Wordless Wednesday

Elise and I had THE BEST girls day!

Tesla got a new collar for Valentine's Day.

Grady Hendrix author event

Girl Scout Meeting at the fire station.

Carter got a haircut.

Using the kitty perch, even on the floor!

Valentine's Day Party at school, Ty got to go.

Squishy made by Elise.

Keystone Ancient Trail Trek 10k

We ran this race for the first time last year and loved it. Thomas and I decided to run it again. It fell on the same day as the Sweetheart Run so it took us a while to decide which one to run. Then Elise got the flu and I was worried I would get sick so I put off signing up. I ended up with an XL shirt because that was all that was left, but it was worth it to wait. There was a chance of bad weather during the week and Mother Nature was nice enough to get it out of the way before race day. It was 48 degrees race morning which was so nice and it was the first time I'd worn shorts for a run in quite a while. The downside was that we'd had snow on Wednesday and then warmer temperatures which led to the snow melting and making the trails a bit of a sloppy mess. I ran trails Friday evening before the race and slid and fell in a really slippery, muddy section. I knew the trails at Keystone Ancient Forest seem to drain pretty well, but there was so much water there would definitely be muddy sections. 

The race started at 9am so I got up a little after 7, did some yoga, ate breakfast, drank coffee, and then we were off. Last year I skipped a warm up because it was 17 degrees and I didn't think there would be much warming up going on outside. This year we didn't get there early enough. I had time to wait in line for the restroom and then head to the race start with about 2 minutes until go time. I looked around at the start and didn't see anyone who looked like they'd be competition other than a girl I ran a bit of a 5k with last summer before pulling away in the last mile. In the back of my mind as the race took off, I knew first place won $100 so if I could pull out the win, I'd make $60 after taking out my race registration fee. There were a couple women ahead of me and I passed them fairly early on. I felt pretty good about my chances at taking home some money. The race starts up a gradual hill that becomes pretty steep less than a quarter mile into the race. Going up the hill, my hips were burning and I was slipping around in the mud a bit. I was a bit concerned it wasn't going to be my day, but I planned to push as much as I could. I had originally hoped to beat last year's time, but with muddy trail conditions, I knew that was out the window.

Thomas pretty early in the race.

I went through the first mile in 8:16 which was 40 seconds slower than my first mile last year. I know the trail conditions made the race slower, but I don't think it was quite that much of a difference. Mile 2 was 7:57. Around in here I passed a guy I had been running around/with for most of the race. When I initially went to pass him, he looked over and asked me what school I went to. I decided to take that as a compliment that I looked young and told him I was a teacher. Most of the 2nd mile I was just waiting for the mile long hill that comes at 2.5 miles. I could hear a female running behind me. I could tell it was a woman based off some noises she made. She made a move to pass me a couple times and then would fall back without me speeding up. I told myself the race wouldn't really start until after we made it up the mile long hill and that's when I needed to start pushing. 

When we hit the bottom of the hill at 2.5 miles 2 females passed me. One was the woman who had started to go around me a couple times and the other was the young girl I'd run the 5k with. They had been running together, keying off me. I told myself to let them go, they may not know it was a mile long hill and I was mentally prepared for it. I didn't want to push up the hill and wound rather work my way up it. About halfway up the hill, the girl stopped and started walking for a bit. I caught her little by little and when we crested the hill I was able to pass her. The other woman had faded a bit on the hill and I was closing the gap on her slowly but surely. I could tell she was getting tired because she kept looking back to see how far back I was. Mile 3 was 9:14 and I knew I was through the worst of the hill. After that section, it becomes less steep and I was able to start dropping the pace again. Mile 4 was 8:49. That section was really muddy and each time I'd go to pass someone, I'd have to run through the most slippery part of the trail. I'd go around to pass and be running the same pace as the other person because the muddy terrain would slow me down. I felt pretty confident with how much I was chipping away at the lead the other woman had on me. Then we hit the portion of the race where the 15k turns to the right and she turned. Suddenly I was back in 1st female position! I was very tempted to let off the gas and coast it in, but told myself to keep pushing so I could get a solid workout it. It was a good thing I did because 2nd place female was only 30 seconds behind me!

Mile 5 was 8:11. Then we made it into the lollipop section where we had to navigate through the 5k racers. That slowed me down and mile 6 was 8:30. The swithbacks at the end of the race are tough for me and always leave me with sore hips. Its the only section of the race that's paved and since it was wet, it was slick. I'd take the sharp turn and start to slide a little bit, so it was hard to get up to speed. I ran that section of the race in 8:48 pace. My finishing time was 55:31 which was almost 5 minutes slower than last year. My watch again read 6.5 miles. I was 4th overall and 1st female. Thomas finished just 1 minute slower than last year with a time of 50:49 which put him 3rd overall and 1st in his age group. We stuck around for awards and I got my $100 bill in an envelope! Ty manned a Girl Scout Cookie Booth that morning so I could run the race so I used some of my winnings to take him out for dinner on Sunday evening. Read about last year's race here.

What I Read: January

The best part of winter is snuggling up with a good book. I love that the kids will snuggle up with me on the couch and we all read together.

