Weekly Reads: Afterworlds

I received an e-ARC of Afterworlds a few months ago, and despite being super excited to read a new book by Scott Westerfeld, I could not bring myself to tackle a 600 page book on my e-reader. Something about giant books on an e-devices make you just feel like you're reading FOREVER. It helps me to see physically how much further I've gotten into the book, I think. And then once the e-copy expired off of my device, I started to hear ALL of the excitement surrounding the book. And then I was super mad that I didn't just buck up and read it. Luckily my library purchased it right away and I decided to pick it up to read during the month of November. During NaNoWriMo, I allowed myself to read during breaks at work, but free time out of work needed to be spent writing. What better book to inspiring my novel writing than a story that includes a girl who wrote her first breakthrough novel during NaNoWriMo.

The reason the book is so giant is that it's essentially two stories in one. The first story is about Darcy, the young novelist who just sold her first book to a publisher and moves to NYC to work on the sequel. The story within the story (very meta, Scott Dub) is the story she wrote and published, where Lizzie slips into the afterworld during a devastating terrorist attack and falls in love.

Both stories were amazing and helped push me right along when I was reading it. The two stories alternated by chapter, and there was a black bar at the top and bottom of the page for the Afterworlds story to make it easier for the reader to differentiate the two stories.

This was a great book, and a must read.

My rating: 5 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

Darcy Patel has put college and everything else on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. Arriving in New York with no apartment or friends she wonders whether she's made the right decision until she falls in with a crowd of other seasoned and fledgling writers who take her under their wings… 

Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, a suspenseful thriller about Lizzie, a teen who slips into the 'Afterworld' to survive a terrorist attack. But the Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead and as Lizzie drifts between our world and that of the Afterworld, she discovers that many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. And when a new threat resurfaces, Lizzie learns her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she loves and cares about most.(

Weekly Reads (Listens): Food A Love Story

I've loved Jim Gaffigan since the first time I heard his comedy routine on a long road trip to Chicago for spring break my junior year of college. I adored his last book My Dad is Fat, and I could not wait to get my heads on his newest Food: A Love Story. I received an e-ARC of this book to read and review honestly and/or suggest to my library customers during reader's advisory interactions, and instead of tearing into it immediately, I instead waited patiently for the audiobook version.

You see, Jim Gaffigan is hilarious. And I'm sure his written words are hilarious. But his written words spoken by him are pee-your-pants-funny. This story is all about food and his unhealthy relationship with it. And I so get it, and him. I've often said that if I wasn't a runner, I would be significantly overweight because I just love food oh so much. And so does Jim. So pick this up on audiobook for sure, and you'll spend your time in the car laughing outloud, or pick up the book version and prepare to awkwardly laugh outloud while you're hanging out alone. Either way, read it/listen to it, because it's totally worth it.

Hot pocket.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

What are my qualifications to write this book? None really. So why should you read it? Here's why: I'm a little fat. If a thin guy were to write about a love of food and eating I'd highly recommend that you do not read his book." 
Bacon. McDonalds. Cinnabon. Hot Pockets. Kale. Stand-up comedian and author Jim Gaffigan has made his career rhapsodizing over the most treasured dishes of the American diet ("choking on bacon is like getting murdered by your lover") and decrying the worst offenders ("kale is the early morning of foods"). Fans flocked to his "New York Times" bestselling book "Dad is Fat" to hear him riff on fatherhood but now, in his second book, he will give them what they really crave--hundreds of pages of his thoughts on all things culinary(ish). Insights such as: why he believes coconut water was invented to get people to stop drinking coconut water, why pretzel bread is #3 on his most important inventions of humankind (behind the wheel and the computer), and the answer to the age-old question "which animal is more delicious: the pig, the cow, or the bacon cheeseburger?

Aramco Houston Half Marathon Training Week 5 and 6

I started my week as usual at a gentle vinyasa class on Monday morning at the studio. We focused on triangle and I learned a ton, per usual. The instructor is so awesome, i wish I could copy/paste her yogi knowledge into my brain!

