A coworker said to me the other day, "You know March; It goes in like a lamb and out like a lion." I asked him if it wasn't the other way around though and he was adamant that it came in mild and went out wild. So I let it be. In Oakland, March started very rainy and has ended full of sunshine and wildflowers, so however the saying goes, I am loving it.

Running: In March, I ran just shy of 200 miles (298) and climbed about 33,000 feet. My favorite run was a second go at the Rim to Rim to Rim, where I ran with friends from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the North Rim and back to the South Rim. It is hard to do it in one day am I was plumb tuckered out, but it was worth it!

You can see us in the middle -- we are tiny!

Heading toward the north rim.

Reading: In March, I read the following 7 books, including three from my own collection (bolded) and one borrowed one (italic)! I still have not paid for a book since 2014 when I started my "no book buying" challenge. It has been a lot easier than I thought it would. Thank goodness for the library! My favorite book was The Paris Architect, which is about a WWII architect who builds hiding places for Jewish people while also designing armament factories for the Germans. As always, it's interesting to learn more about that what went on during the war while also being entertained at the same time.

In the Belly of the Beast: Letters from Prison (***)
Carry on Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed (***)
The Wonder (***)
The Namesake (***)
On Beauty (***)
Heart and Soul (***)
The Paris Architect (****)

Travel: Vegas, baby! For our Grand Canyon trip, we flew into Vegas, but it's not as exciting as it sounds. After a late arrival, we went to our room in Henderson, NV (apparently the retirement area of Vegas, who knew) and stayed out until past 11 pm in a smoky bar. It made me love California and our smoke free bars, that's for sure. The next day we made the drive to the South Rim where we scoped out the canyon from the rim. The next day we did R2R2R and then on Monday we drove back to Vegas and caught our flight, with a stop at the Hoover Dam of course!

I also met up with my Mom for a weekend in Auburn, where we ate and hiked and caught up on everyone's doings. She had a rough month in February, when there was a lot of rain and she was out of power and phones for quite some time and I had a broken water tank so had been taking showers at the gym or improvising. So it was nice to get a hotel room and relax a bit, even if it was just for one night! Plus we found two new breakfast places that we loved! (See 1 here + 2 here)

Have you ever been to Vegas, baby!? What is your favorite book that you have read so far this year? Where should I go for my vacation this year (I am open to any and all suggestions)?

I have not done one of these in a long time! However, I am "currently" procrastinating doing a few other things, so why not?

Reading:  The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Loving: The weather, working in the yard, running friends and cottage cheese and fruit.

Thinking: About getting my planter boxes finished and putting in some veggies soon! I just need to decide what!

Frustrated: About plumbing. I would rather be an electrician or a carpenter. Just don't make me work in cramped spaces with pipes or poop!

Feeling:  A little hungry still, even though I just ate a couple of hours ago!

Anticipating:  Next weekend's trip to the Grand Canyon where I will be doing a R2R2R with friends. We have heard reports of ice though, so we may not be able to complete the entire thing right now. However, there will not be very many crowds so we will be able to appreciate the beauty even more than normal!

Watching: Twin Peaks. A running friend could not believe I had not seen it so I decided to give it a go. If you aren't familiar, it's a murder mystery show from the early 90s. It's set in Washington, where my friend is from and he said that watching it is an absolute must. It's a bit quirky, but is fun so far.

Working: A lot lately. We have been extra busy, plus we are interviewing people, plus we have been short a man from time to time (and will be again this week) so it's been very go, go, go lately. However, it's still a fun challenge, not a frustrating one!

Grateful: For family. I had a fun weekend with my mom last week and a great lunch with my brother this weekend and in both cases, we had a good time catching up and chatting. There is something to be said about people who know all parts of you, especially the bad ones, and who you can be yourself around, no matter what.

Listening: To a few new podcasts in addition to the regular standbys, namely Reveal and Criminal.

Wishing: There was more time in a day. I would love an extra hour or two if possible! There are just too many fun things to do (after getting all the responsible ones done, of course).

What are you listening to? What are you anticipating? 

March is the month of madness! I finally did my taxes (mostly), got a lot of stuff done in the yard/around the house and spent a lot of time with friends who I had not seen in a while. I am feeling like I need to schedule a couple of down days in April before the summer comes along and things get too crazy.

Running: This month I got back on the horse and logged about 215 miles of running with about 43,000 feet of climbing. In addition, I hiked 11 miles with an additional 2,700 ft of climbing. My strength training has been pitiful, and this month I logged none. However, I did do one day of plumbing work (digging and crawling and lifting) and two very physical days of gardening (moving rocks, digging, carrying dirt) and one less physical day of gardening (raking, pulling weeds, mowing with a push mower). I am calling this strength training, and in that case, I did it roughly once a week! On top of that, I cycled a little over 15 miles, which is about 4 round trip commutes.

Reading: This suffered a lot in March due to the fact that I was outside gardening or fixing plumbing or running. By the time that was all done, there was no brain power or time left over for reading! I ended up reading 4 books and setting two down that I could just not get into. The ones I read were as follows (stars on those that satisfy the RHC).

Between the World and Me
A Manual for Cleaning Women*
Prisoner of Tehran*
Orhan's Inheritance (would satisfy, but category already filled!)

Travel: Over Easter weekend, I was supposed to go to Ouray, CO and do some fun winter activities, but the day of my flight there was a huge snowstorm in CO and all flights were cancelled. So I took a camping trip to Yosemite instead! I also traveled up to see my brother and his girlfriend, and I helped them weed their garden, which was another day of strength training!

Mirror Lake

Tenaya Canyon

What was your favorite thing about March? What book are you reading this month? What everyday activities do you use as your strength training? 

Just like that, March is gone and we are back in the month of April again. Before you know it, my birthday will be here and then summer and then baseball season will be over and then I will be on Amazon buying presents again. My year in a nutshell!! But for now, let's just focus on one month at a time.

Running: I was still recovering from a bit of an ankle thing, and a sickness in my chest, and a general lack of enthusiasm or motivation. Thus, my running suffered. You are going to browbeat me now, because my total in March was still about 210 miles, but it was only about 3 runs a week, which does not feel like enough, and was one 100k race (62 miles), leaving only about 130 miles to be spread out for the rest of the month. A kind of fun stat (for me) is that the miles included about 25,000 feet of climbing.

Reading: I am back in the saddle again and I am riding hard! It's SO nice to not have to be studying anymore. Also, I do not have TV at all; we got rid of cable because we were not using it, and although we have netflix, I rarely use it either. I have been hoarding books on the hold shelf at the library like it's going out of style. In March I read 7 books and most of them were pretty darn good! Here they are, listed by order of favorite to not as favorite. The three that surprised me most were: The Nightingale, which I had no idea what it was about going in, but it turns out to be a crafty novel about hardship and bravery of women during WWII, The Martian, a story about a man trapped on Mars, who struggles to figure out how to survive until the next mission arrives in 4 years time, and Landline, by an author who I normally like. This book just did not do it for me!

The Nightingale (5 stars)
The Martian (4 stars)
Allegiant (3 stars)
Travels in a Thin Country (3 stars)
Names on a Map (3 stars)
The Vacationers  (2 stars)
Landline (2 stars)

Powell's - Portland, OR

Travel: Yes, even with a bum ankle and a chest cold, I got around okay. In March I traveled locally a bit, going to Auburn/Cool to watch some friends at a race, and to Sonoma county for a run and a chat and some dance party USA at my brother's house. At the end of the month, I had a great trip to Portland, which will have to be recapped at some point! The Cliff Notes: I drank good coffee and beer, looked at books, walked a lot and raced among the Pacific NW greenery. It was great!

Tell me: What was the best book you have read lately? Where is your favorite local place to travel to for the weekend?

Current Book - Allegiant. I am nearly finished. I also just finished the Vacationers (bleh) and started Tiny Beautiful Things.

Current Running Path - It is about 1 mile to the trails from my house so I have been doing a lot of running in my local hills lately.


Current Drink - Sparkling water. It feels sort of special.


Current Excitement - My trip to Portland this weekend! 

Current Podcast - PRI's The World, which is a daily news show. It's nice to catch up on the world events while on the bus or while running.


Current Garden Item -N/A. Well actually, there are a lot of weeds!


Current Love -The weather. I love spring!

Current Food - There have been a lot of  boring meals in my life lately...chili, stew, pasta, and the regular line up of fruit and cereal and nuts...

Current Indulgence - A new laptop. I got this one. I am still getting used to it because it has Windows 8 and a touch screen, whereas my current laptop has Vista. 

Currently Pondering - How the heck I am going to run a 100k this weekend with serious lack of training. I know I can do it, but it's going to be rough. The fact that this was supposed to be an A race is kind of hard for me as well. 

Current Mood - Unmotivated. I don't feel like running, or doing anything... I think I have spring fever. 

Current New Find - My local grocery store has a tiny second store about 1 mile further down the road and there is no line, even on weekends! Score. 

Current Peeve - When the bus driver is late, which makes me late for work and throws off my morning. 
 
Current Song - I am really having fun with a throwback radio station that we have here, which plays old Snoop Dogg and other fun 90s rap. I mean, who doesn't love Gin and Juice?


Current Triumph - Finally my ankle is better! Now I just need to get back into shape.... 
 
Current TV Show -  N/A. We got rid of cable and got Netflix, but I don't really use it that much. 

Current Wish-List - I have a few secret wishes right now. One I can tell you is that I want a really light, really warm sleeping bag. However, they do not come cheap, so I am biding my time... This one has really good reviews and may be what I am looking for.

Currently Delaying -Working out / running. I have a race this weekend and am using that as my excuse to "taper" (aka: do nothing and eat a lot). 

What is on your wish list? What are you pondering these days?  

Yup, it's my third post this week! Already I nearly have more posts in April than I did in March! 

March is supposed to go in like a lion and out like a lamb. As you know, I live in a pretty temperate area, so we don't get a lot of temperature fluctuations. However, we had some rain (yay), which was very much needed, and a little bit of snow in the mountains toward the end of the month. So I am not sure if the lion/lamb theory is true.

The stats of March are thus:

Reading: March was a month of Non-Fiction and half read books. I got a bunch (aka too many) of books from the digital library and they expired before I could finish them. When that happens, you have to put them on hold again, and so I will finish them later, but currently, I am half into several books. I did finish two books: Don't Know Much About History (audiobook) and Economics for the Rest of Us: Debunking the Science that Makes Life Dismal. As you can see, they are not the most "exciting" books ever, and were hard to get through at times. I am also trying to read the news every day, which is taking away from book reading time. The number of books I "half-read" was 3.

Running: I ran one race, Way Too Cool 50k, at the beginning of the month. I am currently training for the Boston Marathon on April 21st and the Miwok 100k on May 3rd. I have to admit, I don't think I am doing it right. I feel like I have the legs to run the 100k, but not the speed for Boston. I am not really sure how to train for them both at the same time. Knowing this, I don't expect much at Boston, but I am okay with that. Total miles run in March: 208. An interesting stat: last year in March, I ran 215 miles at an average pace of 8:55. This year, my average pace is 13:06. What a difference!

Travel: I went to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and beautiful Bakersfield by the sea this month! I also had a trip to Cool and another one to Dublin (CA, not Ireland) for brunch and a walk with a very pregnant friend. I had a great time with Amber, on her short but sweet layover in San Francisco. I forced her to eat a burrito (naturally) and we had a great time catching up. I even tried to take her to the transvestite Mexican bar in my favorite neighborhood, the Mission, but it was closed down! Darn it!

Work: One of my coworkers just quit, so we are handling his cases as well as our own, which I am learning is pretty much par for the course. Every time I start to feel like I am catching up on things, they throw something else at us. We also had our performance reviews. Mine was really good; I am very happy with it, however I was not super impressed with my salary increase. I am not complaining too much, because at least I got an increase, however, I expected it to be higher.

How was your March; was it a lamb or a lion? Do you get an annual increase/performance review at work? What is your favorite kind of book to read?