Weekly Reads: When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me was the Newbery Award winner for 2010. The book group I lead at the library, Young @ Heart <3, read it for our meeting last week. It was a re-read for me, I read it in 2011, and I loved it just as much as I loved it then. I recall reading it the first time and saying it was on par with The Giver for extraordinary children's books IMO. When You Reach Me has a ton of references to A Wrinkle in Time, which I was obsessed with when I was a kid. I actually listened to A Wrinkle in Time on audiobook while reading When You Reach Me. Interesting book coupling there. :)

My Rating: ***** (still)

Summary from Goodreads:

By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it’s safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner.

But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper: 

I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.
I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows all about her, including things that have not even happened yet. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she’s too late.

Race Report: Madison Marathon

Krista, Anne, and I all woke up at 5:30 for the race. The weather reports had been conflicting all weekend long, ranging from perfect running weather (IMO) to 25-30 mph winds and real feel temps of 17-24 degrees. Uff. Krista and I purchased some delightful throwaway clothes at Savers, so I literally had my "grumpy pants" on race morning. I froze to death while we were waiting for the race to start (but managed to warm up slightly when we made a full LAP around the Capital looking for the bag drop, only to find it was DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF WHERE WE STARTED FROM), but the corral was warm enough that I was able to strip down during the star spangled banner. The gal next to me gave me an odd look, as 85% of the runners were dressed for full on winter. She said that I must run hot, and I said yes.

We started on a nice downhill stretch and I held back to my 10:30 pace plan. After the downhill was over, the hills just kept coming. My legs felt like crap from the get go. An 11 minute pace felt hard with all of the hills. My achilles and calves were super tight and felt like I had been running for hours, not 3-5 miles. Cue panic here please. Luckily the Arboretum we were running through was gorgeous, so I just took in the scenary as best that I could. I started talking to a couple of runners around mile five and that helped my mindset dramatically. This dude was so nice and thanking all of the volunteers and spectators, it was just nice to get out of my doubting Debbie brain for awhile and listen to him. He was shooting for a sub 5 finish and I don't remember passing him later in the race so GOOD JOB DUDE!

1. 10:27
2. 10:48
3. 10:59
4. 11:14
5. 11:19
6. 10:56

I was able to pick it up to the 10:30 pace that I had planned for the flat portions which helped my confidence a bit, unfortunately the first 18 miles were hilly, so the flat portions were few and far between. I knew I was going to see Renee and Jen around mile 8 so I just focused on getting to them to pump me up a bit. I also decided to stop watching my garmin and just run.

When I finally saw them, I think I yelled something about hating the hills and then picked up the pace a little bit because there was a very slight decline on the course. Wheeee! I realized around this time that 11 minute miles were likely my fate for all of the hilly miles (the first 18) and that I would work to keep that pace and then try to pick it up the last 8 if possible. I spent a lot of time figuring out what a new goal time would be. Math while running is notoriously hard, so this kept my mind occupied for quite awhile.

At this point I thought a 4:45 would be my new A goal, so I kept putting one foot in front of another with that in mind. Shortly after I saw Renee and Jen, came the REALLY BIG HILL (per Krittabug) at mile 9 or 10 (based on my garmin data it was DEF mile 10). It was huge. I was listening to Wheezy's Green and Yellow and just powering up the hill while many were walking. When we got to the top (or so I thought) I was pumped, until the street re-oriented itself and WE HAD TO GO UP EVEN MORE. I may have dropped an eff bomb to the effect of "You've gotta be f-ing kidding me?!?" Oops, sorry folks.

7. 11:14
8. 11:11
9. 10:33
10. 11:24

After that I knew the worst worst hill was over, but I still had the major one at 17 and 26. I started to pick off a few runners starting around mile 12 or 13 as folks were starting to fade. Somehow I was still managing a fairly steady pace, albeit fairly slow, but don't tell my legs that! I met up with another guy around the halfway point and we chatted for awhile. I saw him again at the 25 mile marker (there was an out and back so he was around mile 23, I think) and he started waving and flashing me the thumbs up. I <3 runners.

11. 11:46 (major downhill that I had to tippy toe down, fail)
12. 11:16
13. 10:40

The route was a smidge boring for a couple of miles after the halfway point, but the rolling hills just kept coming. There was also some sections where the wind was full on in your face. There weren't any spectators so I cranked my iPod, put my head down and just pushed. We hit another hill around 16 and I got all excited thinking that was the hill that Krista had told me about. I tried to pick it up again, and was feeling really good with only ten miles left. Side note: I've never run a marathon and thought, "yay, only ten miles left!" Usually I'm so broken that with ten miles left I'm ready to have a hip or knee amputated.

