Favorites of 2015

I thought it would be fun to make a list of some of the things I loved in 2015!

1. Audiobooks
With all the long car trips I took last year, audiobooks were a lifesaver! They engage your mind more than music and help the time to pass much more quickly. This year I listened to:

     No Hero - Mark Owen

     No Easy Day – Mark Owen

     American Sniper – Chris Kyle

     Fearless – Eric Blehm

     Yes Please! – Amy Poehler (didn’t finish)

     Veronica Mars: Mr. Kiss and Tell – Rob Thomas

The first four are all about Navy Seals. Of course, American Sniper is well known after it was adapted to a popular movie last year, but while good it wasn't my favorite. I really liked "No Hero" for an inside look on what it means to be a Seal and the kinds of missions they go on. However my favorite of the four was "Fearless", a book about Adam Brown, who overcame a drug addiction to become a Navy Seal. 

The Veronica Mars books are based on a TV show that I used to love. This is the second book that's been written, and they're actually really good mysteries! I really enjoyed listening to this book!

I heard Amy Poehler's book was hilarious and that the audiobook was even better because she reads it herself and has fun extras, so I got it... but it was boring. I didn't think it was that funny and I guess I just don't care about Amy's life that much. I never finished it.

2. TV shows

My absolute favorite show this year was The Wire! I thought it was a brilliant and realistic portrayal of crime, drugs, cops, and kids in Baltimore, MD. I hardly ever go back and re-watch TV shows, but I kind of want to watch all 5 seasons again!

Also very good: True Detective, Game of Thrones (caution: adult content)

Pretty good: How to Get Away With Murder (first season was good, although it started to get a little too crazy by the end)

OK: Blacklist, House of Cards (I liked the first seasons, but I quickly got tired of both shows)

I also finally finished Revenge since I only had one season left to go! The first 2 seasons were definitely the best but at least they ended it before it dragged on too long.

3. Podcasts

I love the Jamie Ivey podcast to listen to while working it. It has made running on the treadmill bearable! The interviews last from 50-80 minutes and they discuss everything from families to adoption to faith to books. I get some of my ideas of what books to read and TV shows to watch based on these podcasts, and I love that Jamie asks each guest about their "3 favorite things"!

4. Alex & Ani and PuraVida bracelets

Alex and Ani is becoming very popular and they have many designs now, but I still like the simple gold charms the best. I like that each one has a different meaning. I want to get more and stack them! My sister bought me bracelets made in Costa Rica made by locals and the proceeds help support their economy. They're simple woven bracelets but some have adorable beads or charms - perfect for the summer!

5. Wine and Beer

Living in California I developed a taste for wine and beer, neither of which I was fond of before! Since then I have been to several wineries, cideries, and breweries and love trying new drinks!

My absolute favorite wine was La Folia's Barbera from Murphys in California. In Virginia, my brother's girlfriend introduced me to 19 Crimes, which has been a household favorite.

I am in love with Breckenridge Christmas Ale, which I first tried at a little restaurant in Lynchburg of all places! I also enjoyed Sam Adams Brick Red when in Boston, only to discover that it can only be found on tap in Boston, nowhere else!

Those are just the things I can think of off the top of my head, but I loved many things about 2015! I'm especially grateful I had the opportunity to live in California for five months and make some great friends out there. I loved getting to hike in Yosemite, explore San Francisco and try California wine! I was fortunate to be able to travel through Utah and visit four different national parks on the way back. And then I was blessed to be able to come home to Virginia and reconnect with some of my friends here. It has truly been an eventful year but I wouldn't have it any other way! Here's to more adventures in 2016!

Books I Read: 2015

One of my goals last year was to read 12 books, a repeat of a goal I had in 2014. An average of a book a month is doable for me and not that overwhelming- but still reminds me to do some reading when I get a chance! These are the books I read in 2015:

1-3. The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden - Jessica Sorenson (series of 3 books) (also Redemption of Callie and Kayden & Resolution of Callie and Kayden)
This is a young adult series that I read on my plane flights to/from Key West in January. It's a fun love story but also deals with some issues like abuse. Overall a very quick read, but it was great for vacation and I liked the characters. (3/5)

4-6. Recon: The Fringe series - Tarah Benner (3 books so far) (also Exposure and Outbreak)
This was a young adult series about a post-apocalyptic world in which characters live in huge facilities in the desert because the rest of the outside world is uninhabitable due to radiation. It starts out kind of weird, but I ended up loving the characters and the storyline was engaging throughout all three books. (4/5)

7. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
This was another futuristic book in which characters are involved in a huge multi-player video game that is more real than their actual lives. One of the goals in this video game is to find a prize hidden by the creator. Pretty fun book. (3/5)

8. The Kitchen House - Kathleen Grissom
This is a historical fiction novel about a young Irish immigrant girl who ends up being raised by black slaves in the "kitchen house" on a Southern plantation. I really enjoyed it, although the author was a little melodramatic at times. I liked it better than the Help, which is a similar period piece. (4/5)

9. Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
I don't even know how to rate this book. It was so unusual. Basically every time the main character Ursula dies, she comes back to life and lives through the same experiences, up to a pivotal moment when a different choice or event changes the course of her life. It was good for awhile but then I started to get irritated with Ursula making the same bad decisions in life after life. There wasn't really an ending either. (2.5/5)

