5k at 28 weeks pregnant

A little over a week ago I ran a local 5k. I've been meaning to run this race but haven't gotten around to it in the 5 years I've lived in the town. I showed up Sunday morning and did race day registration. I was very impressed on how well the race was run. I was in and out of registration quickly. They even had D-Tag race chips! I didn't realize how laid back the race was and they allowed dogs and strollers. The website wasn't very explanatory or beneficial to use at all. The map they gave me was confusing so I figured I'd just follow the crowd. It wasn't a very big crowd but it was nice.

The race was great, families were running it, kids, etc. The course had it's hills, but I felt good and was able to keep up a pretty good pace. Must have been that race adrenaline. I finished with my kids and hubby cheering me on (surprise!) with a time of 35:15, 11:22 pace. :) I was very happy considering my running pace has been in the 12 min mile pace recently.
My friend ran the 10k and said it was great. They had a couple of water stops (one for the 5k) and water and snacks at the end. I'm totally excited about doing this race next year! I'm thinking 10k, double jogger and a single jogger. Gonna have to recruit hubby to run it with me.

Books Read 2011

Books Read 2011 (Items in bold are books I highly recommend)

1. Dixieland Sushi by Cara Lockwood

2. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

3. Courting Trouble by Deeanne Gist

4. Women Who Run by Shanti Sosienski Loved this book! So inspiring to read about these amazing women who fought to bring women's running into theolympics or to fight a personal struggle. I truely enjoyed reading each story. And the interesting one was of the man who had a sex change to a woman. Reading how estrogen slowed him down was fascinating.

5. Without a Backward Glance by Kate Veitch

6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

7. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares Amazing book! I've recommended this book to everyone I know. Such a great story/plot. At first I was disappointed with the lackluster ending but later learned that this book is supposed to be Part 1 of a trilogy. I can't wait till the next book comes out.

8. Ape House by Sara Gruen (A little disappointing, I really liked Water for Elephants and had high hopes for this book.)

9. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier-Again I was hoping for an exciting story, it seemed a little slow. Apparently this book is historical fiction but I sort of wished it was spiced up a little.

10. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins This was a cute teen novel. My friend recommended it to me so I requested the book from the library. I didn't find it amazing, but a cute story.

11. The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern. I liked the book, it wasn't as amazing as it sounded like it would be, but it was entertaining. There were some twists in there that I liked.

12. The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes. Very cute book! I thought it was creatively written and kept my interest throughout the book as it followed inhabitants of an apartment building.

13. Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run by Kristen Armstrong. I didn't like the layout of the book in that it wasn't chronological. So it took a bit to get used to kids ages changing etc. But for the most part it was a book about friendship and the bonds you make while running. I had an issue with Kristin saying she's not a runner, etc when she's super fast, spits out 2 hour runs on the weekends often, qualified and ran the Boston Marathon and made an ultra-marathon (trail one nontheless) seem easy. For me that is a super runner, something I don't think I'll ever be...so I was really mad that she says I'm not a runner and here I am saying I"m a runner but can't even imagine being at her level.

14. These Hidden Things by Heather Gudenkauf Very good book! I whipped through it in 4 days which recently is amazing for me. Some of it was predictable but it still kept my attention.

15. The Last to Know by Melissa Hill This book kept me guessing the whole way through. I loved that.

16. Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult It was interesting, didn't have the usual Jodi Picoult drama in the end. It was a good read though I was expecting a bit more to be played out.

Currently Reading:

The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes by Randi Davenport

Adding to my books read 2011:

Books Listened to in 2011

1. Love and Impossible Pursuits byAyelet Waldman

2. Between Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson

3. Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende

4. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

Currently listening to: Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving (20 discs, yikes!)

A place that means a lot to me

http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=4935

http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/05/15/2389519/agritourism-blooms.html#storylink=misearch

Check out this article to see more about a really cool place to check out.

What I hate about maternity clothes

I've been in maternity clothes for 3 out of 5 years...well, I may be over exaggerating. But 3 pregnancies and I have some complaints.

• Why do pants not account for growing butt and thighs? There is elastic for your growing belly but pants are not roomy for thighs and butt.
• Why do large pants think that I have a huge crotch? My crotch goes halfway down my thighs if I wear large pants.
• Shirts need to get longer and roomier in the belly area throughout the pregnancy. Not having to buy larger sizes that fit your belly but not your shoulders.
• I hate that there are only a few colors/styles of shirts. I get so bored of the 5 styles to chose from.
  
• I hate that maternity pants don't have pockets or belt loops.
  

This is all I can think of right now but I'm sure I'll come up with some more.

Loving the Library

I love my library. I actually regularly frequent two of them. One in my town and one across the street from my work. Back in February I had a coupon for a local bookstore where I pretty much got my books for half off. While choosing my books I came across a ton of new books I was interested in reading but they were still in hardcover. Well, over the next few weeks while going to my library for movies, cd's and whatnot while looking at the New Book Shelf I have found pretty much every book I was interested in reading. Thus, the last 9 books I've been reading have been all from the library. This is good and bad. The good, I didn't have to buy those new books. The bad, I haven't read the new books I bought in February.