:50 half marathon

Close but no cigar.  Like 57 seconds close.  But honestly, I could not have ran a stitch faster than I did that day.  I dry heaved for about 8 minutes after crossing the finish line, if that's any indicator.

• Run a 5k in 22:xx

FAIL. Again.  I was somewhat close on this, but it was on a short course.  I also only raced one 5k this year.  What the heck?  who am I?

• Become a mentally tough runner

I count this one as a win.  I had a couple of races this year that I wanted to give up on for pain/injuries/potential diarrheal explosions on the race course (Fargo half food poisoning, I'm looking at you here...), but didn't.  But there's still plenty of room for improvement!

• Practice yoga more regularly (either alone or at a studio)

Fail. Although I have bought some groupons and fitness class passes to make this a go for 2012.  Baby steps, obvs.

• Find new running buddies!

Success!  I ran with a running group a couple of times and went on some running dates with Dailymile friends.  

• Stay injury free

Fail.  Better luck next year!

• Run 1600 miles for the year

Holy crap, this was my goal?  Way fail.  I think halfway through the year I settled on 1400, and I didn't even swing that.

• Lift regularly (regularly is a loose term here FYI)

Fail of epic proportions.  Although I have asked Kyle to come with me to the gym to help me get a weight routine going.  I've also toyed with doing a personal training session or two with the trainer at my gym who runs marathons and does tris.  Baby steps.  Again.

Personal Goals

• Get in to a Master's program for Library Science

Success!  Roll Tide Roll!

• Join a book club 

Success!  I attended a few put on by the public library.  And then my work schedule switched to two nights a week and my class schedule was the other two nights.  Maybe by the time I'm done with school I can be leading the book clubs. ;)

• Join a Stitch and Bitch group 

Fail. Again the local group met on my work night.  Bummer.

• Continue to find fun crafty ways to utilize my creative side 

Fail.  All my limited free time is taken up by running and reading.  Crafting will have to wait another 5 semesters.  That's ok with me.

• No more truck driver mouth (no offense to any (?) truck drivers who may read my blog)

I'd say I'm better with this.  It tends to flair up after I hang out with Jenn.  ;)

• Take more photos (rekindle photo project:  Project 52!)

WIN!  All done!  (Once I post the last few pics to my blog!)

• Average more scarf sales per month than in 2010

Fail.  Although I rarely advertised because I had so little time to crochet.

• Live and love life

One of the best years ever.  Major success!

So what did we learn here?  Anything running related, I bombed at, and anything that enhanced me as an individual I succeeded.  Hmm... ok then.  Here's to 2012!

Best Books of 2011

In 2010 I set a goal for myself to read one book per week in 2011.  When I got accepted in to grad school, I realized that my reading "for fun" time might be disappearing, so I picked up the pace.  This summer I created quite the book goal cushion for myself, and I completed my goal in early November with 7 weeks to spare.

Now, I know most of you are here for my running antics, but I'd be a bad future librarian if I didn't inspire you to pick up a book in 2012.  The following are my favorite books that I read in 2011 (please note, this isn't a "best of 2011 list, because a good chunk of them have been out longer than just this year).  Also, as you can tell from my list, my preferred reading genres are young adult, running, fiction, and some chick lit sprinkled in for good measure.

Young Adult

To say that I devoured The Hunger Games books is an understatement.  I really loved them, and loved the main character Katniss, even if her role has come under some scrutinize for the somewhat obnoxious love triangle, woe is me, stuff.

 

 Just when I thought I couldn't get more sucked in to the young adult, dystopian world genre, along came Divergent.  Another book I flew through and quickly became my favorite of the genre.  And by genre I'm stating that as favorite dystopian novel, and favorite YA novel of 2011.

 

 But to be sure, I did have to read Delirium , which was almost on par with the Hunger Games in awesomeness.  I'm looking forward to the direction that both series will take.

I was definitely not expecting the intensity of The Book Thief from a YA novel.  Such an emotional book, I kept having to remind myself that it wasn't an adult book.  Incredibly good, but very emotionally draining.

Running


Advanced Marathoning is on most runner's shelves.  I'd scanned it previously and realized the programs were too advanced for me, but noted that I definitely wanted to tackle them in the future.  When I mentioned that I was thinking of doing a fall marathon, Danielle sent me my very own copy.  We've become almost inseparable since then.

Fiction


  The Story of Beautiful Girl is a book that brought me to crippling sobs.  It is a beautifully written, heart-wrenching novel that is a must-read.  Definitely one of my favorite books of all time.

I would go so far to say that The Night Circus is one of my favorite books read in 2011.  Such whimsy and amazingness.  One of the first times I've finished a book and hoped it'd be made in to a movie, because I'm not sure my imagination did it justice.




 I feel like I was one of the last people to read The Room .  My sister in law kept asking if I had read it, so I finally did, and wow.  Definitely worth the time.  It's told in the perspective of a little boy who's whole world is a tiny room.  Very intense.

