6 Surefire Ways to Make You Run Faster

Looking to increase your pace and run faster?

With a little good (bad?) luck and some planning, a speedier pace could be easier than you think! These 6 things are sure to put that pep in your step and push your pace just a bit faster.

Three Things Thursday 2/6

This week seems to really be flying by! I can hardly believe it's already Thursday. Yay!! Almost Friday. :-)

I've got a few exciting things to share!

1. I ran the first race for this round of #5bythe5th virtual race series and GOT A PR! I waited until the 5th to run it because I had a tempo run on schedule for the 5th and thought that would be perfect! Turns out it was! It was only in the 40s, so I wore my new Crazy Compression sleeves and a LS shirt. I was still cold, but I think that made me run a bit faster. I was listening to one of my favorite Rock My Run mixes - Grrl Power. I tried to use the music to push me faster instead of just singing along. Whenever I was tempted to sing, I thought, If you can sing, you can run faster. So instead of singing, I'd run faster.

Here are the numbers:

Total Time	27:04
Avg Pace	8:49 min/mile
Mile 1	8:38 min
Mile 2	8:45 min
Mile 3	8:41 min
3.1	:59 min

I was pleasantly surprised - not only with the PR, but with actually pushing myself to run a tempo run. This is probably one of the few races I feel like I actually raced. With a goal of getting a sub-25:00 5k, I need to keep up with the tempo runs (and other speed work), but I feel like I'm heading in the right direction.

2. Don't forget that tomorrow is National Wear Red Day! Katie at From Ice Cream to Marathon and I are co-hosting a little linky party to celebrate - Wear Red Selfies. Be sure and stop back by tomorrow to share your selfie and why you're wearing red. For more information on heart disease and National Wear Red Day, visit goredforwomen.org.

Feel free to snag this little button for your post.

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If you're not a blogger and still want to link up with us, you can still link up. I'll tell you how in tomorrow's post.

3. Jeff and I have some exciting plans for this weekend! I posted a teaser pic on Instagram last night. Can you guess what we'll be doing? Hint: I has nothing to do with the bikes in the background of the picture.

What's exciting you today?
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Birthday Weekend Recap

If you follow me on Instagram, you've likely already seen glimpses into my birthday weekend, and like I mentioned yesterday, it was one of my best birthdays ever!

As we were walking to dinner last night, I was telling Jeff about how much I enjoyed everything about my birthday this year. I described it as low key with lots of activity.

Friday

I was greeted at work with balloons and cupcakes. Yum! I wore my sexy yellow shoes and got a ton of compliments on them. A co-worker brought me a delicious latte from Starbucks. My department went to Yogurtland for lunch. I definitely felt a bit spoiled.

The evening was spent lounging and watching TV. We ate a nice pasta dinner and went to bed early for a Friday night.

Saturday

Jeff and I woke up early to head to the Sprinkler Sprint. We left shortly after 6am to run/bike to the race. We met up with my friend, Crosby, but only ran the first 0.7 miles with him before Jeff had to walk. You can read more about the race here.

On the way home from the race, Jeff hit a curb the wrong way with his bike and fell. He caught himself with his palm, and the handlebar hit his leg, but he was otherwise ok. We separated paths at that point, so we could get home faster to ice his palm.

I got home, stretched, made us some eggs, and watched TV. Jeff had stayed up way too late and only got  a few hours of sleep before the race, so he laid down for a nap. I followed an hour or so later.

We hit the pool for a bit after our naps, and then I started getting ready to go out for my birthday. I needed to shave and wanted to give myself a mani/pedi, so I gave myself plenty of time to get ready and not feel rushed.

We were meeting some friends downtown at the newly re-opened Gold Spike. I'd been there back in July and thought it would be a great place to hang out on my birthday. They have all these giant games, like Jenga, Beer Pong, and Connect 4. The only thing I absolutely wanted to do was play Connect 4.

After the Gold Spike, we met some friends over at El Cortez, where we randomly met up with other friends who just happened to be there. I almost made my karaoke debut, but the karaoke bar closed before they got to my song. Probably for the best.

But maybe next time...

After the karaoke bar closed around 2am, we walked around and hit a couple other bars before heading home around 3:30am.

Now you know why I wanted to have my long run out of the way on Saturday. :)

Sunday

I still didn't sleep in all that late on Sunday. I woke up shortly before 9, and thought if I hurried out of bed, I could probably make it to Lululemon for Sunday morning yoga.

I didn't.

