Non Sequitur Box

I didn't write my book review for April, so here it is--in May. In April, I read the second book in the Flavia de Luce mysteries series. (You can read my review on The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie on the blog too.) Once again, I urge you to read this series! In The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley, Flavia de Luce, our eleven year old sleuth chemist in 1950's England, has a run-in with Rupert Porson, a famous puppeteer and "Mother Goose" when their van breaks down. I myself began to long to see a live puppet show as I read Flavia's account of watching a performance of "Jack and the Beanstalk." It seemed magical. All good things come to an end, as I am told, and that is true in the second performance of the story, when Rupert Porson comes tumbling down onto the stage dead instead of the giant. I've given away enough! Read the story! Flavia continues to try to torture her sister (and I'm tempted to try some of ...

I keep thinking about Boston--my training, the weekend, the race. I'm still amazed that I ran a 3:05:14. I've been going over all the little details, trying to figure out what I did RIGHT this time. I listen to a solid amount of Christian rock radio. There are some great songs that have helped me start a rough day. Right before Boston, I knew I wanted to listen to a handful of these good songs right before racing. I downloaded about a dozen songs to my iPod and made sure they were in a playlist for my race morning. It definitely helped me calm down and get race ready before leaving the hotel! I believe God has helped me through some very tough times in the past couple of years, and I think he helped protect me during the Boston Marathon weekend. He didn't want me racing too fast at the beginning, so He put me at the front of wave two. He wanted me to break 3:10--with icing on the cake--and He helped me do that (I start praying in the middle of my runs sometimes). He did...

As a warning, this blog post is really out there. Recently, I was given the privilege of traveling to Memphis, TN for work. What's in Memphis, you say? I'll tell you---lots of barbeque, rock and blues music, and Beale Street! I tried to order a few salads, those weren't really healthy. While in Memphis, do as they do---eat BBQ pork sandwiches, drink sweet iced tea (when they bring you that instead of your lemonade), and listen to blues music! Every day I ran or walked around town. I saw... - Beale Street (good food, good music) - Westy's (A MUST!) - the minor league baseball stadium - the Lorraine Motel (where MLK, Jr. was shot) - the Pyramid - the horse-drawn carriages - the Fire Museum - the Orpheum (old opera house, still in use today) - a classic car show on Beale Street one night - statue of Elvis (and we did a quick drive by Graceland) - Riverboat Rides on the Mighty Mississippi - a few parks and memorials around downtown and along the waterfront...

Pre-Race I went on a friend's birthday wine tour/cabin in the woods time with some friends all Saturday, 20 April. It was awesome. I had a lot of wine, cheese, bread, and other food to "refuel" myself from the Boston Marathon. On the morning of Tough Mudder, Sunday, 21 April, I dragged myself out of my warm sleeping bag (I did make sure to go to bed when I was getting tired, even though I love bonfires and s'mores) to drive to a large field to park my car ($10). I met up with our group of 16, and we all hopped on the shuttle buses together for the 30 minute ride to the actual race location. Once there, getting our numbers and being marked up was super easy. Show your ID, know your number, and you're set. A word about the weather. To me, anything below 70 degrees can feel a "little chilly." It was high 40's/low 50's that morning, with a chilly wind that would come and go. I made the mistake of running in an oversized tech tee (a shirt I g...

I am deeply saddened by the bombings at the Boston Marathon. I take it as a personal attack. The Boston Marathon is my favorite marathon in my favorite city. Anyone who targets the marathon, the runners, the spectators, or Patriot's Day weekend is an enemy of mine. We will find out who did this, and they will be punished. My birthday and the Boston Marathon were on the same weekend this year, so I made the weekend a big celebration for my birthday and for Patriot's Day weekend. Pre-Race (All Weekend) On Friday, my boyfriend and I went to a Nationals baseball game. After I learned the rules of baseball, I started to enjoy all baseball games. After leading the entire game, the Nats lost to the Braves in the final innings. On the upside, I drank 1.5 liters of water that day, found some tasty jerk chicken and rice and beans for dinner, and ate my first curly "W" pretzel. On Saturday, we flew up to Boston. After checking into our hotel, we walked to Little Italy...

For the next week, any post is probably going to be related to the Boston Marathon. The 10-day forecast shows that the weather might be slightly overcast with a high of 56 degrees Fahrenheit (just over 13 degrees Celsius) in Boston. Perfect. I've stretched and iced my legs very well this week. I should do that kind of a thing more often. My leg is feeling better, but I'm still being cautious about it. I don't want to do anything crazy or unusual. The last "hard day" was done yesterday . I have a final 10 mile run, then the rest of my runs will be six miles or less. I'm hoping Jack has time to run with me, just so I have a feel for running with someone. Pre-Race: 2100 - Go to bed. 0600 - Wake up. Brush teeth. Comb hair (note: bring extra hair ties). Get dressed (be warm). Eat a solid breakfast (oatmeal, banana, chocolate, PB). Drink some water. Walk to the buses from Club Quarters. 0630-0700 - Board bus. Ride to Hopkinton. Relax. Listen to music or rea...

I had never heard of phantom pains before a marathon until now. After feeling some pain in my soleus/Achilles/lower leg, I did a quick Google search and found out that many people feel new, odd pains right before their marathon (also during taper time). Some people claim this is the pain of their muscles repairing themselves. I hope those people are right. These "phantom pains" usually go away by race day morning. I hope that's the same for me. In order to keep a log/record of this situation, just for my reference or anyone else's, I shall write it here. On Monday, I was running an easy 4-6 miles when I started to feel a weird tingle in my right lower calf/soleus/Achilles. It felt like small sharp tears (imagine when taffy is pulled and you see the little threads snapping...that's what I felt like was happening to my leg). I stopped and stretched at the end of my workout and felt fine. I thought nothing of it. On Tuesday, I had a quick 1 mile-2 mile-1 mile a...