My year by the numbers

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

Like how I didn't read anything at all this month?  It's been busy.  And truth be told, whenever I get free time lately, I am using it to sleep!
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!