But I did get in a 2 mile recovery run around 10am.

Jeff was still sleeping (he didn't go to bed until around 8am), so I headed to the mall for my birthday treat from Red Mango.

And then hit Bath and Body Works for a free bottle of lotion. It wasn't for my birthday per se, but it was pretty perfect timing. :)  Then it was time for Walmart for some groceries.

After shopping, we hit the pool and hot tub and got into a very lengthy conversation with one of the old men at the pool on the quality of movies today. It was interesting to say the least.

We walked to RedBox because I'd received a coupon code for a free movie, but our card wasn't working. Instead, we stopped at McDonald's for dinner, and watched the Netflix movie that was in our mailbox waiting for us.

Monday

I took Monday off from work to extend my birthday weekend. I only slept in until around 8am, and then made a delicious breakfast and worked on my Marathon Monday post.

We had somehow managed to really trash our apartment the previous few days, so I straightened up the whole apartment - including the closet that had become quite the hodgepodge mess. It felt good and very satisfying.

Some of our neighbors were playing really loud music very early Monday morning - keeping Jeff awake, so he pretty much slept until after 2pm. We hit the pool when he woke up and chatted with the old men for a bit until I felt like the afternoon was getting away from us.

I still wanted to cash in on my free pizza from Grimaldi's to end my birthday weekend. We got all ready and then walked to the Palazzo. We went there last year for my birthday, too, but we'd taken a different route. We were surprised at how easy it was to find. We hope to start going there more frequently than the once a year for my birthday. Hey, I should probably sign Jeff up, so we can get free pizza on his birthday, too!!

We tried 3 different cheesecakes for dessert. While they were delicious, they really threw me over the edge. I couldn't eat even one more bite!

We brought home about 1/2 the pizza, so guess what I'll be eating for lunch today?

On the walk home, we stopped by the waterfalls outside the Wynn.

And Jeff had to take a little break, too. :)

Oh, and I can't forget the gifts I received.

The cookbook totally cracked me up! The chocolates were delicious, and the card was super cute.

Now, it's back to reality and back to work, but this is definitely going down as one of my most favorite birthdays ever! We crammed a lot of stuff in during the weekend, but it was all so fun with hardly any time crunches, so I was able to soak it all in and just ENJOY!

Do you take a day off from work for your birthday?
What's your favorite way to celebrate?
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I'm a Total Sucker + Sept Goals

Even if it's not something I need or want or sometimes even like, if it's free - I WANT IT!

Yeah, I'm a total sucker for that 4-letter word.

If you're a Google fan and own an Android operated phone, you probably already know about Google Music. Well, did you know every day they feature at least one free song of the day? I've gotten some rather unusual great songs!

For today's run, I set my phone to randomly choose songs from the whole library, which led to an very interesting (read: very fun) run.

I'll do a full write-up on the run later, but as a teaser, let me just say - No knee discomfort though it is bothering me now. No shin pain. No hammie tightness. Plus fun times dodging the tourists on the Strip. Oh yeah, and LOTS of stairs and escalators.

I stopped midway to snap a pic of me at the Brooklyn Bridge the small one in Vegas bonus points if you can name the movie?

I even attempted an outdoors vlog during my cool down. Problem: It was really windy, which means lots of crackly feedback. Maybe I'll attempt to re-record the audio. Stay tuned.

******
I'm not really a huge goal maker, but as the final day of the August's Writing Challenge, I figure why not make a couple goals for Sept?

• First and foremost, FIND A JOB! I realize this is somewhat out of my control, but I need to focus and re-double my efforts. Time is ticking. I do have an interview on Monday. Yay!
• Run 60 miles. That's just like 13-15 miles a week. Totally do-able, right?
• Incorporate more yoga and stretching and strength training.
• And a couple of challenges. I think I'll try to creatively combine Fitness Cheerleader's Sept Writing Challenge with NaBloPoMo Sept Theme: Eye. Should be a challenge to combine the two challenges. I'm also hoping to join Candace by posting a picture every day on Instagram, Twitter, and/or FB. 

What are your goals for Sept? Will you be joining in on any of these challenges?
Do you ever randomly download free music?
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Saturday evening randomness

This afternoon, I went for a bike ride.

Check out that elevation profile! Naturally, the worst of the hills came at the end along with an ever-so-lovely headwind. Yikes! Next time, perhaps, I'll do the reverse for maybe a slightly easier ride.

Other than the last few miles with the headwind, this was all on city streets - not separate bike paths.

