Eating, Reading, and… I Chose a Race!
I’m not good at saving the best for last, so I’ll just start out by saying that I chose my winter race! You might remember I was deciding between several different options. There was the sandy, close by 50K; the “Forgotten Florida” which is a 50 mile race in Central Florida; a 50K that sounds beautiful but is four hours away; and a “last person standing” race, which is also relatively close to me (meaning, about a hour away.) I wanted to do them all! I got some great advice in the comments of that post- the problem was, every piece of advice was so good, they canceled out opposing opinions. I still want to do them all, but I finally chose… Forgotten Florida! This race is perfect EXCEPT for the fact that it’s 50 miles, and I was really looking for a 50K. But you know what? You only live once, and I couldn’t get this one out of my mind. It’s a point-to-point race on a trail that sounds incredible. It’s about two hours away- I’ll have to stay in a hotel the night before, but I’ll drive home after the race. I’m really excited! It’s on February 3, and knowing that helps me structure the rest of my summer. I’ll continue to focus on and prioritize strength until September, at which time I’ll start increasing my long runs. I don’t have a specific training plan yet, but I would like to do some back-to-back long runs (i.e. a long run one day and then another one the next day.) This is a little tricky because my work schedule is Monday-Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday; I don’t have two consecutive days off. But I’ve officially signed up for the race, so I’ll work it out. I could talk about the race all day, but let’s move on. Remember how I said my son, husband and I split up the dinner duties for the summer? Well, there have been a couple snafus. One problem is, too many trips to the grocery store. No one decides ahead of time what they’re going to cook, so it means someone is shopping almost every day. This is not good! We need to sit down at the beginning of the week and make a plan. This would also eliminate the second problem… Last night, I made this recipe for gochujang tofu, with rice and broccoli. Tonight, my son made tofu with peanut sauce… with rice and broccoli. Okay, there was a different SAUCE. But other than that it was a very similar dinner. I don’t really mind this, but my daughter and husband don’t like eating the same thing too often. Again, we need to have better communication. It turns out that having three chefs in the family is actually kind of challenging. Well, we’ll get it right, eventually. Meanwhile, my “Summer of Reading” is going well! My current book is… I got this for my son last Christmas, and he just got around to reading it. He loved it, and ordered all the books in the Ender Saga. I’m about halfway through, and I’m enjoying it. The fantasy/sci fi genre is pretty new for me, and the books I’ve read up to this point are definitely fantasy. This one falls firmly into the sci fi category. Normally I would say that’s not my thing, but it’s so well-written and the story is compelling. There’s a reason it’s a classic! I also have three library holds I’m waiting for- Most Wanted by Lisa Scottoline, Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb, and Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano. I’m not sure when these will be available, but I would love it if I could have all three of them for my “Week of Reading,” coming up at the end of June. Anyone want to join me at Forgotten Florida? – There’s also an 8 mile, 15 mile, and 100 mile option. Have you read Ender’s Game? Do you like science fiction?