Wordless Wednesday

Making sushi

Elise doing her dissection kit she got for Christmas.

Last run of 2024!

Going to bed after midnight for New Years.

I played disc golf with Ty on New Years Day!

Watching Wicked

My watch when I woke up on New Years Day!

I had some issues uploading videos for my last couple Wordless Wednesday posts, so I'm adding all the missed videos here. They go back to Thanksgiving.

Lunch date at Panera with a gift card from Christmas.

Chilly 5k

We ran the Chilly 5k last year and really enjoyed it so we decided to run it again this year. I was so excited for the race and felt like I would be able to come close to my time from last year. Then Sunday night before the race I woke up with so much pain in my bone spurs that I woke up in the middle of the night. The slight pressure of my sock on the area was painful so I had to pull my sock off and was able to go back to sleep. I was a little nervous about running the race and the issues running a race on pavement combined with the downhill of the last mile might cause. I took the day off running on Monday and then ran a couple miles on trails Tuesday to test things out. Everything felt fine during my run so I decided to go ahead with the race as planned. I'm not sure that I would have decided not to race even if I had been having pain, but I was glad that I wasn't. The race starts at 10:15 so I slept until 8:00, did some yoga, and just drank coffee. Last year I ate oatmeal before the race, but I woke up sick to my stomach this year so decided not to attempt eating before the race. We left a little after 9:00 and arrived in plenty of time to pick up our packets. I ran a warm up before the race. I planned to run 1.5 miles, but started my strides late and wanted to get 4 in so I ended up running 1.8 miles. I wanted to get a sip of water at the water fountain and figured I had time to nip into the restroom really quickly before the race, but decided not to. I just stopped off at the water fountain and then walked out to the race start. I was lined up with 4 minutes to spare before the race start and stood next to Thomas. I didn't see any of the fast ladies I expected to be at this race.

The race starts with a slight uphill and we went out fast. I felt really comfortable and was pleased with how everything was feeling. I didn't notice my bone spurs, but never even thought of that during the race. I was immediately out in first female. My first mile was 6:39 which was quite a bit faster than I was expecting. It was right around what I ran for my first mile last year. I knew the year before my 2nd mile was slower because there were a decent number of uphills in that mile. Last year I had the motivation of keeping the gap between the 3rd place woman and myself small so if she had a rough last mile I could gain on her. This year I didn't have the motivation of women ahead of me during the 2nd mile, but I did hear a woman's voice thank a police officer as we ran by so I focused on maintaining pace during the 2nd mile as much as I could and not getting passed. My mantra was, do what you can the first 2 mile and then the 3rd mile is a freebie. I went through the 2nd mile in 7:01 and was a bit disappointed I slowed down so much the 2nd mile, but I was still feeling good and knew I could make up a lot of time in the last mile. I calculated that if I wanted to run under 21:00, I needed to run the last mile in 6:35 so I glanced down at my watch a few times to see what my lap pace was. I was at 6:40 for a while so I kept pushing the pace down as much as I could. 

As I came up on the last half-mile of the race there was a guy on a bicycle waiting for me. He told me, "You get an escort to the finish. You know what that means, right?" I told him I did and he said, "Let's go!" I saw him after the race and he was so excited saying I really picked up the pace when he said that. I didn't think I did, I was just pushing as much as I could because I knew I was going to be cutting it close to get under 21:00, but he felt really good thinking he helped and maybe he did. I went through mile 3 in 6:31 and I was very pleased because I knew I was going to make it in under 21:00. I was running toward the finish as hard as I could. They announced I was the top female finisher. Then he said, 2nd place female is right behind her. He started encouraging "red" because the woman behind me was wearing red to catch me. When I heard that, I took off. I didn't realize I had another gear, but I did and took off at high speed. My last 0.12 was 5:15 pace! After I finished, I turned around to high five the lady behind me and saw I had what I guessed was a 10 second lead on her so she really wasn't that close. Looking at results later, I saw she was exactly 10 seconds behind me. Michaela finished 3rd female which was really exciting. She said the lady who finished in 2nd tucked in right behind me from the start and paced off me the whole race. I put the gap between us in the last mile. After cheering for Michaela, I ran out to find Elise and finish with her. I saw dad and cheered for him and then ran to the finish with Elise. After I helped her at the finish, I ran back out to Carter and mom and walked to the finish with them.

