Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts

Sunday, October 4, 2015

The Well-Read Runner: BIG news...65.5 miles of it!

Remember a few weeks back, when I mentioned that one of my goals for 2016 is to complete Rochester's 4 Seasons Challenge (4 half marathons during the year, 1 in each season)?

About that.

My husband told me well before my birthday (September 24, in case you forgot!) that he was going to give me the entry fee for the 4 Seasons Challenge.  All I had to do was tell him where to make the purchase.  However, our local Fleet Feet (the owners of which also own the local race timing company) said that they were not opening registration for 2016 yet, because they had "new details" to iron out.  Oooooh, mysterious!

So my birthday came and went last week, with no news of 4SC.  The anticipation was killing me!  I just wanted to register already!!

Then, the news struck.  On September 30, Fleet Feet announced that the 2016 challenge will have two options: you can either do the 4 half marathons, OR you can do the first 3 half marathons, and then do the full Rochester marathon in September (instead of the Rochester half, which runs at the same time).

Registration was set to open the next day, October 1.

What's the difference between the two options?  Other than an extra 13.1 miles, not much.  You still get all the same 4SC swag, and the same giant medal at the end of all 4 races (at each race, you get the finisher medal but then also 1/4 of a GIANT 4SC medal, the 4 pieces come together once you have all of them).  The same feeling of SUPREME AWESOMENESS when you finish all 4.

But I just.couldn't.resist. the challenge.  So I woke up October 1 and signed up...for the marathon option.

I AM RUNNING A MARATHON NEXT YEAR!  MY VERY FIRST ONE!!!

I am SO EXCITED and also completely FREAKING OUT!

I have said for a while that I wanted to have my first marathon be a BIG one (Chicago, NYC, etc), because who knows if I'll want to do a second marathon?  But this opportunity was just too cool to pass up.  So now I have to do a second marathon too, I suppose!  But that's okay, because if marathons are anything like halfs, I'll enjoy the second one a LOT more than the first.  ;)

Many thanks go out to my husband in advance, as we did chat about this before I signed up, and he has expressed his full support for this endeavor...something I will certainly need as the mileage builds up next summer.  My husband and my kiddos are my biggest cheerleaders, and I definitely could not do this without them!

Sounds like 2016 is going to be quite the year for my running.  For now, I have to focus on training for the first of the 4SC halfs, Winter Warrior, coming up January 9.  Already ordered some new thermal tights to get me going (I ran the relay this year and it was -15 degrees)!  Stay tuned...

Anyone else committed to a big race for 2016?  Something you've never tried before?

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Back in the groove! September 2014 in Review

September, a banner month!  On the home front, it was good times for so many reasons.

1. Our 7th wedding anniversary...which was celebrated with a dinner out BY OURSELVES!  No kids!  At a not-very-kid-friendly restaurant!  It was amazing!  We ate too much and drank too much responsibly (we did have to parent when we got home) and just generally enjoyed each other's company.  It was wonderful.

2. My 31st birthday, which was celebrated with a dinner out as well, though this was with the kiddos and involved eating my weight in hamburger meat at Red Robin and listening to Small Fry sing to me.  Also wonderful!

3. Finishing my half marathon, which as you well know by now, was quite the saga, but I am rather proud of myself and licking my wounds more quietly.  :)

Plus, I feel like I made a bit of a comeback around here, which is exciting.

In September I read 5 books:
The Three  by Sarah Lotz
Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
The Blonde by Anna Godbersen
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (which included a celebration of Banned Books Week!)
The Memory of Love by Linda Olsson

In addition, I did a new Small Fry Saturday review for My Bus by Byron Barton.

I also talked about my issues with e-books vs paper (the struggle is real), and told you about my new tattoo and love for Jodi Picoult (though those two things are not related, which is probably a win for Jodi Picoult).