Does anyone else feel weird about just going out for a bike ride on city streets without any particular destination or purpose? Whenever I start to go fast, I think, Why? I'm in no hurry. I still try to push myself. But, I'm not gonna lie. It just feels weird.

As I pulled up to a red light, I could see the State Capitol in the distance.

In other randomness, when you visit a blog, do you check out the sidebar? I generally try to, but I'm not always the best at it. That said, I tend to expect that visitors to my blog are checking out my sidebars. Sometimes, I add something to the sidebar without ever mentioning it in a post. Now, I wonder if maybe I shouldn't do that.

So, just in case you missed them...

I've decided to join a couple different challenges for April.

First up, I'll be joining Run to the Finish for: 30 Days of Fun

I'm super excited for this challenge! Who doesn't need a little more fun in their life? I want to laugh more and try some new things. We'll be moving soon, so I've got to do this challenge on the ultra-cheap free side of fun.

Amanda also posted a calendar with some ideas. Click on the picture above or in the sidebar to see her calendar and get more info about the challenge.

A few ideas I might try yeah I stole a few from Amanda's calendar:

• run like Phoebe
• sing in the shower
• solo dance party in the living room
• bike to a friend's for a puppy play date
• Pinterest funny photos
• YouTube funny videos
• experiment with different laughs
• organize a game night
• read funny greeting cards
• do a cartwheel
• do something with a friend(s)
• stop to take more pictures when out running or cycling

If you have any other fun free ideas of things to do, let me know.

I doubt I'll post my fun every day in a blog post, but I'll try to at least share what I do on Facebook and Twitter.

The other challenge I'll be doing in April is: Amazing Arms 'n Abs April

I found this challenge via Ali Mc at Running with Spatulas, but she found it on Domestic Diva in Training's blog. I think I'll follow over at Domestic Diva primarily because there are a few exercises on this calendar that I am not familiar with at least by name.

Hopefully this challenge will motivate me enough to actually do some core work. At this point anything will be better than what I have been doing. I think a lot of my problem is knowing what to do, so this should help to solve that.

How will you be challenging yourself in April? I'll be doing the both two challenges Feel free to join me. plus continuing with my marathon training.

Do you check out a blog's sidebar? I'm not always the best at this, but I do try to check them out at least occasionally.

Ever feel weird about bike riding with no particular purpose other than exercise? Obviously, I do.

24 - Unaired Pilot back from 1994

Even if you've never watched the show 24 (I've never even seen one episode), I'm sure you'll still find this hilarious! My boss was cracking up watching it at work a few weeks ago, so she sent me the link.

It's always good to laugh at work.

Cold Enough for Ya?

I received this as a forward from my aunt in Arizona. I thought it was incredibly funny! Instead of forwarding it on to others, I thought I'd just post in up on my blog.

65°
Arizonans turn on the heat.
People in Minnesota plant gardens.

60°
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Minnesota sunbathe.

50°
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Minnesota drive with the windows down..

40°
Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in Minnesota throw on a flannel shirt.

35°
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Minnesota have the last cookout before it gets cold.

20°
People in Miami all die.
Minnesotans close the windows.

0°
Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in Minnesota get out their winter coats.

 - 10° below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Minnesota are selling cookies door to door.

 - 20° below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air. (Ya think? Nah.).
People in Minnesota let the dogs sleep indoors.

 - 30° below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Minnesotans get upset because they can't start the snowmobile.

-40°  below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops.
People in Minnesota start saying..."Cold enough for ya?"

-50°  below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Minnesota public schools will open 2 hours late.

In some ways, I think this email forward is eerily accurate. It was relatively warm today; we actually approached 30°F!! In turn, I wore a skirt to work yesterday, and no long johns for a walk outside this afternoon. Guess I'm more Minnesotan than I like to admit. :))

Oops!

Tonight I stopped at two stores on my way home. The first stop didn't have what I wanted, so I hustled on to my next stop.

I had quite a scare while driving through one parking lot. I was on the road that runs through the lot, and a van came speeding up toward me. It did not appear to be slowing at all, let alone stopping. I thought for sure I was going to get hit.

I thought, "Come on, white van! Get a clue. It's nighttime. You need to have your lights on!"

And on I went.

As I was crawling through the parking lot of my actual intended store, there was a cop walking out of the store. He motioned to me to turn on my lights. Wait, what? My lights are totally on.

I looked down to my dash, and lo, and behold, my little indictor light was, in fact, not illuminating.