 Again, I'm probably one of the last people to read Water for Elephants.  I swear I started to read it a few years ago, and I could not get in to it, but when I picked it up, it wasn't the same book I was thinking of.  I read it because the movie was coming out and knew I'd see it at some point.  I was super sucked in to the circus and the love story.


 
  I was not expecting what I got out of So Much Pretty.  It was a lot darker than I had anticipated, and maybe that's why I liked it so much.  It caught me off-guard.


The Housekeeper and the Professor is one of the first books I read in 2011, so the details are a bit hazy, but I remember that I loved it.  I read it for a book club at the downtown library, and then was ill the day it was discussed.  I should probably re-read it to remember why I gave it 5 stars.  Or you should read it and remind me.


I really loved The Discovery of Witches but felt like the ending was so up in the air.  And then I realized it was written as a trilogy.  And then I felt dumb.  Lots of supernatural fun and intrigue.  Can't wait for the rest of the books to roll out.  I do think it had a bit of a slow start, so beware of that.

There are many other books that made away with 4 stars, so feel free to check out my "Bookworm Page" for a full list of books.

Disclosure:  If you click on the book and buy the book from Amazon, I get like a fraction of a penny.  ;)

The Time I Fell Off the Foam Roller

I got home from work tonight and was putzing around getting ready for my run.  I sat down on the foam roller and sent out a "help me!" tweet regarding what the heck to wear in "feels like" 20 degree temps.  I remember what to wear in crazy cold and above freezing.... the middle... not so much.

Well.........
a) none of you jerks responded back to me because obviously you don't care if I freeze my petunias off

and

b) it wouldn't have mattered anyway, because by the time I actually got out the door it was REALLY 24 degrees, and with the windchill it was 13 or something insane like that.

But still, next time I throw out a HALP tweet, you'd all better respond lickity split like, kapeesh?

Anywho, while catching up on my twitter feed (and waiting for you turd faces to NOT respond to me...yup!  still bitter about it!) I decided to get my foam roll on.  Since I'm getting back in the running thing my foam roller and I need to become besticles yet again.  I started off rolling my butt.  And then moved on to my upper butt/hip area.  All the while scrolling through my phone a-catchin' up on the twitterz.  When.....

WHAM!

I rolled right off the foam roller and smucked my head on my couch.

And immediately tweeted about it.  Duh.

And then got back on and continued to check the twittahz because I obviously don't learn lessons.

Moral of the story:  sometimes multi-tasking is good.  Other times it can cause you to crack your skull.  And yet other times still you just feel like a ding dong and then announce it to twitter (and shortly there after...the blog world.)

Holiday Wishlist + Back on Track

A few weeks back, Kyle asked me what I wanted for Christmas/Birthday.  To which I replied, "WTH?  Don't you follow my blog??!?!  I have a list 2x a month for Chrissakes..."  And then he pressed my mute button.  Or he would've if I came with one.

This is essentially the cutest of the cute.  I'm a cardigan wearing fool.  I've often joked that I only want to be a librarian, because I already dress like one.  This is crazy expensive for a cardi, but you guys... it SPARKLES aka it's meant for me and my glitter fart self.

Buy it here.

I don't own an Alabama hoodie.  When I was doing damage at the Alabama bookstore I was sporting two underarm sweat marks, and some significant backsweat, so a hoodie was the farthest thing from my mind.  Turns out, it's still the arctic tundra back at home, and this would come in handy. Plus it's freakin cute.

Buy it here.

One of the people I follow on Twitter posted this bag as their Xmas gift to themselves.  So immediately I needed it.  Kyle let me wear my new Lululemon jacket out on Saturday night (our one year anniversary....awwwww) to which I replied, neat so this must be my anniversary gift, you can get me this bag for Xmas!  That... didn't go over well.

Buy it here.

Speaking of my new Lululemon jacket, I won't be getting any of the above items, because I already got this beauty.

And I already know that my mom picked out (with my extreme assistance) the two most awesome gifts for my birthmas, so we can probably ignore this post all together.  But just in case I get a huge anonymous check for birthmas, I'd like to have an idea of what to get myself.  Moving on.... ;)

I adore this scarf.  I need to learn to knit, asap.  Just not as many options crocheting!

Buy it here.

And this would've been my dream gift as a kid.... annnnd I'd still love it.

Buy it here.

And finally these amazing tights.

Buy it here.

___________________
Moving on to the running front, I've gotten back on track this week.  I did an easy 5 miler and a 5 miler that included some heart rate testing.  Very interesting stuff.  And I managed my first "long run" in the last month knocking out 8 miles today.  No worries, the 8 miles was essentially more difficult than the 26.2 miles in Philly.  Someone remind me of this next time I take a little time off from running.  Oy.

I had to take walk breaks on my run today to get my heart rate to come down, and that didn't really help.  But at least it was a super gorgeous day out.  Capris and a long sleeve at the end of December?  Sign me up!  I was bummed to see two dudes in shorts, but since they were wearing jackets, stocking hats, and gloves I figured I win for net least amount of running clothes.  Yes, it's a contest.