14. 11:15
15. 11:12
16. 11:02

Well unfortunately I was wrong, and there was a MASSIVE hill during mile 17. I so desperately wanted to walk up it like everyone else was doing, but up to that point I had only walked while going through the water stops (the race had little plastic cups, and I am not nearly coordinated enough to drink out of those while running). I saw a girl who had passed me a mile or two earlier ahead of me and decided I would run as far up the hill as she did. She stopped and I marked the mailbox she stopped at in my mind. When I got up there, I just put my head down and kept going. I pulled a Danielle at the top and got super teary eyed, and had a major peptalk with myself "I'm so proud of you JERI!" Seriously, this happened.

The downhill on the other side of this monster hill was brutal. I slowed way down and was doing something in between a jog and a slow shuffle down the other side, trying to keep good form (typically the downhills are what destroy my IT bands, woof). Changing my stride must've been a big no no because my right quad seized up majorly and I started to feeling stabbing pains in my right knee and left hip. So much for picking up the pace after the last big hill, eh? :(

After the hill ended, I did a quick form check and tried to make sure I was running with things in alignment, not overstriding, etc. I had just a few more stabs of pain in the knee area, but I was able to get it under control. I took two salt packets thinking (=hoping!) that would help my quad seizing to dissipate and just kept plugging along.

Somewhere during that time I realized that speeding up probably wasn't in the cards, so I focused on not slowing down and not giving up or quitting. It's so easy to just start to walk or give up when a good race time is out of the cards for me, but I refused to let that happen. Miles 18-20 seemed to take FOR-FREAKIN-EVER.

17. 11:42

18. 11:43

19. 11:25

20. 11:57

Once I got to mile 20 I had a plan to run each of those miles for someone special, and that helped so much mentally. 20-21 was for my newest niece baby Harlow, or Lolo as the family calls her, 21-22 was for Harper girl, and 22-23 was for the H-Bomb.com. I hope that some day they can watch their aunt Jeri run a marathon. I get all teary eyed whenever I see little kids on the race course with a "Run Aunt ____" sign. Too much cute.

I got to see Renee and Jen again around mile 22 and immediately demanded they tell me how Krista did. She destroyed it, no surprise here, and that lit a fire under my ass to hurry up and finish. She was probably getting cold waiting at the end for me!


23-24 was for my mama who's the biggest and bestest race spectator and cheerleader EVER. I got teary eyed during this mile because I REALLY wish she had been at the race to cheer for me, and I missed seeing her face all over the race course. At just that moment I saw my mom's doppelganger standing in the median of the road facing the other side of the race course (it was an out and back here) and she turned to my side of the road and started cheering for me, "Go Jeri!" (our names were on our bibs), I got even more teary, sobby, so good thing it wasn't an uphill portion.

Mile 24-25 was for my Papa Big Jer for giving me his athletic genes, (sadly no endurance running genes, I've had to work my butt off for those!) and for showing me how the Light's can fight last spring when he had his heart attack.

And the final mile was for Kyle for putting up with me. I imagine that somedays, being with me is just as difficult as running the final mile of a marathon uphill (ugh, enough with the hills already Madison!).

The last little .2 (or in my case .3, tangents are HARD) was for my precious pug Ollie, since in her prime running shape she could run a whole quarter mile at once. #beastmode

21. 11:38
22. 11:36
23. 11:20
24. 11:39
25. 10:49
26. 11:00 (yes, I would like the last mile of a marathon to be UPHILL)
.31 3:07 (10:07 pace, more uphill, neat)



The last 10k I kept recalculating to see if I could run sub 4:55, and I knew I'd need to haul the last 5k if I was going to do it. We ran up a giant hill with .6 to go and I got a HUGE side stitch and was super annoyed at myself for not grabbing water at the last water station. I told myself to suck it up for five minutes and kept going up up up! Krista had told me that I would run up to the capital and then be rewarded to a nice little downhill to the finish. Yayzies! I tried to haul up hill and then turned the corner and cruised down the hill. IT bands can be destroyed at this point, for all I care. I turned another corner and DRAT the finish is still uphill more. I kicked, and then kicked some more when the announcer yelled out my name.

My final time was 4:55:26.

I missed my sub 4:55, but I finished the racing knowing I left it ALL out there on the course. I was grossly unprepared for the HILLS of Madison after running the "hills" that Sioux Falls has to offer. But I'm pretty dang proud that I never quit.

Next up, speedy spring!