Tuesday I convinced my co-worker to come with me to my first (and her first) ever barre class. My friend Jenn is obsessed, and promised it'd give me the much needed glute work I'm seeking. She was right. It was hard, but a good hard? I really liked it, and I'm thankful Emily came with me, so I wouldn't be too chicken to go alone. Also, the pic below makes me LOLZ every time I look at it.

I meant to go to a touch class Thanksgiving morning, but my bed just sounded magical. And before I went to bed I noticed there was a waitlist and I figured I shouldn't go if I was just on the fence about going if something else REALLY wanted to go. Or something like that.

Friday I had off for working Saturday and started my day at the yoga studio at 7am to scoop up some great sales. I came back later that morning for a Shake and Flow class: 30 minutes of barre and a 30 minute yoga flow. Awesome.

And later that day, I headed downtown to race a 5k. No wonder my legs were pooped at 2.35 miles. I forgot I put them through this class. Derp.

I went to the Tuesday night barre class yet again, and I swear we spent 60 minutes doing glute work. Mine actually locks up during certain moves which is just extra special, but it has to help my running right? Or at the very least make my booty look amazing in tights. Def one of the two though I think.

I went to another barre class Thursday morning before work and it was the hardest one yet. I normally don't sweat during barre, but that wasn't the case today. The instructor did things with her legs that I can't even fathom my body doing. Impressive. And challenging, like whoa.

Saturday morning I got to attend my first yoga class in FOREVER. I had a crazy weird work week, so I couldn't go to any of my normal classes and for a creature of habit, I HATED IT. I did a power vinyasa class and it was tough and awesome. And sweaty.

Sunday morning I attended another power vinyasa class where we played around with more dancer pose and mermaid pose which was tons of fun. And a bazillion chaturangas. Woof.

And then Sunday evening I returned to a packed house for restorative yoga. I could tell I hadn't gone to restorative for awhile because everything was so incredible tight. Woof.

I had big plans to get my long run in between the two yoga classes, as the forecast was for mid 40s! Except then it was freezing rain and 35 mph wind gusts and a real feel of 19. Meh.

Yoga Studio Challenge

I was finally thinking that I needed to get to work on half marathon training as the Houston half is just next month. (eeps!) And then the yoga studio I go to announced a challenge. And I was all over it! So I guess I'll just run when I have time, or something. 

The challenge is to attend 15 yoga classes throughout the month to be entered into a drawing for a $200 gift card, or a free two month membership. Um... yes please! You have to attend two vinyasa classes, two sculpt classes, two hot classes, and one restorative class. Sculpt kills me dead and hot usually makes me faint, so those will be a challenge, but I'm excited to try some new things. (I've also started attending a barre class on Tuesday nights, and I really enjoy that, so I hope to keep that in the rotation!)

This past week was a crazy weird work week so I couldn't go to my normal classes, so I didn't get the first star on my tree until Saturday! Luckily I have 17 classes on the agenda for the rest of the month, and opportunities to get in an additional 5:30am class on days that have restorative or gentle vinyasa if I'm crazy enough to double up on a week day. We'll see.

What's your favorite yoga style?

I'd go to a power vinyasa class everyday if I could fit it in my schedule!

November in Review + Goals

Total Miles: 12.1 down from 40.8 down last month.  Down from 43.8 last November. 

Total Time:  2:00:00 down from 7:48:11 last month. 

Total Runs: 5

Highest weekly mileage: 5.1 miles 11/3-11/9 :|

Favorite run: Group run at 605 Running Co, where I actually got to run with people. Normally I'm either bringing up the rear, by myself, or I'm in the middle of two groups. Ho hum.


Most hardcore run: Group run where I attempted to chase the lead group. Tempo'd for 2.5 miles and then cooled down the last .4.

Favorite race: The Jingle Bell 5k

Bike Miles: 0.

