Outside My Head

BlogHer Book Club: Where She Went

Kimberly — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:54:08 +0000

Earlier this week I finished reading the book Where She Went by Gayle Forman for the BlogHer Book Club. When I initially signed up for this book I saw that the story actually began in the book If I Stay. A quick search on my library’s website told me that I could listen to the audiobook and be all caught up with the characters prior to reading Where She Went. I’m so glad I took the time to read the first book as it made the second book a lot easier to understand.

Mia is a teenager when she is in a car accident with her family and she is the only survivor. If I Stay, told from Mia’s perspective, gives the back story between Mia and Adam, and how he becomes her rock that pulls her out of the limbo between living and dying.

Where She Went begins a few years later when both Mia and Adam are accomplished musicians and have gone separate ways. They meet again when Adam attends one of Mia’s cello performances. After the concert, they spend the rest of the night working out their relationship. This time, the book is told from Adam’s perspective. He is frustrated, yet clearly still in love with her. I really enjoyed this book, it was sweet, yet it wasn’t a sappy love story. If you have the time, read If I Stay first.

If you would like to join the BlogHer Book Club conversation about Where She Went you can do so here. You don’t need to have read the book in order to participate. The moderator does an excellent job of picking out important parts of the book and then discussing how it relates to our lives.

Note: I was compensated for this review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

P.S. I’m giving away my copies of the last few books I’ve reviewed, so if you are interested please watch for a post about it soon!

Yes, I signed up for it

Kimberly — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:18:21 +0000

Yes, I sure did sign up for the Madison Half Marathon. It’s only 12 days away. On Saturday I realized that I only had one week and then it was race weekend already so technically I’m using the Wisconsin Half Marathon as part of my training plan. I’m not worried. I figured I’ll come in around 2:30 and that’s just fine with me. In the meantime my diet has completely gone to crap: ballpark food, pizza, Kopp’s, etc… I’ve had it all. Although for me “ballpark food” just means I’ve had a slice of pizza and some popcorn, so really it’s not too terrible. My clothes still fit — WINNING! Tonight I plan on running while the girls are attending a class. I should be able to get in about 5 miles and still have time to stretch.

That’s all for now!

Half fanatics membership is looming

Kimberly — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:40:06 +0000

I’m contemplating adding another half marathon in the next few weeks, it’s the Madison Half Marathon on May 27th. If I ran this half, I would qualify to become a Half Fanatic. It’s one of those things where I’ve already run two half marathons within the 90 day range already, why not add a third and qualify? The only way I can see becoming a Half Fanatic is by doing the three within 90 days, or running two within 16 days (which I do have the possibility of doing in September if I were to add the North Face Endurance Challenge Half Marathon to my schedule, it’s only a week away from the Brewers Mini) — because we all know I’m not running four within 37 days. [I'm just saying.] [I also still don't have a Brewers Promo code, you Googlers are relentless on searching for that code though.]

Why am I on the fence? Well, last weekend’s Wisconsin Half Marathon really beat my legs. I think it was the weather. The wind was awful and the ground was all wet so I didn’t take the time to stretch before I got into the car for an hour ride home. It didn’t help that by the time I got home I just wanted to shower and take a nap. My quads are unhappy, my calves are unhappy, and my shins are very unhappy. I had a massage on Monday, but I’m still sore.

How did I do? I had an official time of 2:32, and an unofficial time of 2:31 for 13:15 miles (unofficial means “according to my Garmin”). Not too bad for someone who really didn’t train for this race, jumped in on a whim in the last few weeks, and then had to run in crap weather.

I did a shakeout run this morning for three miles, I normally don’t do a shakeout run. Tomorrow I’ll rest. Or walk the dog.

In the meantime, someone look into the future and let me know how the weather is going to be for May 27th so that I know if I should run this race or not.

And if I do run the Madison Half, someone PLEASE remind me to bring old sweats for drop clothes so that when I’m freezing at the starting line, Nesa doesn’t have to listen to me whine about it.