 

10k Race Pics and En Route to Madison

Today I'm en route to Madison, Wisconsin for the Madison Marathon, and more importantly TO SEE KRISTA, RENEE, AND JEN! I feel like I've known Krista and Renee for roughly a million years, but we've never actually met in person, which is weird, I guess. Jen and I met up in Vegas a few years back, and she's so sweet and awesome, she would've been even more awesome if she had come and talked to me at Curly's Pub when I was eating at the bar all by my lonesome for my first marathon, but whatevs, I've totally forgiven her for that (#stillholdingagrudge).

I've always felt like I belong in Wisconsin (or Oregon, if we're being completely honest), and prior to landing my current job at my dream South Dakota library, I was constantly following Wisconsin library job postings. I'd like to think that if I someday get my wish and end up in Packers country, I'll get to run with these girls (and watch many Packers games whilst drinking Spotted Cow and eating cheese curds, yes I am 20 lbs. heavier in this scenario, thanks for asking!) as much as I'd want, aka all the time.

Krista is going to dominate the full and is sweet enough to let me crash at her place and be my "host" for the weekend. She's also NaNoWriMo-ing so there may be moments of writing furiously while I'm there. There's also talks of visiting a newly remodeled library, be still my beating heart! (P.S. Ask me post-race what my finishing prediction time is for K-bug, I don't want to jinx anything, but I'm pretty sure I'm right!)

Jen and Renee are going to be spectators extraordinaire, and I've already put in a bazillion requests to Renee, they are as follows:

1) Jordy Nelson
2) Your garmin, in the event it's a cloudy day and my battery dies asap
3) Spotted Cow beer (preferably snuck in to the post-race finishers chute. The post-race beer selection is less than appealing. Bonus points for dixie cups of it along the course...just sayin'....)

I think that was it! Just a small list... NBD.

I've also analyzed the course map and written down mile markers that I plan to "suggest" that they cheer at. I'M BOSSY THIS IS WHAT I DO. But really I did it with them in mind as well, I wanted them to be at spots that I *think* would be easy to see us quickly at another spot on the course as well. We'll see since they obviously know the area a lot better than I do. I'm just looking forward to having race spectators on the course for a full this has never happened before!! 

Ok, that's enough race obsessing.

No wait! It isn't. I have a cold. That should be neat. It was knocking on my immune systems door last week and I finally came down with it on Saturday, basically thought I was dying. I said, that's cool, make yourself at home for 72 hours, and then you're out on your ass, cold. Well, unless this cold is TERRIBLE AT MATH, it has severely overstayed its welcome. Thank goodness I'm not in PR shape, or I'd be freaking the eff out.

Ok, now THAT'S enough race obsessing. On to the pics!

The 10k race I did 2 weekends ago posted 500 photos to their facebook page this week. I decided to pan through them to see if I could spot a flash of green. Even better than a green frog were these two:

I die of preciousness.

Even more so if Kyle had been dressed as a storm trooper or darth vader or something.

You can almost see the "Go Mom Go #teamgreen" Conversation bubble hovering over their heads, right??!?!?

This one was shortly after the start, and I look fast, which is neat. This was certainly the portion when I was all "Wheeee sub 7 pace is super eeeeeeeasy!" lolz.

And then you might end up letting Pi beat you to the finish because of that sub 7 pace start. But in my defense, this chick passed me around mile 4, and I reeled her in big time that last mile and a half. She's actually the reason I hit sub 7 paces at the finish. Competitive Jeri FTW (except not the win, obvs.)

And this is just all sorts of LOLZ. Running hard is hard, you guys....

Madison Marathon Race Goals

This training cycle has gone okay.  I started really "training" again back in May for a 10k, and jumped in to Pfitz 18/55 in July knowing I'd need a long endurance building session, and I was right.  My fitness level has improved greatly in the past 5 months, but I'm still quite a ways away from my previous fitness and speed levels that I used to be.  Which is okay, I'll get there.  It took me a lot longer than five months to slow down, it'll take me longer than five months to speed back up!  With an 18 week training cycle, I definitely had some ebbs and flows with my desire to train.  18 weeks is a LONG.DANG.TIME. to train for a marathon.  Especially through the heat and humidity that was July, August, and some of September, uff.

There were some weeks where I knocked it out of the park with weekly mileage in the high 40s, multiple 4:30-5am double digit runs, and there were weeks when I posted zero miles, (Jenn's wedding week, being cautious after a high mileage week and 18 miler that left me with knee pain).  On one hand it's nice to have 18 weeks of training, because it's not the end of the world if you have a crappy (or non-existent) week, but on the other, it really messes with your confidence to not nail every single workout in a training program.