Yoga Classes: 12 fitness classes, including 2 barre, 1 yoga sculpt, 2 restorative yoga classes, 4 gentle vinyasa classes, and 3 power vinyasa classes. 12 hours total!

Favorite Jam: Taylor Swift's Out of the Woods. On repeat over here. STILL. Really her whole album.

November Goals

• Group run once/week (2/4)
• 1 hard fitness class/week (5/4)
• 1 restorative yoga class/week (2/4)
• Strong 6 mile race on Turkey Day--I ended up doing the 5k the day after Turkey Day because it was MUCH nicer. I did run decent though! 
• Win NaNoWriMo! Done and Done!

December Goals

• 1 hard yoga class/week (X/4)
• 1 easy yoga class/week (X/4)
• 2 runs/week (X/8)
• 1 buddy run/group run a week (X/4)

Race Report: Jingle Bell Run 5k

I had initially planned to race a 3 or 6 miler on Thanksgiving morning, but when it was forecasted for well below zero, and Friday was showing a heat wave, I decided to sleep in and race Friday instead. Great decision. Unfortunately that means I spent $45 on a 5k. I often race half marathons cheaper than that, uff da.

My first race as a 605 Running Club Member!

I had to head downtown really early as race day registration ended an hour and a half before the race actually started. Luckily people were gathering at 605 Running Co. pre-race, so I did some shopping downtown and then headed over there to wait. We snapped a picture in front of the store before we made our way to the 6:30pm start, and after talking to Greg, I decided I'd try to stick with him, because his goal race pace was similar to mine.



The race was an out and back to start along the street that would feature the Parade of Lights as soon as we were done running, so it was packed with "spectators." They weren't there for us, but it definitely felt like it while we were running. The first stretch was a gradual uphill, and I was pretty pleased that my pace was right around 8:40. I was hoping I could run around an 8:30ish for the 5k. I stuck with Greg until our first turn around, and when I thought I could speed up on the gradual downhill, my legs already felt tired. (sidenote: this 5k was the longest run I've done in awhile. Uh...ooops!)

While I felt like I was slowing down, my pace ended up being almost exactly the same. I probably went out too aggressively in the opening uphill mile and paid for it, but that's ok. Run and learn.

Mile 1 8:40

We got a nice boost of cheers each time we passed in front of the running store, and hopefully they snapped some pics of us flying. Once we started heading toward the falls, we lost all spectators but also got to run through the falls all lit up for the holidays.

Mile 2 8:38

Right around 2.3 miles my body was ready to be done. This also coincided nicely with the twisty turny windy bike path that was the most intense uphill of the race. Blah. In the past, this race has been considerably short, (2.8-2.9 miles) so I started doing a countdown to being done. I do this a lot in races because counting takes my mind off the pain, and I like to get to the finish line before I hit zero. Unfortunately they adjusted the race course, so it was actually on this year, so I got down to zero and still had .2 to run. GAH!

Mile 3 9:15

Hah, told you I faded in the third mile. I saw Greg in front of me as I was nearing the 5k so I was able to kick it in a bit for a strong finish.

.1 :48 (8:20 pace, 7:28 max pace)

I finished 3.1 in 27:15 for a pace of 8:49.




The good news is that I didn't have any knee or IT band issues after the race, so I think all of my yoga is helping to stretch and strengthen my issues, and it's no surprise that my endurance has suffered a bit with running taking the backseat to yoga. It was a blast and reminded me how much I love racing, and lining up for races with friends.

Weekly Reads: My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories is an awesome book to get you into the holiday spirit! I received an e-ARC of this book to read and review honestly, and promote to my library customers if I enjoyed it.

I'm normally not a huge fan of short stories, because I feel like as soon as I get into the story, boom it's over. But I didn't feel like that with these short stories. Ok, I wished a few of them went much much longer, but I was still satisfied by them and their endings. My favorites were Stephanie Perkins' and Rainbow Rowell's. This is a great read for a wintery December day.

My rating: 4 stars.


Summary from goodreads:

If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME: TWELVE HOLIDAY STORIES by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins.