“Warm, mellow summer. The glowing sunbeams make every nerve tingle. The new needles of the pines and fir are nearly full grown and shine gloriously.”  - John Muir

Running: I had a couple of pretty substantial weeks of running, bringing the total in July to 238 miles and about 40,800 feet of climbing. In addition, I am finally getting back on the bike, and logged about 65 miles this month. Last month, I also did about 20 miles. My goal was to ride to work once a week, which is about 5 miles. However, for the first half of the year, I basically did not ride at all. So now I have to maintain an average of about 10 miles per week or 40 miles a month, which I am on track to do if I keep it up!

I have also been doing yoga 1 - 2 times per week (this one). The yoga and the biking are definitely making my legs more heavy when I run, but I think that's mostly because this is the first month of doing all of it together. Hopefully my body will get accustomed to all the different activities and it will be stronger rather than more tired!

Reading: In July, I did a lot of driving and quite a few solo runs and bike rides. What this ended up translating to was more "reading" in the form of audiobooks! I read a total of 11 books, 5 of which were audiobooks (in italics). There were some pretty good ones. I have listed them below in order of preference (with books from my own shelf in bold). I have noticed one thing: my liking an audiobook can depend a lot on whether or not I like the narrator, which isn't really fair to the author. Also, I tend to not pay as much attention when I am listening to a book versus reading it myself, especially since usually I am driving or doing something else at the same time rather than focusing only on the book. However, it is a great way to get two times as many books read!

My First Summer in the Sierra***** (see review here)
These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881 - 1901****
Everything You Want Me To Be****
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town****
The Mothers***
Silver Bay***
Everything, Everything***
By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept***
The Reason For God**
Fortune's Rocks**
My Brilliant Friend**

Travel: What a great month! I actually had a couple of weekends at home, which is very odd for a July, but I am not complaining! I got to finally do some things around the house, as well as prepping for my next trip, which is in August. However, I did spend some time in Oregon, as I always do in July, and I also went on a camping trip to Mammoth, which was a little different than expected due to the heavy amount of snow in the Sierras this year. Let's just say that running was superseded by slip-sliding, hiking and route finding and the camp site that we wanted was still located on a closed road. It was still a lot of fun and the high Sierras were beautiful covered in snow and ice.

Thousand Island Lake, CA

Emerald Lake, CA

Garnet Lake, CA

Garnet Lake, CA

Shadow Lake, CA

Devils Postpile, CA

Smith Rock State Park, OR

Mt. Washington, OR

Etc.: So far in the garden there are some ripe tomatoes and a few cucumbers, but I think that a rat is eating my zucchini as I keep finding chewed nubs. Darn it, varmit. So I am just starting to be able to have tomato salads and to have a once in a while cucumber snack. I also had some potatoes that were sprouting eyes, so I planted them last week for a "fall planting." We shall see if they take! And the corn is growing! No ears yet, but it's getting taller!

Corn (on the left), end of July. Tomatoes in the background on the right.

Where did you go in July? What is your favorite summer read so far? Do you have anything fun planned for the rest of the summer?

I wrote the July portion of this post over a month ago and then it just sat in my drafts folder until today, when I was going to start an August post and....voila and oops, there it was!  SO this is going to be a combined belated effort! 

July:  July is one of those months that always flies by. It is usually full of summer outings, camping, family and fun. You just can't sit inside in July; in fact I can't even get any chores done, as there is so much fun stuff to do! Needless to say, my garden is a bramble and my fridge looks like a cross between Siberia and the Amazon (empty but tangled?) as I have not been home enough to care for it!

Running: In July, I ran about 240 miles. This was the month with the ramp up and the taper for my 100 mile race at the beginning of August. The first couple of weeks were 70 - 80 miles and the last couple of weeks were very little miles (40ish). In addition I had a week off where I went running almost every day, with the highest day being 40 miles, which was the Rae Lakes loop (beautiful).

