Rain Delayed

Thanks to Hurricane Isaac, my walk/swim today was rain delayed. I should have gotten on the treadmill instead, but I think I'll give my foot a break today. Plus, I'm sleepy! I stayed up last night and finished The Little Lady Agency and the Prince by Hester Browne.

It was a longer read than the other 2 books, but enjoyable. I was pleased with the way things ended up for Melissa, but the ending was rather abrupt. I suppose it didn't need to be all that detailed, all things considered.

I realize that I am quite cryptic in my book "reviews," but I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. I'll provide much more detailed reviews for stand alone books or first books in a series, but I really don't want to give too much information on a book later in a series or, in this case, the last book of a trilogy.

Source

I think my next read will be, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It's apparently about a circus and two rival magicians that fall in love.  It was one of the top reads of last year and I think the hype has sufficiently died down so that I can enjoy it. It seems that everyone is still on a Fifty Shades of Gray campaign.

As for the rest of this rainy day, I am going to pick the kids up from school in a little while and then head over to work for the evening.

Feels Good To Be Back

This morning was a routine that I have greatly missed. I dropped the kids off at school and headed over to one of my favorite sections of the trail for a run. I completely forgot my MP3 player, but after the half, it's really not a requirement for running anymore. I do like to have it on so that I don't have to hear myself breathing. (It really bothers me!!)

I originally planned on doing a 3 mile run, especially since I'm going to be doing a series of 5Ks over the next few months. I was also concentrating on trying to run as far as I possibly could without stopping to walk. I think I am still having issues controlling my pace because I am usually pretty good on my way out, but I start to get super tired and out of breath around one and a half miles. Also, my shoes, as I mentioned before, are pretty shot and my right heel still has not completely healed from the half.

It was a little humid outside and that did not make for a great run, but the temperature was tolerable. I didn't feel concerned with bringing water for such a short run, so I didn't. I think I will eventually invest in a hydration belt and just wear it for all runs, just in case. Like I said, I was going pretty strong for at least the first mile and it passed rather quickly. (13 minutes, to be exact). I went out a little over a mile and decided that I just didn't want to push it. It actually took me a little time to convince myself that this was a leisure run and I didn't have a set distance or time goal to meet. I was a little slower on the way back, but I still managed to run a lot of it. When I finished, I had gone just under two and a half miles.

My husband participates in SwagBucks and that is how he funds his obsession hobby of collecting movies. He's been wanting me to participate for a long time now and I just haven't seen the need. Well, I now see the need. You see, I need new shoes and I need money to buy those shoes.  So, I think I will sign up and start earning points towards Amazon gift cards.

Tomorrow, I am going to do something a little different. I am going to meet up with a friend after I drop the kids off at school and go for a hilly walk followed by a swim. I haven't really had a chance to swim all year and I actually miss it. Plus, it's a great workout! Oh, and I also managed to log and stay under my calories today on My Fitness Pal. I'm hoping I can keep it up!

7.1 Miles and 106 Degrees in Hotlanta!

I'm so sick of hearing about the heat here! I am tired of seeing Facebook posts of people's car dash thermometers. Yes, it is hot! Yes, it is summer!! That being said, it was 106 degrees outside today.

I spent my morning outside on a long walk with 2 of my co-workers. We ended up walking 7.1 miles before it got REALLY hot. We started at about 10:30 this morning and we walked from a parking lot up to Kennesaw Mountain and then on the trails that go up the mountain. We stopped and turned around at 4-ish miles. There were a LOT of hills, so I was glad that we weren't jogging. When I checked the stats after getting home today, we averaged an 18 minute mile. That's actually HORRIBLE, but I didn't think it was too bad considering over 2/3rds of it was uphill! We made sure to have water with us, of course. We also saw 2 baby deer and (we think) their mother!! They were so cute! (Of course, I didn't have my camera, so I didn't get any pictures...shame on me!) They were also not afraid of us, so they didn't scurry off when we stopped to gawk at them. We were sweaty messes when it was all over and it was starting to get quite warm outside. (It was a little after noon).

After changing shirts and wiping off a bit, we went to a yummy Chinese restaurant in the Marietta Square called House of Lu. I haven't eaten there since before Shane and I were married, so it was quite a treat! I think the waiter was a little unhappy with me because I started with a glass of sweet tea, but it was too sweet, so I switched to Diet Coke (bad girl) and then I needed 3 refills during the course of our meal! I was SO thirsty, though. (And yes, I know that Diet Coke is not really thirst quenching, but actually a diuretic, I needed some flavor!) Then, we stopped by work where we purchased some water (Yay!) and picked up something I forgot the day before. (It was also where I had parked my car to meet them)

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up a few things we were out of and was leaving to come home when Shane called to tell me we didn't have any power at home. Right after that, a fire/rescue truck passed me and I can only assume that there was an accident which knocked out the power. I noticed that a few businesses along the way were also out of power and other houses in our neighborhood seemed to be out. Shane and I took the liberty of filling up the kids' swimming pool so that they wouldn't be bored and hot. I think they had a lot of fun!

The power was out for about 3 hours and the kids managed to enjoy playing with their imaginations/toys, so I'll call that a win! About the time that I was going to start working on our "family binder", the electricity came back on. (bummer) I have still refused to turn the TV on. We are having a "TV-free evening." I'm making pizza for dinner and when the kids go to bed, I am planning to load some books onto Jessica's Kindle and maybe shower and go to bed early. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will sleep really well tonight!

I finished Under A Vampire Moon the night before last. I was a great read. It was a little lighter than most of the other Argeanue novels. I'm still trying to decide what my next read will be, but I'm sure I'll pick something soon enough!