Not to brag, but we rocked the 12 miles this week. Even in the Arkansas heat and humidity (impromptu trip). It definitely left me a tad sore, but I will take that over not being able to finish any day. We did miss a three mile run because of the ridiculous amount of things we had going on. I plan (because I am obsessive) to make up for it this week.
Monday: Nothing :)
Tuesday: 3 Miles
Wednesday: 6 Miles
Thursday: 3 Miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 9 Miles
Sunday: 3 Miles
We are rearranging this week due to a camping trip this weekend.
One interesting thing I have noticed while training: I don't do well with carbonation. If I have too many cokes I feel like I have a hangover. It's sad.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Catching Fire and Bet Me
As with the first book of the series, Hunger Games, I loved this book! A-MAZ-ING! Collins has great character development as well as plot set-up. She provides all sorts of twists which had me hooked from page one. I can't say enough good things about these novels. I think everyone should read them. I don't really feel like summarizing this one; you should just read it!
And for the not so fun book:
This book was very entertaining to read. It made me laugh. It was "cute". It was also annoying and not quite original.
The main character is always complaining about how fat she is. Her mom is controlling and won't allow her to eat carbs or butter. Ya know- the typical rich, pretty mom/ chubby daughter relationship. Min (the main character) gets dumped by her boyfriend and then is taken to dinner by the sweet, charming, hott guy who swoops in to save her from herself.
The have a tumultuous courtship because they are both overcoming their relational demons. They have a weird food/ weight obsessed relationship, and a few weird moments that ruined Krispy Kreme donuts for me forever. Cal (the hunk) calls Min "full" many times. Which made me chuckle. I can see Chris coming home and saying, "Hey babe, you're looking mighty full in that dress." He'd be sleeping on the couch.
Anywho, despite family, ex's, and insecurities they fall in love and live happily ever after.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Marathon Training: Week 5
Week 4 recap- great week! The short week runs were great as well as the long run. I feel much more encouraged than I did last week at this time. Definitely ready to keep this training up. I have realized my speed has decreased, but I will take that over a miserable run.
Week 5: Monday- Ab workout
Tuesday- 3 Miles
Wednesday- 6 Miles
Thursday- Bike Ride
Friday- 3 Miles
Saturday- Rest
Sunday- 12 Miles
Week 5: Monday- Ab workout
Tuesday- 3 Miles
Wednesday- 6 Miles
Thursday- Bike Ride
Friday- 3 Miles
Saturday- Rest
Sunday- 12 Miles
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Indiana State Pie
Indiana has a state pie (is that normal?), which since I am a pretend Hoosier, I will be making the famous sugar cream pie this weekend. Any excuse for a pie is a good excuse.
 |
| Photo credit: Frank Espich |
Monday, June 13, 2011
Startling Fact
I'm an introvert. Yup. And it only took me 24 years to learn this.
And my shy, socially awkward, sweet husband is an extrovert.
Crazy, huh?
I always assumed I was an extrovert, but I have come to realize that without quiet time to energize my soul- I'm done for. That's why fall break, Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, spring break, and summer break are necessary for me.
And Chris, who doesn't like make new friends, is energized by being with people.
Hmmm. The things you learn.
The following two pictures are from my birthday winery trip in Tulsa. It was awesome! I even tried apple pie topped with cheddar cheese...
And my shy, socially awkward, sweet husband is an extrovert.
Crazy, huh?
I always assumed I was an extrovert, but I have come to realize that without quiet time to energize my soul- I'm done for. That's why fall break, Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, spring break, and summer break are necessary for me.
And Chris, who doesn't like make new friends, is energized by being with people.
Hmmm. The things you learn.
The following two pictures are from my birthday winery trip in Tulsa. It was awesome! I even tried apple pie topped with cheddar cheese...
Marathon Training: Week 4
I can't believe we are on week four already. Crazy how time flies.
Monday- Rest. Because I have run three days in a row and my legs need a break.
Tuesday- 3 Miles
Wednesday- Cross Train.
Thursday- 6 Miles
Friday- 3 Miles
Saturday- Rest
Sunday- 11 Miles- Gross.
I am praying the eleven miles goes much better than the 8 and 9 have. This last week was nice because even my short runs felt better, which leaves me hopeful. It's just weird to think that when we trained for our half the longest we ran was 12, and here we are, on week four running 11. It took me 10 weeks to get to that last time.
