First of all, I have to start off this post with a disclaimer that writing a post of this sort is kind of hard for me to do, mostly because I am afraid of what people will think of me. I don't want to appear egotistical or like a "show-off." But ultimately, I have to remember that I am writing this for myself and my own family, and this is kind of a big deal to me.
It's no secret that I enjoy running and that I faithfully log my miles on a daily basis. The Saturday before Thanksgiving, I tallied my miles and discovered that I had run exactly 700 for the year to date. I had exactly six weeks until the final day of the year (today), and I made a goal to run 100 more miles before the year ended. Well, yesterday I completed my goal and hit the 800 mile mark! And just for good measure, I ran three more miles this morning. :) So my grand total of miles run in 2011 is 803, and I feel pretty darn good about it! It's nearly 100 miles more than I did last year.
And speaking of last year, remember that cake that Adam bought me? Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised (but I was!) when he repeated the tradition last night:
He's so awesome.
I think I'm going into retirement for a little while. I might have another month or so left of running in me, but as I am starting to "show," I feel like running might become uncomfortable very soon. Elliptical machine here I come!
My second "number" accomplishment for the year is an idea I borrowed from my friend, Beth. She is an avid reader, and logs the number of pages she reads each year. I decided since I read quite a bit, too, it might be fun to try that, as well! So my grand total of pages read in 2011 is 11,993. That is strictly leisure reading; it doesn't include any gospel study (Ensign, scriptures, etc.). And just for fun, here is the list of books I read this year:
Book Title | Author | Date Finished | # Pages |
Les Miserables | Victor Hugo | 1/4/11 | 311 |
Outliers | Malcolm Gladwell | 1/20/11 | 299 |
The Tipping Point | Malcolm Gladwell | 1/25/11 | 259 |
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café | Fanny Flagg | 2/5/11 | 403 |
Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters | Sully Suellenburger | 2/13/11 | 340 |
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! | Fanny Flagg | 2/21/11 | 467 |
Inconceivable | Carolyn & Sean Savage | 2/25/11 | 296 |
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet | Jamie Ford | 3/5/11 | 290 |
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | 3/12/11 | 220 |
Peace Like a River | Leif Enger | 4/16/11 | 311 |
Ask Me Why I Hurt | Randy Christensen | 4/30/11 | 265 |
Unbroken | Laura Hillenbrand | 5/15/11 | 473 |
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks | Rebecca Skloot | 6/4/11 | 369 |
Sarah's Key | Tatiana de Rosnay | 6/9/11 | 316 |
The Virgin of Small Plains | Nancy Pickard | 6/24/11 | 335 |
Midway to Heaven | Dean Hughes | 7/9/11 | 225 |
Before the Dawn | Dean Hughes | 7/15/11 | 297 |
Candle in the Darkness | Lynn Austin | 7/23/11 | 431 |
Heaven is for Real | Todd Burpo | 8/6/11 | 163 |
Journal of the Trail | Stewart Glazier | 8/13/11 | 189 |
Please Look After Mom | Kyung-Sook Shin | 8/16/11 | 237 |
Elizabeth Street | Laurie Fabiano | 8/19/11 | 386 |
Boys Adrift | Leonard Sax | 8/25/11 | 267 |
The Secret Life of Bees | Sue Monk Kidd | 8/27/11 | 302 |
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson | Mark Twain | 9/2/11 | 337 |
The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame | 9/7/11 | 171 |
Caleb's Crossing | Geraldine Brooks | 9/15/11 | 306 |
Gift from the Sea | Anne Morrow Lindbergh | 9/16/11 | 134 |
Adrenaline | Jeff Abbott | 9/20/11 | 400 |
Debunking 9/11 Myths | David Dunbar | 10/15//11 | 107 |
The Forgotten Garden | Kate Morton | 10/21/11 | 552 |
The Wednesday Wars | Gary D. Schmidt | 10/31/11 | 264 |
Into Thin Air | Jon Krakauer | 11/5/11 | 333 |
The Candy Shop War | Brandon Mull | 11/12/11 | 404 |
Cheaper by the Dozen | Frank Gilbreth, Jr. | 11/20/11 | 180 |
The Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins | 11/23/11 | 374 |
Catching Fire | Suzanne Collins | 11/27/11 | 391 |
Mockingjay | Suzanne Collins | 11/29/11 | 398 |
So, there you have it! My year in numbers. When I told a friend that I was doing this, she laughed and said, "So, you are recording both how active you are and how much time you sit around reading?" Yep, pretty much. But running and reading are two of my greatest hobbies. In fact, I worked simultaneously at Seagull Book and Foot Locker while I was in college--pretty much the perfect jobs for me.
Again, this is strictly for my benefit. I am not trying to compare myself to anyone else or be a braggadocio. It's just fun at the end of the year to look back and recognize that I did some pretty great things for myself--beyond the hundreds of meals I have prepared, the endless loads of laundry I have done, and the thousands of stories I have read to my boys. Not that those things aren't great, too!