Reading: Not surprisingly, this was not a good reading month for me. I read 4 books, but it was hard, as I was traveling with other people a lot, as well as training for my race. (Books are starred for RHC, bolded for my own).

Fangirl (3 stars)
Death of a Salesman (2 stars)*
City on Fire (3 stars)
Blanche on the Lam (2 stars)*

Travel: I had a great time in July! I went to Tahoe a couple of times, to Yosemite once and up to my parents neck of the woods for a family gathering. My favorite part was...everything!

August: August is usually full of birthdays and outings and trips, and this year was no exception!

Running: I attempted to run another 100 mile race, this time in Colorado, but once again, I did not finish. Due to this, I ran about 156 miles. This included 50 miles of Silverheels for myself and a pacing stint in Leadville, which was about 20 miles.

Reading: I only read three books and they were:

1000 Lashes: Because I Say What I Think (2 stars)*
The Doubters Almanac (3 stars)
A Darker Shade of Magic (5 stars)

Travel: I went to Colorado twice in August; as stated above, once for my own race and once to pace a friend in Leadville. I am not a huge fan of the Denver airport (or highway 70) but I became very familiar with it in August. In addition, I had one weekend where I stayed home (blissful) and one weekend where I went to visit my parents.

So there you have it, my summer in a nutshell. It is a bit late, but I think that just shows that it was fun!!

How was your summer? Are you ready for Fall? What was the favorite part of your summer?

Looking back at this blog, I noticed that I am generally posting only a couple times a month, one of them being the "looking back" theme. Ah, well, such is life!! Just like everything, blogging and/or writing comes and goes and right now, I am happy with life and feel that I am getting things done, even if it doesn't include keeping up with this space! I do miss the connection that I have with many other bloggers, but I am keeping an eye on many of your blogs, even if I am not commenting!!

And now, welcome August; goodbye July.

Running: July was supposed to be a bit of a higher month for me. However, it ended up being one of my lowest months in a very long time. Lack of training, an injury and an unfinished race (sad recap to follow) meant that in July I ended up running only about 106 miles. On a good note, I started riding my bike to the BART each morning and afternoon. It's only about 1.8 miles each way, but it adds up to about 15 - 20 miles a week of biking. In addition, I am starting a 2 x per week HIIT class, which are about 30 - 45 minutes each.

The TRT

Reading: You can see the skew and maybe the reason my mileage was low when I tell you that this month I read 11 books. Okay, really I read 10 and a half. I started the Bone Clocks and just could not get into it, so I set it down half way. Some of my favorites were:

Still Alice by Lisa Genova
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy
The Last Letter From Your Lover by Jojo Moyes

Travel: I started the month off in central Oregon, on our annual "girls trip", which includes my friend, her two daughters and her Mom, except this year it was also her dad, her brother and her sister's family, which included three kids and a husband. It was a loud, crazy houseful but it was a lot of fun. I even took the boys trail running with me twice and they enjoyed the change of scenery (they are road runners and cyclists). I also went to Tahoe for TRT.

Otherwise: My other two weekends were spent painting and sorting and organizing around the house and then finally having a housewarming party, which was a hit. It was fun to finally get all the friends together, especially since there were some friends I haven't seen in a while, due to all the running and working and home stuff. I ended up having a lot of extra beer, but I am sure I can find a home for it!

If you came to my housewarming party, what kind of drink would you bring? What book should I put on the library wait list? 

Goodbye July! Hello August!

Looking back, July was a mixture of study and work with a bit of running thrown in! Here's how it shaped up by the numbers.

Miles: 141. This was one of my lower running months. I scaled it down to about 2 - 3 times a week in order to study and I really am feeling the difference. The only reason it was even over a hundred is because I threw  a 50 mile race in there, otherwise I wouldn't even have broken the 100 mile mark for the month. I am really looking forward to getting back into the running groove, as my pants are not quite fitting as well as they used to and I miss that great post run feeling!