Monday- Rest. Because I have run three days in a row and my legs need a break.
Tuesday- 3 Miles
Wednesday- Cross Train.
Thursday- 6 Miles
Friday- 3 Miles
Saturday- Rest
Sunday- 11 Miles- Gross.
I am praying the eleven miles goes much better than the 8 and 9 have. This last week was nice because even my short runs felt better, which leaves me hopeful. It's just weird to think that when we trained for our half the longest we ran was 12, and here we are, on week four running 11. It took me 10 weeks to get to that last time.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Hunger Games
Awesome. Stinkin' fantastic. Amazing. Wonderful.
No wonder it's a New York Times Best Seller, USA Today Best Seller, ALA Top Ten Book for Young Adult Literature, and so on. It's a long list. Why? Because it's awesome. stinking fantastic. amazing. and wonderful.
Someone recommend this book to me a few weeks ago and I kind of pushed it off. That didn't last long because from then on this book was everywhere. I was working on summer reading lists and it was on many I looked at. It was recommended by friends and friends of friends. It wouldn't go away, so I made a trip to Barnes and Noble and bought it. Even though I knew I wouldn't like it because it's not "my type" of book. Whatever that may be.
So here's the summary as told by Lev Grossman in "Catching Fire: Suzanne Collins' Hit Young-Adult Novels" which appeared in TIME.
"The Hunger Games is set in an unspecified future time when things have gone pretty spectacularly badly for humanity. The world, or the bit of it we can see, is dominated by a ruling caste who live in luxury in a city called the Capitol. The rest of us live like peasants in 12 districts that are strictly cordoned off from the Capitol and one another. Life in the districts sucks: it's mostly hard labor--mining coal and farming and working in factories--in dismal conditions.
To make things even dismaler, once a year each district is required to give up two of its children, chosen by lottery, and enter them in the Hunger Games. The kids are dropped into an enormous arena strewn with traps and hazards, with a heap of weapons and supplies in the middle. The last child alive wins a lifetime of luxury and celebrity. The action is filmed and broadcast to the entire world.
We experience this ordeal through the eyes of Katniss, a resident of District 12, a harsh, cold region mostly given over to coal-mining. She is a passionate 16-year-old who hates the Capitol and is devoted to her family; she volunteers for the Games to take the place of her sister, whose name came up in the lottery. Katniss is a skilled hunter and sheer death with a bow and arrow. She doesn't like to kill. But she doesn't want to die either.
Whereas Katniss kills with finesse, Collins writes with raw power. After a life spent in freezing poverty, Katniss experiences pleasure--warmth, food, pretty clothes--with almost unbearable intensity, and that's where Collins' writing comes alive. (Not sex, though. The Hunger Games isn't just chaste, like Twilight; it's oddly non-erotic.) Likewise, Collins brings a cold, furious clarity to her accounts of physical violence. You might not think it would be possible, or desirable, for a young-adult writer to describe, slowly and in full focus, a teenage girl getting stung to death by a swarm of mutant hornets. It wasn't, until Collins did it. But rather than being repellent, the violence is strangely hypnotic. It's fairy-tale violence, Brothers Grimm violence--not a cheap thrill but a symbol of something deeper. (One of the paradoxes of the book is that it condemns the action in the arena while also inviting us to enjoy it, sting by sting. Despite ourselves, we do.)"
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1919156,00.html#ixzz1P5maqbJx
Someone recommend this book to me a few weeks ago and I kind of pushed it off. That didn't last long because from then on this book was everywhere. I was working on summer reading lists and it was on many I looked at. It was recommended by friends and friends of friends. It wouldn't go away, so I made a trip to Barnes and Noble and bought it. Even though I knew I wouldn't like it because it's not "my type" of book. Whatever that may be.
So here's the summary as told by Lev Grossman in "Catching Fire: Suzanne Collins' Hit Young-Adult Novels" which appeared in TIME.
"The Hunger Games is set in an unspecified future time when things have gone pretty spectacularly badly for humanity. The world, or the bit of it we can see, is dominated by a ruling caste who live in luxury in a city called the Capitol. The rest of us live like peasants in 12 districts that are strictly cordoned off from the Capitol and one another. Life in the districts sucks: it's mostly hard labor--mining coal and farming and working in factories--in dismal conditions.
To make things even dismaler, once a year each district is required to give up two of its children, chosen by lottery, and enter them in the Hunger Games. The kids are dropped into an enormous arena strewn with traps and hazards, with a heap of weapons and supplies in the middle. The last child alive wins a lifetime of luxury and celebrity. The action is filmed and broadcast to the entire world.
We experience this ordeal through the eyes of Katniss, a resident of District 12, a harsh, cold region mostly given over to coal-mining. She is a passionate 16-year-old who hates the Capitol and is devoted to her family; she volunteers for the Games to take the place of her sister, whose name came up in the lottery. Katniss is a skilled hunter and sheer death with a bow and arrow. She doesn't like to kill. But she doesn't want to die either.
Whereas Katniss kills with finesse, Collins writes with raw power. After a life spent in freezing poverty, Katniss experiences pleasure--warmth, food, pretty clothes--with almost unbearable intensity, and that's where Collins' writing comes alive. (Not sex, though. The Hunger Games isn't just chaste, like Twilight; it's oddly non-erotic.) Likewise, Collins brings a cold, furious clarity to her accounts of physical violence. You might not think it would be possible, or desirable, for a young-adult writer to describe, slowly and in full focus, a teenage girl getting stung to death by a swarm of mutant hornets. It wasn't, until Collins did it. But rather than being repellent, the violence is strangely hypnotic. It's fairy-tale violence, Brothers Grimm violence--not a cheap thrill but a symbol of something deeper. (One of the paradoxes of the book is that it condemns the action in the arena while also inviting us to enjoy it, sting by sting. Despite ourselves, we do.)"
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1919156,00.html#ixzz1P5maqbJx
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Marathon Training: Week 3
Recap of week 2: Hard, Horrible, I hated it. My 9 mile run took all I had, and unfortunately I walked for about half a mile somewhere in the middle. I need a serious mental makeover.
Week 3 (better late than never):
Tuesday- 3 miles
Friday- 5 miles
Saturday- 3 miles
Sunday- 6 miles
These past two weeks have been hard because we are traveling. With traveling comes poor eating habits. I am hoping we can get back on track.
Week 3 (better late than never):
Tuesday- 3 miles
Friday- 5 miles
Saturday- 3 miles
Sunday- 6 miles
These past two weeks have been hard because we are traveling. With traveling comes poor eating habits. I am hoping we can get back on track.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Jon and Kristin got hitched!
Chris's younger brother and his new wife, Kristin, got married last week in Tulsa. It was a beautiful, sweet wedding. Chris and I were both honored to have been a part of the wedding party!
 |
| Chris, Me, Sandi, Michael |
 |
| My handsome husband and me |
 |
| The happy couple! |
 |
| The sisters-in-law |
 |
| The crew at the rehearsal |
We enjoyed a few days of family and fun! It was so nice being able to spend time relaxing and catching up with everyone.
Before I Fall
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I finished it yesterday on the ride home from Tulsa and have been thinking about it ever since, but I didn't really like it. I mean, it was entertaining and I couldn't stop reading it, but I wasn't a huge fan of the ending.
*Spoiler alert*
The reader knows at the beginning how the book will end. Samantha begins by dying which means that's how it will end(though I kept hoping something miraculous would happen). She's a popular girl who is characterized as the mean popular girl everyone is familiar with from other books and movies. She dies in a car accident- which of course involves drinking. She then wakes up the next morning like nothing has happened, but it's still the same day. She relives the day 7 times- perfecting it each day. She changes her actions, and by doing so, changes fate. She still dies at the end, but she dies saving a life.
My issues with the book: 1.) She dies in a drunk driving accident. A problem in high schools all over the country. And it's not addressed. I mean, when she finally perfects her day she isn't drinking- but still. It's not a big deal. For something that causes so many deaths it should have been addressed more in this book that is targeted at young adults. 2.) Drinking is a way of high school life. And yes, I know it is in real life, but in this book it was ridiculous- and it was portrayed as okay. 3.) She falls in love on the 6th and 7th day knowing she is still going to end the day by dying. This was just me being a romantic. I wanted her to live so she didn't break her new beau's heart. But she does anyway. She does knowingly, which irritates me. 4.) When Sam finally does actually die, she dies differently. She is killed while saving the life of a girl whom she had picked on and was about to commit suicide. This is all fine and dandy, but I think the girl would have more to live with after the incident. I don't feel it would help her, knowing that someone died saving her life. And really, wouldn't the whole "mean girl crew" just be mad at the person who caused their friend's death.
Overall, I don't think I liked it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)