The miles I have ran have mostly been long and slow.  I focused on endurance, knowing that adding in speedwork on top of the endurance building with new running form was just asking for an injury, but I am excited to get to work on that speed again post-marathon and set some new big goals for the spring.

After looking at my training runs, the cycle as a whole, and general pondering and musing on my last few runs, my goals for Madison are as follows:

A Goal:  4:20ish.  I think a super stellar all stars aligned day could result in a slightly sub 10 pace.  That would be magical unicorn happy as most of my long runs have been in the 10:30-11 minute pace, by HR.  My 2nd fastest race time would be a 4:25, so it'd be cool to have my two fastest marathon times in Wisconsin!

B Goal:  4:30ish.  After really closely analyzing the HILLS in Madison (Sidenote:  HOLY CRAP) I would be ok if I ran a super great race, but gave myself a little wiggle room with the hills so that I don't pound the crap out of my IT bands early on (in the first 18 miles of hills... GAH!)

My recent 10k time and long run paces both point to a 4:15-4:20 finish, so that helps give me confidence that it's a doable time.  My current race strategy is to start conservatively at 10:30 pace for the first 8 miles, run 10:00 for the next 8, and then for the last ten miles run as hard as I can.  The race flattens out at mile 18 until 25, so I'm hoping I can drop the pace a bit there.  Most importantly I want to finish the race feeling strong, and that I ran as hard as I could on that day.  I've only ran one marathon where I ran a negative split, and running that well the second half of a marathon is the greatest feeling ever!

26.2, let's do this!

Weekly Reads: We Are Water

Two weeks ago one of my favorite author's had a new book come out:  We Are Water.  I read Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone  when I was in junior high and loved it.  My mom bought I Know This Much Is True the summer it came out, and I remember reading it on the ride home from summer camp in Northeast South Dakota.

I haven't read anything of his since then, but I was really excited for his newest novel. It's sitting on my giant stack of books to be read in my apartment right now, but sadly reading has been put slightly on hold since starting NaNoWriMo this month.  Eeeps! So feel free to pick it up and read it and then nag me to hurry up and read it as well.

We Are Water summary from goodreads:

In middle age, Anna Oh-wife, mother, outsider artist-has shaken her family to its core. After twenty-seven years of marriage and three children, Anna has fallen in love with Vivica, the wealthy, cultured, confident Manhattan art dealer who orchestrated her professional success.

Anna and Viveca plan to wed in the Oh family's hometown of Three Rivers in Connecticut, where gay marriage has recently been legalized. But the impending wedding provokes some very mixed reactions and opens a Pandora's Box of toxic secrets-dark and painful truths that have festered below the surface of the Ohs' lives.

We Are Water is an intricate and layered portrait of marriage, family, and the inexorable need for understanding and connection, told in the alternating voices of the Ohs-nonconformist Annie; her ex-husband, Orion, a psychologist; Ariane, the do-gooder daughter, and her twin, Andrew, the rebellious only son; and free-spirited Marissa, the youngest Oh. Set in New England and New York during the first years of the Obama presidency, it is also a portrait of modern America, exploring issues of class, changing social mores, the legacy of racial violence, and the nature of creativity and art.

With humor and breathtaking compassion, Wally Lamb brilliantly captures the essence of human experience in vivid and unforgettable characters struggling to find hope and redemption in the aftermath of trauma and loss. We Are Water is vintage Wally Lamb-a compulsively readable, generous, and uplifting masterpiece that digs deep into the complexities of the human heart to explore the ways in which we search for love and meaning in our lives.

  She's Come Undone Summary from goodreads:

In this extraordinary coming-of-age odyssey, Wally Lamb invites us to hitch a wild ride on a journey of love, pain, and renewal with the most heartbreakingly comical heroine to come along in years.

Meet Dolores Price. She's 13, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood goodbye. Stranded in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallomars, potato chips, and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally orbits into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder. But this time she's determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before she really goes under.

I Know This Much is True summary from goodreads:
On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, my twin brother, Thomas, entered the Three Rivers, Connecticut, public library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and prayed to God the sacrifice he was about to commit would be deemed acceptable. . . .

One of the most acclaimed novels of our time, Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True is a story of alienation and connection, devastation and renewal, at once joyous, heartbreaking, poignant, mystical, and powerfully, profoundly human.

Taper Madness

Taper madness presents itself differently in everyone. For me, it's typically sour mood and temperament (sorry friends and loved ones!). Also any anxiety I typically have is magnified a bazillion percent and my control freak nature ramps up a hundred fold. I was prepared for this part of taper madness (and so was Kyle, bless his heart). But the one part of taper madness I had forgotten about was the compulsive shopping.