Books:

• Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse- I wasn't sure how she would be able to wrap everything up and top the amazingness that was the first 2 books, but she did both. The characters were so well written and fleshed out with complex backgrounds and emotions, it was nearly impossible to choose a favorite. Through all of the books I found myself torn between rooting for Serapio and Naranpa while also wanting more of Iktan and Xiala (I may say it was hard to have a favorite, but she was it). Then in this book she pulled some minor characters to the front and made you desperate to see a happy ending for them as well. I started hoping toward the end that she would leave it open for a 4th book, but in the acknowledgement she referred to the 3 books as a trilogy.

• The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde- I started the book expecting monsters and a library. The book was so much more than that and so much more than I expected. The Irish myths and folktales woven in more toward the end were incredible and have me excited for the next book in the series.

• Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett- This was an interesting take on faeries. I enjoyed the book, but never got sucked in. I liked the myths and faerie tales that were included. The main character was just a little blah and even though I was rooting for her, it wasn't to where it was hard to put the book down.

• Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage- I got this book in our book basket swap we did for our December book club and I was so excited to read it, but needed a little break from romance after December's holiday reads which were mostly all romance, so I didn't read it right away. I loved this book so much! I'm a sucker for a love story that gives you that warm tingly feeling. She was a barrel racer working through getting back on the horse after a bad fall. He was the cowboy who helped her finally climb back into the saddle. Throw in a feisty best friend, ADHD, and lots of horses and you have yourself quite the enjoyable read!

eBooks:

• The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis- I was so excited to read this book when I read that hte main character had an affinity for books and could feel the echoes of the books' previous owners. Unfortunately that was a very minor plot point and the story goes into jilted lovers and the books they wrote to each other. I had a really hard time getting into the story because both their characters were whiny and stubborn. Their separation felt like the stupid stubbornness of Romeo and Juliet and that's not my style.

• Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi- This was book #2 in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. I loved how the stories of the people within the cafe were continued in their book even though the main stories were about customers. This book was just as lovely as the first one, it just didn't hit as hard since it was the same concept carried over from the first book. 

• The Improbable Meet Cute Series by Abby Jimenez, Christina Lauren, Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory, Ashley Poston, and Sariah Wilson- These were so cute and I enjoyed all but one of them. I had already read Worst Wingman Ever last year when the series came out because I love Abby Jiminez. It was just as good, if not better, the 2nd time around. I really hated Royal Valentine. It's why I didn't finish this series last year. I read it after Worst Wingman Ever and struggled to finish it, even though it was a short story! I'm glad I gave this another try because the rest of the stories were very enjoyable.

• Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi- This was book 3 in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. I hated it. There was another cafe where you could time travel, but why? Then every story was about someone dying which was a bit much after the other books with all the stories about death. It felt like a forced reason to bring it back around to his same tired point about continuing to live after a loved one dies. I had the next book in the series on hold and after reading this one, I canceled it immediately. It was like after 2 books he didn't have anything else to write about, but went ahead and churned out another book for the money. It was garbage. It's not often I give a book 1 star or a terrible review because I appreciate that writing is hard and I cannot do it, but this book was so bad, it actually made me angry that I wasted my time reading it.

• Flamer by Mike Curato- When I saw this on Ryan Walters' "book club" list (as in books he was attempting to ban), it became a must read. This was such a beautiful story. It highlighted the struggles of being a middle schooler confused about one's identity which is relatable regardless of sexual orientation. There were some illustrations that were so beautiful, they took my breath away. I loved how this graphic novel showed the love and kindness of others that can shine through all the darkness spread by bullies and society in general. The only reason to ban this book would be to keep gay teenagers from feeling seen and cis teenagers from developing empathy for people who are different from them. It was a reminder that the kindness of one person can make a huge impact.

Audiobooks:

• Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See- This book was very good. It was fascinating to learn more about ancient medicines as well as everything that went into feet binding. It was hard to read about the oppression of women, but I loved that she was able to be a doctor even though she was not a working class woman.

• West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge- This was a beautiful story about how the love of an animal can change your life. I loved the wild ride of Woody and the gang as they raced against time to get the first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo.

• Faraway: Fairy Tales for the Here and Now by Rainbow Rowell, Nic Stone, Soman Chainani, Gayle Forman, & Ken Liu- I love fairy tales and I love retellings so I enjoyed this short story collection. I had Rainbow Rowell's story on my TBR, not knowing it was an Amazon original. When I came across this series on Kindle Unlimited, I decided to check it out before my free subscription runs out!

• Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe- I didn't like this book all that much. It was on me because I just read the first part of the book blurb and expected it to be the story of an investigation into the disappearance of a specific person. Then I spent the first section of the book confused about how the people in the story related to the missing woman. When I finally realized they weren't familialy related, I was able to get into the story. It was interesting, just written in a confusing way.

• Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros- THE EMPYREAN #3!!!!! And she did it again. I don't want to spoil anything for others reading this book so I will just say I cannot wait to learn more about the Irrids and the priestesses. Xaden's storyline is wearing on me, but I'll allow it to get all the other goodness!