Books in 2018 - Fourth Quarter

This completes my un-originally titled Books in 2018 Series.  The first quarter list can be seen here, and the second quarter list is here, and the third quarter list is here.

October:

• The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley - My friend Liz recommended this one in one of her monthly reading lists, and it did not disappoint.
• The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley - Ditto about my friend Liz recommending this in one of her monthly reading lists and it not disappointing!
• Marlena by Julie Buntin - I randomly picked this one up off a library display, and it was a little slow at times but overall worth reading.
• The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - This reminded me of The Walk series by Richard Paul Evans and I loved it.  Some days I am so ready to set off on this type of journey myself.  I read about this one on Liz's blog too!

Reading in compression socks with legs
elevated = winning

November:

• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.  Maybe you should just consult Liz's blog for all of my reading list this quarter!  I don't always like nonfiction as much as fiction, because I read to "escape" sometimes, but this one was worth reading.
• The Truth About Twinkie Pie by Kat Yah.  I picked this one up from the youth section while waiting for Albani to pick our her books at the library, and it was one that could be enjoyed by any age (the main character is 12, but I sure remember what it was like to be a 12-year-old girl!).  It was almost a PG-rated version of The Sisters Chase, which I read in July.
• Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell.  This one was set in the Ozarks, by an author who lives in the area, although not the exact area where I live.  It was super cold while I was reading it, so the title seemed fitting.
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.  Another one from Liz's blog.  At first I couldn't get into this book at nearly stopped reading it; I only continued because I'd read everything else I had checked out from the library and hadn't had a chance to go back.  But then it picked up and I loved it!
• The Christmas Bargain by Sarita Leone.  This was meh; I only finished it because it was short.

December:

• The Noel Stranger by Richard Paul Evans.  I put all of Evans's books that my library had that I had not yet read on hold so I could read them at Christmastime, and this was my favorite of the 4 I read in December.
  
• The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans.  Another touching read!
• The Mistletoe Inn by Richard Paul Evans.  I'm a broken record raving about his books, but I will say this was one of my least favorites.
• The Four Doors by Richard Paul Evans.  This was a super quick read, and fittingly I read it on a Sunday when we normally would have been at church but were at home due to Albani having a projectile vomit-inducing stomach bug.
• Splitting Harriet by Tamara Leigh.  I wasn't sure if I'd like this one when I started it, but in the end I did.
• Lucky Alan by Jonathan Lethem.  This was a collection of short stories, and I struggled with the wording/phrasing of it.
• Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott.  This one was creepy, but I also recommend it!
• You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld.  This was a set of unrelated short stories.  I enjoyed the writer's style and plan to read more books by her.

I think in 2019 I'll just make a list of the books I read without elaborating.  I always give vague descriptions/recommendations because I am lazy I don't want to give anything away for someone who hasn't read the book, but I'm not sure those descriptions added anything!  One thing I learned from breaking my books down by month is that I read more when it's cold outside.

Treadmill Tricks

I typically avoid the treadmill; I just don't enjoy running on it like I enjoy running outdoors.  I made it through winter 2017-2018 running 7 days a week with only one run on the treadmill, on a Sunday when we were iced in at home.  I also did one run on the indoor track at the YMCA (7.5 laps = 1 mile, but I went for time so I didn't have to count laps!). Otherwise I found a way to get outside every day, through a combination of lunch break runs, screw shoes, and the right gear and strategies.

After my calf injury in September, I was able to return to running on the AlterG treadmill at 40% body weight about a month before I could run outside.  Although I will never love any treadmill, I sure embraced this one - because my other workout options were the elliptical, bike, and pool!  I ran most of my November mileage on the AlterG, and during that time I learned a few tricks.

I've always covered the treadmill display when forced on it by icy roads, leaving only the pace and incline uncovered so I can see them to adjust.  I've also always frequently changed things up with the pace and incline, plus on the AlterG I could gradually add a little weight throughout the run.  I listened to Pandora radio on all of my AlterG treadmill runs, and during many of them I would change something each song - up the pace, up the weight, or up the incline.  It would break things up to have something to "look forward to" at each song change.