Hi. My name is Jeri, and during taper, I shop like a maniac.

The first few days of taper were maintainable, I'd do some online shopping, put items in a check out bag, and then walk away from my computer. I do this...uh... frequently. But then came the "gateway" purchase. I needed arm sleeves or a long sleeved shirt for the marathon, so I started looking around. Many adorable green items were "added to cart" all over the world wide web. I finally snagged a pair of neon green Saucony arm sleeves for mega percent off.

And then, all shopping hell broke loose. Since then, I have purchased a j. crew button up with polka dots (second hand), Megan's birthday and Christmas presents, Jenn's Christmas and birthday presents, Kyle's Christmas presents, 2 pairs of green and pink shorts from J. Crew crazy on sale (because duh, why wouldn't you buy shorts as we're on the cusp of winter!??!), green earrings and a new cell phone case from Kate Spade, and a time turner necklace to complete my Hermione Granger Halloween costume (not to mention a Gryffendor tie and her wand, but those were costume necessities, right??)

Now this past weekend I get an email from Jenn letting me know that she found a cheaper version of a ring I've been obsessing over, and it was on sale. Attention checking account: Jenn is back in the states, your monies are no longer safe!

The good news is that everything I bought was crazy ridiculously mind blowingly on sale and then discounted. And the majority of things really were for gifts, and just some other little stuff for me, but STILL. OMG.

So now here are some small fruits of my shopping labors, Harry Potter Halloween pics!

Hermione and Ginny hanging out at Platform 9 3/4, waiting for their train.

We had these signs made for kids to take pictures in at the library on Halloween.

A Letter to Myself in 10 Years

One of the items on my list of 101 in 1001 list (I'm attempting to finish 101 things in 1001 days, and the deadline is SOON!) is to write a letter to myself to open in 10 years.  It was one of the things I could do last Sunday, so here it is.

October 27, 2013

Dearest Jerbear,

This letter is reaching you less than two months away from your 40^th birthday. I'm assuming you're freaking out, I would be (heh, get it?). I hope that google docs still exists in 40 years, otherwise this letter will be non-existent, as I'm fairly certain that this MacBook would be the most archaic laptop in use in 2023. Unless I become a mega-hipster in the next ten years, in which case... that's so uncool, it's cool. Congrats almost 40 Jeri.

Right now I (we?) are finally hitting our stride with life. We just wrapped up a tough two years of grad school. During those two years we FINALLY landed a job in our dream library after trying for seven long years to snag a position there. You recently got passed up for a promotion, but that surely doesn't squash our passion for librarianship, and bringing awesome programming to teens at your/our/my (this is really hard) brand new library branch. I have no doubt that when you're reading this you are currently the best librarian the library system has ever seen. Keep up the good work! Reward yourself with a sassy new cardigan and/or glasses. I also hope that you've gotten a chance to sit on the Printz or Newbery award committee, because that would be a dream come true.

I hope that you're still a runner in your almost 40s. I hope that your knees aren't completely shot because of my crappy running form for so many years. The good news is: we finally get an extra five minute cushion now for that BQ, so let's get to it, eh? More importantly I hope that you still love running, even more than I do now. Some days I don't love running, but I know that I'm a runner deep down, and when I re-find that head over heels in love with running passion again, we'll never again have a break up. Also, full disclosure: I hope this happens long, LONG before you read this letter. :)

By the way, are you still using emoticons in emails/texts/etc.? I wonder what those will be replaced with.... emojis are pretty amazing, but I can only imagine there will be something even crazy awesomer in ten years... can't wait.

In a few short days you are getting ready to embark on your first novel writing experience! I hope it goes well. I hope we have many more attempts at this in the next ten years, and maybe even a couple we feel are well-written enough to show to other human eyes, and maybe even get published!

I hope that you're happily in love with yourself in ten years, and give yourself the opportunity to love someone else and be loved back. If you're a mother, I hope you're only a fraction of the neurotic mom you envision yourself to be. If you're not a mother, I know you're the best pug mom in all of the land, rescuing all the pugs your living situation will allow (but, um, not so many that you border being featured on Hoarders, because that'd be embarrassing). I hope you have a super large bed with all of these pugs, because I can imagine it will get really cramped with more than one snoring away in there.

I hope you're happy with how you've turned out as a person, but I hope you continue to be a better version of yourself every day.

Best,

You

P.S. You should totally write one of these today to your 50 year old self!