Running Talley 2011

As of yesterday I've beat my running mileage from pregnancy #2. I have run 178.82 miles this pregnancy and I have just over 8 weeks to go. This is a mile over my mileage from pregnancy #2.

My yearly mileage is up to 130.89.

So far I feel allright. I'm very slow running and I don't know how long I can keep it up. I may have to drop my runs to 2 miles and under but I'll keep going as long as I can.

Children's Books List

It gets asked often, what are your kids favorite books. I'm going to start trying to keep track of my (and theirs) favorites. I'm sure I'll leave some out, but slowly I'll get them all listed.

Llama Llama series by Anna Dewdney
Bear Series ie Bear Wants More: by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
The Little Mouse The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood
Bark George by Jules Feiffer
I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont and David Catrow
Knuffle Bunny Series by Mo Willems
Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She was Extinct as well as the Pig/Elephant books by Mo Willems
Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen
Olivia series by Ian Falconer
The Berenstein Bears Books
Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor
All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon
Diary of a Worm/Spider/Fly by Doreen Cronin
The Napping House by Audrey Wood
No, David by David Shannon
Little Critter Books by Mercer Mayer
Clifford the Big Red Dog Books
Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French
Pinkalicious by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann
The Baby BeeBee Bird by Diane Redfield Massie
Ladybug Girl Books by Jacky Davis
Sandra Boynton Books
The Tushy Book by Fran Manushkin
Tumble Bumble by Felicia Bond
Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth

Another 5k, 30.5 weeks pregnant

I ran another 5k this last weekend. It was one I signed up for back in early December when I had *just* found out I was pregnant. My friends were signing up for the half marathon and because I didn't want them to find out just yet that I was pregnant I said I signed up for the race too. Note that I said race, not half marathon. In talking about this race, a coworker of mine decided this would be her first half marathon she'd run. I also wasn't announcing my pregnancy at work so I just forewarned her about training schedules and what not to make sure she could fully commit to running it. Fast forward 5 months later and it was race day.

The weather predicted pouring rains, in June?! But luckily it turned out to be a cloudy, muggy morning but dry! (Nice compared to the torrential downpour the day before.) My coworker was ready for her half and my 2 other friends decided to run the 5k with me even with my warningly low pace.
The race was a little disorganized and I wished they had water at the start because I was thirsty! The half started first at 8am and I was able to see my coworker off. Thirty minutes later was the 5k. I guess because of the high number of 5kers they did staggered starts. We were in the third "wave". The race was nice, fairly flat, views of the bay not so bad. The race was longer than 5k according to my GPS. 0.14 miles longer in fact. But I finished fine, ran the whole way with no pain.
The end was another pain in the ass. No signs on any of the tents and lines were long to pick up the swag. So after waiting in the wrong line for 15 minutes we got into another line for the stuff we wanted. Seriously, how hard is it to write a sign?! Once everything was picked up, we watched more of the race, especially to see my coworker cross the finish line (with great time) and called it a day.
Overall, great time! Hopefully over time the race organizers will become more organized but I think this is only the 2nd year. Oh and results are totally confusing. And I believe inaccurate. There were two times listed. Not chip time and gun time, but Net time and Official time. Their description of what those meant.

Net Time is the time a person actually crossed the start line minus their finish.

Official Time is based on USATF rules. Official time is the gun time minus the finish time. This would be your official time for qualifying for a USATF race.

I feel net time is more accurate to what your race time is. I mean if it took you 2 minutes from gun time to pass the start it doesn't make sense to add that to your race time.

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.

Blog Hiatus

Sorry to have been blogging less...figured I should explain. There are a lot of things going on especially through the next few months. We're expanding our house and a lot of hours have been put into designing, interviewing contractors and submitting paperwork to the city. I'm hoping things will be wrapping up with the above soon, but then my hours will be spent with our backyard torn up, choosing actual colors, carpet, windows etc. This is supposed to go on for 3 months! What a summer!

And on top of that, this pregnancy has been exhausting. I'm constantly falling asleep on the couch before the kids even go to bed. 2nd trimester did not give me the energy boost I was hoping for. Hopefully 3rd trimester doesn't get any worse. With all the sleeping I've been doing, I've noticed even my reading has gone on the back burner. Usually by now I've read 16 books, averaging 4 a month. Looking at my list it seems pathetic.

I'll try to keep checking in, but for the meantime, bear 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 the olympics 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.

Currently reading: Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run by Kristen Armstrong. I'm flying through this book I believe I will finish it within the next two days.

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

Currently listening to Geek Love by Katherine Dunn (1 disc left)!

Next in cue to listen to: Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving (20 discs, yikes!)