Books: 2. I read The End of Your Life Book Club, which was okay. I think that my expectations were too high, as many of my friends had said that they loved it and I expected to love it too. It was a book about books, which is usually good, but I just found it did not catch my attention as much as I had hoped it would. I also read The Cactus Eaters, which is a book about the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). I found the main character a bit annoying, which was similar to another PCT book I read (Wild). I find this strange because all of the PCT hikers I met while growing up seemed perfectly normal. Maybe just the ones who write books are a bit self centered.

Travel Miles: 400 (by car). I went to South Lake Tahoe for the weekend of the 50 mile race. It was a lot of fun and it is one of my favorite trails and it is always inspiring to see the 100 mile runners and their bravery and grit. Also it was about 90 degrees and then it hailed on us as we were running, so it was quite an adventure overall.

----

And now....Looking Forward!

Today I am looking forward to getting off work! As soon as I get off I am meeting up with my brother and his girlfriend and we are heading north for a weekend of camping among the redwoods. I am going to swim and hike and eat grilled meat and read and take pictures and just enjoy being outside on a beautiful summer weekend in the woods!

In the next  week I am looking forward to planning a vacation! In my last post I mentioned some of the things I wanted to do once I was done with my exam, and camping and planning a vacation were two of them. So, let's get cracking! I want to do an active (hiking) vacation so am leaning towards somewhere in the Alps! Does anyone have any Alps hiking tips?

In the next  month I am looking forward to going to NYC to see my parents! My dad is currently in Manhattan and I haven't seen him in forever, so I am taking the opportunity to visit one of my favorite cities and see two of my favorite people all at the same time. I can't wait to wander the streets with them, take a run along the Hudson and eat lots of yummy food!

In the next year I am looking forward to a September running weekend with the girls, hiking Mt. Whitney, girls night at my house, catching up on my reading, Thanksgiving & Christmas with family, a vacation, and many other little things! I am also looking forward to seeing what life has up it's sleeve for me. The past year has been a busy one and one where I have learned a lot of new things, and I am sure the next one will be equally as informative and full of new things!

How was your July? When does "summer end" in your opinion? What are you looking forward to?

Current Book - Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

Current Running Path - Matthieu Lakes Loop, Three Sisters Wilderness

Current Drink - Nonfat iced mocha with whip

Current Excitement - Having a low key weekend in a couple of weeks! I am going to do absolutely nothing but read and drink coffee and eat and lay around. 

Current fashion trend - Maybe it's because I am in Oakland, where there are a lot of hipsters, but these glasses are everywhere! 

Current Favorite Blog/Website - I have been having fun looking at this site. A girl can dream!

Current Garden Item - Holy Zucchini! These bad boys are huge!  

Current Love -Weekends

Current Food - Summer Squash Soup (or zucchini)

Current Indulgence - Happy Hour on a weekday! 

Currently Pondering - Do I want a late night snack? Or not? I think I do, but I will probably regret it after I eat it. Plus I am not really hungry; I just want something! 

Current Mood - Full! I know that's not a mood, but I just ate so much! (although that doesn't stop me from still wanting that late night snack)


Current New Find - Pita Pal's Beet and Jicama salad 

Current Outfit - Broski's girlfriend's birthday party: disco anyone?

Current Peeve - Dogs barking at night. And barking. And barking. 
 
Current Song - Stay -- Rihanna (I like this one, but I don't really love the video.)


 

Current Triumph - A long after work bike ride last week after picking up the bike from the shop. I may have to make it a habit! 
 
Current TV Show -  Master Chef (PS you can watch for free on Fox!) Who is going to win? I vote for Jordan!

Current Wish-List - More vacation time!

Currently Delaying - Fixing broken things, but I am working on it... 

What are you currently excited about?  What fashion trend do you see around you (or do you follow yourself)?