OOPS!!

Walking Log

I don't have any stats for this post, but I certainly did A LOT of walking yesterday.

It was my dad's birthday, and we decided to take our annual pilgrimage to the Great MN Get Together. We are all day fair-goers. We arrived at the fair around 7am and left around 10pm.

It was non-stop walking all. day. long.

There were a few pauses here and there as we ate, decided what to do/where to go next, and there was quite a bit of standing.

What there wasn't much of was sitting.

It was still great fun! I LOVE the fair!!

Do I have a LIFE??

I found this on my friend's blog.

Lists are fun, right? So, I thought I'd check to see how many movies on this list I'd seen. Apparently, if you've seen more than 85 (out of the 237 movies), you have no life.

Let's see how I did. I've marked the ones I've seen.

(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(X) Fight Club
(X) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
(X) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane

( ) The Princess Bride
(X) Anchorman
(X) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(X) Anger Management
(X) 50 First Dates

(X) The Princess Diaries
(X) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
(X) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(X) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(X) American Pie

( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
( ) Harry Potter 1
( ) Harry Potter 2
( ) Harry Potter 3
( ) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(X) The Wedding Singer

(X) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
(X) Lilo & Stitch
(X) Finding Nemo
(X) Finding Neverland
(X) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) Butterfly Effect

(X) 13 Going on 30
(X) I, Robot
(X) Robots
(X) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(X) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(X) Along Came Polly
(X) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(X) Never Been Kissed

(X) Meet The Parents
(X) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
(X) Joe Dirt
(X) KING KONG
(X) A Cinderella Story
(X) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(X) Dumb & Dumber

( ) Dumber & Dumberer
(X) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
(X) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
(X) Surviving X-MAS
(X) Flubber
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

(X) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
(X) Secret Window
(X) I Am Sam
(X) The Whole Nine Yards
(X) The Whole Ten Yards
(X) The Day After Tomorrow

( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(X) Ten Things I Hate About You
(X) Just Married
( ) Gothika
(X) Nightmare on Elm Street
(X) Sixteen Candles
(X) Remember the Titans
(X) Coach Carter

( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(X) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Slevin
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
(X) Ocean’s Twelve

(X) Bourne Identity
(X) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
(X) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(X) Ice Age
(X) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(X) Curious George

(X) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(X) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(X) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds

(X) Rush Hour
(X) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(X) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(X) She’s All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
( ) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(X) Ever After

(X) Wizard of Oz
(X) Forrest Gump
(X) Big Trouble in Little China
(X) The Terminator
( ) TheTerminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
(X) X-Men
( ) X-2
( ) X-3
(X) Spider-Man

(X) Spider-Man 2
(X) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(X) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday
(X) Reign of Fire
(X) The Skulls
(X) Cruel Intentions

( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
(X) Old School
(X) The Notebook
(X) K-Pax
(X) Krippendorf’s Tribe

(X) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
( ) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
( ) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
( ) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(X) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
(X) American History X
( ) Three

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(X) Monsters Inc.
(X) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension

( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
( ) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(X) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(X) Waterworld
( ) Kill Bill vol 1

( ) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace

(X) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(X) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
(X) The Matrix
(X) The Matrix Reloaded
( ) The Matrix Revolutions

( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
(X) Red Dragon
(X) Silence of the Lambs
(X) Hannibal

Apparently, I have no life.

Of course with only having seen 116 of these movies, I haven't even seen half the list...

That should say something, right?

Thanksgiving Humor

Recently I received a parrot as a gift.

The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.

I tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else I could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, I was fed up and I yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. I shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.

So, indesperation, I threw up my hands, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed.

Then suddenly there was total quiet.

Not a peep was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that I'd hurt the parrot, I quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto my outstretched arms and said,

"I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."

I was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.

As I was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued,

"May I ask what the turkey did?"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I received this in an email from my Dad.

16/100

The Big Read, an initiative by the National Endowment for the Arts, has estimated that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.

How did you do?
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Star the books you LOVE.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 **Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince- Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

How about you? (I got this off my friend's blog. She said, "The Big Read is legit, but who knows if the list is, but it was still fun to see what books I'd read on "someone's" list!" I agree!)

Gas Prices

I received these in an email from my dad. I thought they were hilarious!

Fall Leaves at Minnehaha Falls

Living so close to Minnehaha Park, I couldn't resist going on a little photo shoot one Saturday evening.

