Just like that, March is gone and we are back in the month of April again. Before you know it, my birthday will be here and then summer and then baseball season will be over and then I will be on Amazon buying presents again. My year in a nutshell!! But for now, let's just focus on one month at a time.
Running: I was still recovering from a bit of an ankle thing, and a sickness in my chest, and a general lack of enthusiasm or motivation. Thus, my running suffered. You are going to browbeat me now, because my total in March was still about 210 miles, but it was only about 3 runs a week, which does not feel like enough, and was one 100k race (62 miles), leaving only about 130 miles to be spread out for the rest of the month. A kind of fun stat (for me) is that the miles included about 25,000 feet of climbing.
Reading: I am back in the saddle again and I am riding hard! It's SO nice to not have to be studying anymore. Also, I do not have TV at all; we got rid of cable because we were not using it, and although we have netflix, I rarely use it either. I have been hoarding books on the hold shelf at the library like it's going out of style. In March I read 7 books and most of them were pretty darn good! Here they are, listed by order of favorite to not as favorite. The three that surprised me most were: The Nightingale, which I had no idea what it was about going in, but it turns out to be a crafty novel about hardship and bravery of women during WWII, The Martian, a story about a man trapped on Mars, who struggles to figure out how to survive until the next mission arrives in 4 years time, and Landline, by an author who I normally like. This book just did not do it for me!
The Nightingale (5 stars)
The Martian (4 stars)
Allegiant (3 stars)
Travels in a Thin Country (3 stars)
Names on a Map (3 stars)
The Vacationers (2 stars)
Landline (2 stars)
Travel: Yes, even with a bum ankle and a chest cold, I got around okay. In March I traveled locally a bit, going to Auburn/Cool to watch some friends at a race, and to Sonoma county for a run and a chat and some dance party USA at my brother's house. At the end of the month, I had a great trip to Portland, which will have to be recapped at some point! The Cliff Notes: I drank good coffee and beer, looked at books, walked a lot and raced among the Pacific NW greenery. It was great!
Tell me: What was the best book you have read lately? Where is your favorite local place to travel to for the weekend?
Running: I was still recovering from a bit of an ankle thing, and a sickness in my chest, and a general lack of enthusiasm or motivation. Thus, my running suffered. You are going to browbeat me now, because my total in March was still about 210 miles, but it was only about 3 runs a week, which does not feel like enough, and was one 100k race (62 miles), leaving only about 130 miles to be spread out for the rest of the month. A kind of fun stat (for me) is that the miles included about 25,000 feet of climbing.
Reading: I am back in the saddle again and I am riding hard! It's SO nice to not have to be studying anymore. Also, I do not have TV at all; we got rid of cable because we were not using it, and although we have netflix, I rarely use it either. I have been hoarding books on the hold shelf at the library like it's going out of style. In March I read 7 books and most of them were pretty darn good! Here they are, listed by order of favorite to not as favorite. The three that surprised me most were: The Nightingale, which I had no idea what it was about going in, but it turns out to be a crafty novel about hardship and bravery of women during WWII, The Martian, a story about a man trapped on Mars, who struggles to figure out how to survive until the next mission arrives in 4 years time, and Landline, by an author who I normally like. This book just did not do it for me!
The Nightingale (5 stars)
The Martian (4 stars)
Allegiant (3 stars)
Travels in a Thin Country (3 stars)
Names on a Map (3 stars)
The Vacationers (2 stars)
Landline (2 stars)
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| Powell's - Portland, OR |
Travel: Yes, even with a bum ankle and a chest cold, I got around okay. In March I traveled locally a bit, going to Auburn/Cool to watch some friends at a race, and to Sonoma county for a run and a chat and some dance party USA at my brother's house. At the end of the month, I had a great trip to Portland, which will have to be recapped at some point! The Cliff Notes: I drank good coffee and beer, looked at books, walked a lot and raced among the Pacific NW greenery. It was great!
Tell me: What was the best book you have read lately? Where is your favorite local place to travel to for the weekend?
I read "Everything I Never Told You" and loved it. Currently I am reading "The Color Purple" and not liking it at all. Luckily, I only have 40 pages left.
ReplyDeleteMy in-laws have a house in Bay St. Louis, so sometimes we make that our weekend destination. It's a little over an hour away, but it's a completely different lifestyle compared to New Orleans, so it's a bit of a break.
ReplyDeleteHow did you hurt your ankle? Needless to say, you still got a lot of miles in! The Girl on The Train was my recent read and I zipped right through it and really enjoyed the story. I'm also reading a baby whisperer book, but it's going much more slowly because it's not quite as thrilling, although valuable information. :) My favorite "local" place to travel to is Bend, Portland or the McKenzie River Trail.
ReplyDeleteAh Powell's.....my favorite bookstore. Luckily, I don't have to travel very far to visit.
ReplyDeleteDang, your low mileage month is higher than my highest mileage month!! But I understand that we have different expectations for the # of miles we should run a month!
ReplyDeleteYou packed a lot into March which is impressive considering that you were sick for a good chunk of it. Your weekend in Portland sounds like so much fun. My brother and his family were just there for a few days and then they road tripped down to San Francisco over the course of a week and stayed at different places along the way. Their photos have me craving a trip to the Pacific NW!
The best books I've read lately that were page turners are The Girl on the Train and We Were Liars. And my favorite local place to travel to is my parents lake cabin. Besides that I actually have not done a lot of traveling in my state but I intend to change that this summer as I want to go up to the north shore of Lake Superior this summer for some hiking with Phil!
I'm so anxious to read Nightingale, LOVE Kristin Hannah! Glad you liked it! Landline also did not do it for me. It was the top book on goodreads for 2014 -- I found that really surprising!
ReplyDeleteI still can't believe you ran 100km and you're going to run 100 miles -- amazing!!! You are a rockstar for sure.