As I mentioned earlier this week, I'm hoping for some spooky reads in October, plus possibly snagging a copy of Picoult's Leaving Time, and I do have one TLC Book Tour coming up as well.  I know, I took the whole summer off!  But it will be nice to review some new releases again.

How is fall treating you, friends?  Are you pro- or anti- the pumpkin spice craze?  (Personally, I think the Pumpkin Spice Oreo is an insult to humanity.)

Friday, October 4, 2013

Moved In! September 2013 in Review

Another busy month around these parts!  Obviously my posting frequency has gone down lately, but I am happy to report that we are fully moved into our new home...PHEW!!  We are still busy with unpacking the last few boxes, making endless trips to Home Depot, and wishing we had a box spring (our queen size box spring didn't fit up the stairs...therefore, I have been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for the last 3 weeks as we await our new one...fun!), but overall the move went well and I am looking forward to getting into a routine around here.

We did have lots of exciting milestones this month too.  The Hubs and I celebrated our 6-year anniversary, though it landed smack on moving day, so it was mostly celebrated by unloading boxes and sweating too much.  Still, a great day:

I also had my 30th birthday (as you know), and I hit the third trimester of this crazy pregnancy!  Time is flying and I can't believe I have less than 3 months til Tater Tot arrives.  EEK!!  Here's an update on my growing bump for ya...this was taken when we went out to dinner for my birthday (27ish weeks), and I feel the moving boxes as background are very appropriate:

Otherwise, I have been trying to fit in all the reading I can with my new birthday gift, a Kindle Paperwhite (thanks Mom!).  I am pretty much in lurve with it, madly and deeply.

Anyway, how was the reading this month?

The September 2013 Fave/Least Fave picks go to:

September 2013 Favorite:  Flowers for Algernon  by Daniel Keyes
September 2013 Least Favorite:  Help for the Haunted by John Searles

In total, I read/reviewed 6 books:

Early Decision  by Lacy Crawford
The Shining by Stephen King
Why Have Kids? by Jessica Valenti
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Expecting Better by Emily Oster
Help for the Haunted by John Searles

Otherwise, I celebrated my favorite books of love, and created my "30 Books to Read by 35" list (kinda) in honor of my epic birthday.


Now, on to October!  Month of fall and pumpkins and PSLs and way too many apples!  (Seriously, we went apple picking last weekend and I have a bushel of them, so send me all your apple recipes before I develop a fruit fly problem.)  Enjoy your month, reader friends!

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Go shorty, IT'S MAH BIRFDAY.

Let's celebrate, readers!  Today marks the end of my third decade on this glorious Earth, and the beginning of my fourth.  That's right, it's my birthday, and I'm turning the big 3-0.  HUZZAH!

I have never been one to fear "big" birthday milestones, this one included.  I'd like to think that I packed an awful lot into the last decade.  Graduated college, met/dated/married my husband, got my first (two) real jobs, earned a masters degree, hiked a bunch of mountains, traveled to over 10 different countries, ran a 15k, bought a house, got a dog, had a kid, sold the house and bought another one, and now am nearly ready to pop out another baby.  And those are just the highlights.  If anything, 30 is a celebration of all that awesomeness, plus a mark of anticipation for what's to come.  BRING YOUR A-GAME, THIRTY.
Me and Husband on my 24th birthday, 6 years ago.  So young.  So carefree.  So weird.
In honor of this most momentous of birthdays, I decided to challenge myself and compile a list: 30 books to read before I'm 35.  However, when I started making the list, I quickly realized that there were more than 30 books that I really, really want to read sometime in the next few years.  Actually, there were 53 on the original list.  I kept cutting it down, until finally I got it to 40, and decided that DAMMIT, I am 30 years old, I can break a rule here or there.

So now the list is:

30 Books To Read Before I Turn 35
(plus 10 more, because I'm 30 and I DO WHAT I WANT)

This list might seem odd to you in parts, but it's a mix of classics (which I am always trying to read when I have the time), books that have been on my TBR forever for whatever reason, and more popular recent books that I am dying to read but just never made the time for.  So, without further ado!