We had a great showing. Thomas finished in 19:40, 10th out of 245 overall and 2nd in his age group. I finished in 20:49, 15th overall and 1st out of 138 women. Michaela finished in 22:08, 23rd overall and 3rd overall female. Dad finished in 27:08 and won his age group. Elise finished in 28:50 and also won her age group, she was 85 overall and 32nd female. Jeremy started out walking with Moneypenny and then decided to run/walk. He finished in 40:09, was 176th overall and 12th in his age group. Mom and Carter walked together and then ran the finish. Carter finished in 1:02:13, 242nd overall and 4th in his age group. Mom finished in 1:02:23, 243rd overall and 6th in her age group.

My Year in Books

Last year I started tracking books I read aloud with the kids and Carter thought it would be fun to set a goal to read 12 books together this year, one a month. Then as we started reading books together, both kids lost interest and wanted to read their own books they were already reading rather than reading books together. We only read 2 books together this year. I was a little sad at first, but it's a good thing they are reading books on their own and are highly motivated to read and finish them. Carter has started borrowing books off my bookshelf to read, which is fun. He made it through the Hunger Games series, the Marrow thieves and the sequel, as well as The Heartstopper series. Now I'm trying to get him hooked on the Murderbot series. Sharing reading with others through sharing and discussing books is one of my favorite things! Read past recaps here: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018.

This year I read 55,684 pages across 177 books.

Last year I read 57,462 pages across 177 books.

In 2022 I read 51,272 pages across 171 books.

In 2021 I read 47,845 pages across 157 books.

In 2020 I read 56,782 pages across 186 books.

In 2019 I read 41,911 pages across 132 books.

In 2018 I read 38,074 pages across 128 books.

I read 78 books, 41 eBooks, and 56 audiobooks.

This year I discovered I could speed up audiobooks, I know, I'm late to the game! That upped my audiobook consumption and I made it through more audiobooks than eBooks this year. Speeding up the audio really helps me stay focused on the story without my mind wandering, especially while running!

My shortest book was All by My Elf by Olivia Dade at 55 pages.

My longest book was A Court of Silver Flames by Sara J. Maas at 757 pages.

The average length of a book was 314 pages. Reading the Under the Mistletoe series brought my book length average down, but also got me quite a few books, so it's a trade off!

The most popular book I read was Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas with 3,589,652 other people reading it.

The least popular book I read was Dyslexia and Reading Difficulties: A Manual for Parents, Educators, and Students, Volume VI: The Application of Special Education Law by David P. Hurford, Ph.D. with 1 other person reading it.

My favorite fiction book was Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera.

My favorite nonfiction book was Choosing to Run: A Memoir by Des Linden. 

My favorite fiction audiobook was A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter.

My favorite nonfiction audiobook was The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush.

My favorite YA book was Hunting by Stars by Cherie Dimaline.

My favorite YA audiobook was Our Divine Mischief by Hanna Howard. 

Honorable Mention (how I read them in parantheses):

• Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse (eBook)
• The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore (eBook)
• Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner (audiobook)
• Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle (book)
• The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose (eBook)
• Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (audiobook)
• Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb (eBook)
• The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown (audiobook)
• The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World by Matt Kracht (book)
• The Little Liar by Mitch Albom (book)
• Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (audiobook)
• The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin (audiobook)
• The Toy King by Adriana Herrera (book)
• Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate (audiobook)
• The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht (book)
• Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty (book)
• Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jimenez (eBook)
• A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power (book)
• The Answer is No by Fredrik Backman (eBook)
• The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina by Zoraida Cordova (book)
• Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey (book)
• Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez (book)
• OMFG, Bees!: Bees Are So Amazing and You're About to Find Out Why by Matt Kracht (book)
• The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson (book and eBook)
• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (book)
• Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajarado-Anstine (book)
• Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose (eBook)
• The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer (book)
• Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk (audiobook)
• Network Effect by Martha Wells (eBook)
• Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross (book)
• The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones (audiobook)
• Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne (book)
• His & Hers by Alice Feeney (audiobook)

Favorite Children's Chapter Books:

• Olivetti by Allie Millington (book)
• Attack of the Black Rectangles by A.S. King (book)
• The One and Only Family by Katherine Applegate (book)