The downside of having the display covered is that you have to uncover it occasionally to check your time/distance, and this was becoming a game for me; I was basically seeing how long I could go without checking and trying to gauge my time by other things (e.g., number of songs that had played, how much daylight there was outside, who was coming in the PT area, who was coming or leaving the adjacent gym)!  Then I started setting the timer on my phone to go off when the amount of time I wanted to run was up - and I never had to uncover the display again!  This quickly became my favorite treadmill trick.  I'd usually set my timer for an hour and run until it went off.  I did this on the elliptical when I was injured too!

I also think if you have to run on the treadmill, workouts always go faster than easy runs.  I like music over podcasts because I can zone out at times without missing anything, but the occasional podcast is fun too.  I would watch marathons on my DVR if I ran on my treadmill at home (I have the 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon saved and protected for such occasion!), but on the AlterG at most I could watch people playing basketball or doing bootcamp in the adjacent gym.  I mostly watched my shirt covering the display and the fan on the wall in front of me, hah.

One thing that is worse than treadmill running is no running.  There are times when the treadmill may be necessary for safety (e.g., winter weather, road conditions, lightning, traveling in a sketchy area) or because of other life obligations (e.g., childcare).  I don't plan to run on the regular treadmill at all if I can avoid it, but after so much time on the AlterG I now know I can make it through any ice storm the Midwest throws at me!

For as expensive as an AlterG treadmill is, the display is
decidedly unfancy

Letter to an Injured Runner

Hey you!  With the running injury.  You identify so much as a runner that you are currently calling yourself an injured runner to explain your lack of running.

We know that every serious runner has been injured, yet that doesn't make it any easier when you're the injured runner.  It's so easy to lose track of how it feels to be sidelined when you're not, no matter how many times you have been before.  The hole in your daily life seems ever-present.

This wasn't your plan, and you may never embrace it or even get beyond disdain for it, but it isn't about that.  It is about adapting to the new plan.  God's plan is better than anything we could dream up, even though it often doesn't feel that way, especially for us Type A planner runners.  When our plans don't work out, it's because He has better ones.  Trusting that is hard no matter how strong your faith.

But faith also means knowing that tomorrow will be better than today.  You'll be back there; never lose that faith.  It may not be tomorrow, or the next week or month or even year - or without false re-starts and bumps in the road - but you will get there.  Never stop fully believing.

It's okay if your belief falters sometimes though; don't feel guilty if this happens.  It's okay to not be positive at all times.  It's okay to mourn for the races you're missing.  It's okay to be disappointed as the DNSs accumulate.

It's lonely.  It's likely many of your closest friends are runners, and you're not seeing them as often since you can't meet to run, plus no one wants to talk about cross-training (including you!).  Maybe not running makes you less energetic and social too.  It's okay that as you become more and more excited about your friends crushing races, that you become more and more sad that you're not.

Other runners often say, "It's only running," but it's okay to disagree with that.  Sure, it IS only running, but it overflows into countless other areas of your life.

People tell you to do the things that you avoid when you're training, but maybe you realize that you don't feel like you miss out on anything at all?  You don't want to stay out late or have another glass of wine or go camping or skiing.  You want your normal routine and passion back.

People will say "enjoy your well-deserved rest" and "your body needs a break".  It's okay to roll your eyes when they turn away.  They have the best intentions, but they don't understand.

It's okay to feel bad about how upset you are about not running.  It's okay to think, "Who am I to be so distraught over this when so many people have so many bigger problems?" while simultaneously having a breakdown.

Big goals take big risks, and any time you are training for PRs you are riding the line between running your best and getting hurt.  Take what you learned about yourself and move forward.  Address your weaknesses; this will help your injury recovery plus it will also help your times later.

And finally, keep calling yourself a runner; you still are.

Signed,
A runner with injury experience

*A couple of posts that really spoke to me during my injury can be found here and here.

**I wrote this while was injured, but didn't hit publish until I began running again.  I had this fear that I might never run again and then what right did I have to tell anyone else who was injured anything?

I made this face most of the time I was injured