The World According to Garp by John Irving
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
1776 by David McCullough
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Paper Moon by Joe David Brown
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackaray
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
The Whole Fromage by Kathe Lison
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
anything by Agatha Christie (never read one!)
Rabbit, Run by John Updike
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Ulysses by James Joyce
Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Macbeth by Shakespeare
Columbine by Dave Cullen
Jordan Freeman Was My Friend by Richard White
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
The Odyssey by Homer
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
Incendiary by Chris Cleave
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Dinner by Herman Koch
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Dracula by Bram Stoker

I will keep the blog updated with any reviews I do of these novels along the way.  Make sure you cheer me on...5 years goes by in a blink, and when I walk into a library I get easily distracted by well-made book displays.

What do you think of the list, friends?  Anything I should have added?  And what's your take on big birthday milestones: fearsome or fantastic?

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

From the Land of Gas Leaks and Broken Ovens: August 2013 in Review

Oy vey, August has already managed to come and go.  Though I did have a few fun posts, I also had a record low number of posts for the month (only 12! Ouch).  Fitting, I suppose, given the chaos of our recent and upcoming moves.

I mentioned previously about some of the struggles we had with our temporary rental, the list of which has grown to include the 4 (fixed) natural gas leaks, a broken oven, 2 broken dishwashers, an immovable, enormous fire pit in our backyard full of broken glass, a burst pipe, and neighbors who have had a few too many visits from the local police force for my liking.

HOWEVER, I am happy to report that we will be officially moving to our (forever?) home starting September 14, less than 2 short weeks from now.  Oh, how I count the very minutes.  YOU CAN'T IMAGINE.  (For any new followers getting lost in this story, feel free to read back here and catch up a bit.)

September is also going to be crazy-slash-awesome because it is mine and Hubster's 6th wedding anniversary, the start of my third trimester, AND my 30th birthday (of which I am not scared in the least, thankyouverymuch).  Plus, you know, autumn and all the greatness that is apple picking, pumpkin spice lattes (decaf...sigh), and cooler weather (especially for this sweaty preggo. What I would give for a 65-degree day).

(Oh, and in book news, don't forget that Stephen King's Doctor Sleep comes out September 24...which is, OF COURSE, my birthday...and I've already preordered it and will be staring at my Kindle at midnight to watch it download.)

ANYWAY.  That's this month.  Let's recap a bit of last month.

The August 2013 Fave/Least Fave picks go to:

August 2013 Favorite:  The Banks of Certain Rivers by Jon Harrison
August 2013 Least Favorite:  Race Across the Sky by Derek Sherman

In total, I read/reviewed 5 books:
The Never List  by Koethi Zan

Race Across the Sky  by Derek Sherman
The Panopticon  by Jenni Fagan
The Banks of Certain Rivers  by Jon Harrison
Hungry  by Darlene Barnes

Otherwise, I was admittedly a bit absent, but I did reveal that Tater Tot is going to be a boy, and we went back to 1990 to reminisce about pen pals.


So, there's August...bring on September and all the chaos that shall ensue!  (I promise my months will get uneventful again soon, maybe in October?  Well, at least until this baby arrives.  

Nevermind, I make no promises.)

Monday, September 24, 2012

Get your happy pants on!

It's my birthday, y'all!  I've still got 1 year of 20's left!

And it's my one-month blogaversary!


AND I'm going to the Dennis Lehane signing tonight!

I was going to do a giveaway today, in honor of this most momentous of days, but I recently found out that I'm going to be a part of the Banned Book week event (next week) hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, and that includes a giveaway.  Yup, right here on The Well-Read Redhead.  I'd love to do 2 giveaways, but I'm not made of money, y'all.  Blogging just don't pay.  So you have to wait til Sunday for a chance at freebies.  :)

In the meantime, enjoy your Monday, and I will have a full Dennis Lehane report tomorrow.  Pinky swears.
 
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