Here are my 5 favorites:






If you'd like to see more, you can visit my entire album on Picasa: Minnehaha Falls

Where I've Been

A friend of mine put up a map of all the places she'd visited. I thought I'd do the same. Mine isn't nearly as impressive as hers, but here it is...

I only included states that I have actually done something in (not just driven through).



create your own visited states map

Outside of the U.S., I've only been to Canada and the Bahamas, so my world map is even less impressive. I'm not even going to bother posting something like that.

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Mingle² - Dating Site

Today I AM 30!

Well, my big day is finally here! I've been counting down for well over a month.

I have high hopes for this day, but I have no concrete plans as of yet...

As I walked from the train station to work this morning, I couldn't help but walking tall. Today IS special.

I love birthdays! But my 30th...well, that's something to celebrate!

Check out this fun, delicious looking cake! I found it doing a Google Image search. I probably won't get a cake this fancy-schmancy, but a girl can dream. :-)

I cut my bangs!

I cut my bangs yesterday morning!

It wasn't exactly the look I was going for, but I do think they turned out pretty cute. Of course, now I need to get the rest of my hair cut. I think the bangs make the rest of my hair look (and feel) heavy! I'm thinking something kinda short and complementary of the bangs.

Now I'm just debating as to whether I should try cutting it myself or going to a professional.

Thoughts?

Torchlight 5K--July 18, 2007

This is one of my favorite races of all time! It is always the first Wednesday evening of the Minneapolis Aquatennial--the 10 Best Days of Summer--and kicks off the Torchlight Parade.

This is the third time I've run this race, and it has always been a different route. I really enjoyed the route this year.

It always starts at the Basilica in downtown Minneapolis. The first year, it ended on Boom Island; the second year, it ended at Loring Park; this year, it ended on Nicollet Island.

The race started off bit a rocky.

• I hadn't been able to get a hold of Marla all day, and we were supposed to run this together.
• Around 4:30 or so, the sky opened up and the rains came pouring down. The rain was much, much worse out in Eagan, so Jeff and I decided that he didn't need to come down and cheer me on. He would just pick me up at the train station when I was finished.
• After loafing around the library until a little before 6, I changed into my running clothes. It was then that I realized how much I needed Jeff--to hold my purse and my bag. I certainly didn't want to run a 5K carrying all of that.
• I remember that Jeff mentioned Dave was going to be running the race, so I gave him a call.
• I finally got a hold of Marla! She had just arrived from Denver and was driving into downtown.
• The rains started to fall once again!!
• I registered, got my t-shirt, and finally met up with Dave, John, and Lindsay Christianson.
• Yeah! I got to put all my stuff in their car.
• We met up with Emily Kucera!!
• Brian Hogan and Andy Howard (I think) joined our pre-race crowd.
• Marla finally found the Basilica, parking, and joined our group! Yeah!

As we made our way to the starting line, I set my Garmin to run the 5K in 32:00. Marla and I paced together pretty well...we only missed my goal by 39 seconds!! Also the race turned out to be 3.2 miles (.1 miles longer than a 5K).
I had to stop a walk twice during the race--once during the water stop and once a little further on in the race.
My shins hurt a little during the race, but it was okay. Marla was concerned that I didn't push myself too much.
But you just can't help yourself but to run a little faster and harder during a race!
The race was exhilarating!
The post-race party was fun, too! There was a cheese scupture of Mt Rushmore. Cheez-It(R) was one of the sponsors. Plus, there was a lot of fun food. I had to convince Dave to walk through the food tent, but one he saw the free food, I think it was worth it to him.
I also won tickets for two to the Acme Comedy Club, so I'm excited for Jeff and I to go to a comedy show.

Valleyfair for Emillio's birthday

It is a tradition with my family for us to go to Valleyfair for my nephew's birthday. It used to be the entire family, but as the years have gone by, it has dwindled to only those who truly enjoy going on all the rides.

This year it was Treva, Emillio, AJ, Selena, and I who went. Dan and Jessica came out for a little while as well. It was so much fun! We went on all the scary rides!

The new ride this year was Renegade: Outlaw Coaster. It was phenomenal! It was exhilarating! We rode it twice. We went on a Saturday, so the lines were really long. Renegade was the only ride we were able to go on twice. :-(

While standing in line for Steel Venom, I played around with my camera phone. I discovered some really cool features. My favorite was the sketch feature.

Watch the slideshow below for a few shots from our day at Valleyfair--including some that I took as sketches.