10-11. Legend & Prodigy - Marie Lu
These were enjoyable books as a diversion on plane rides, but ultimately forgettable. Like, I can barely remember them enough to write a synopsis, other than that the two main characters are named Day and June. I still have yet to read the third book, Champion. I'll probably read it just to finish the series even though these books were just ok, (2/5)

12-13. The Silkworm & Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)
I love this new series by J.K. Rowling. The Silkworm was not quite as good as Cuckoo's Calling, but I still enjoyed it, Career of Evil was better and I liked how it explored both Cormoran and Robin's pasts a bit more. These books are very "adult" with an extensive vocabulary and mature themes. It's not a fast paced serial killer thriller like James Patterson writes, but I like these books much better. Silkworm (3/5). Career of Evil (4/5).

I read a lot of series and young adult books this year, especially ones with futuristic or post-apocalyptic themes. This coming year I hope to branch out and read a greater variety of books. I'm making the same commitment of 12 books a year!

Star City Half Marathon

Right after the Richmond half, I decided to run the Star City Half in Roanoke with my friend Emily. I literally signed up on Wednesday on the last possible day to sign up and ran it on Saturday. This marks my first half marathons on back-to-back weekends!

The Star City Half is a smaller race that starts on the Ronaoke River Greenway (my favorite place to run in Roanoke!), winds through the downtown area, up and down some hills in the middle of the course, and finishes along the river on the Roanoke River Greenway again.

I decided to run this for fun, so I ran with Emily and her friend Allison for the first 3.5 miles, then I took off so I could go at a little faster pace. I was surprised at how good I felt after running a half marathon the previous weekend! Both races were for fun and I ran at easier paces so that helped.

I finished in 2:07:19 official time, but it was probably about 2:06:48 net time since I started closer to the back. I thought our bibs had chips, so I'm not sure why there wasn't a chip time. Anyway, I'm glad I wasn't trying for a PR since the results weren't accurate!

Emily got a PR with 2:23:20!

After the race, we went to Lynchburg for the Poplar Forest wine festival and had a great time indulging after getting our exercise out of the way that morning! :)

Richmond half again

This was my fifth year running Richmond! (2011-half, 2012-full, 2013-half, 2014-full). It's the ONLY half I've run multiple times. I normally would rather run a different race than repeat the same one, but there's something I love about Richmond! For one thing, Richmond is where I started training for my first race. The 6 mile loop from Boulevard to Pope to Brook is a route I ran regularly, and to this day is probably my top favorite running route. There's something nostalgic about running that course again during the race and thinking about how I fell in love with running there.

There's so many more things to love too - the fall colors, the fall temperatures, the beautiful neighborhoods, the downhill finish, the finisher's blankets, and the awesome medals! Richmond is always a great experience and I highly recommend it!

The weather was great this year. It was cold in the morning, but not as frigid as previous years, and once we started running we warmed up pretty quickly. We parked in a parking garage about 10 blocks away and stopped in the Omni Hotel for awhile to stay warm, so we only had to wait out in the cold for about 20 minutes before the race started.

I ran with Tristan and her friend Joy and we kind of took it easy. None of us had trained exceptionally well and we weren't trying to PR, so we went at an easy pace and talked for most of the race. I started to get antsy during the last few miles and wanted to go a bit faster, but figured there was no point since I wasn't going to break 2. So I tried to just enjoy it and take it all in, and honestly there was a certain relief in that. I felt great and it was nice to just run and not worry about pushing for a time.

At the very end, I couldn't hold back and told the other girls I was going to sprint to the finish. Running down the big hill at the end is always a little scary, but such a fun way to finish. It was one of my slower half marathon times, but was probably the easiest effort I've ever put into a race. I NEVER thought a half marathon would be easy, but this one was!

Official Time: 2:12:12     Pace: 10:05

Utah National Parks: Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon - This was my second favorite of the four parks (and almost tied with Zion)! The rock formations are so cool. I couldn't stop taking pictures! I was only at Bryce Canyon for about 24 hours, but I saw and did so much in that short amount of time.

The first day I just drove to different viewpoints and walked the short path from sunrise point to sunset point, which has some of the best views! You can look out and see the amphitheater, which is just rows and rows of hoodoo rock formations. Each stop along the way is breathtaking!

The other lookouts aren't quite as spectacular as Sunset/Sunrise, but you can still see many different rock formations - some look like arches, bridges, tall spindles, or sand castles. It's truly one of the most unique places I've ever been!

On the second day I hiked down among the rock formations of Bryce Amphitheater. I took the Queens Garden Trail to Peekaboo Loop, and then hiked the Navajo Trail on my way out. For a shorter hike, I would recommend skipping the Peekaboo Loop and just hiking Queens Garden and Navajo Loop. There are a lot more rock formations and it takes about half the time. Hiking through "Wall Street" at the end of the Navajo trail was really cool, and I also loved seeing some hoodoos up close!

Hoodoos are tall skinny totem-pole shaped rocks that are formed by water or ice eroding the rock layers at different rates. It was fascinating to find out how these spindly rocks are created.

If I went back, I would check out the Fairyland Loop, but I was really happy with all that I was able to see and do in just 24 hours!

One downside to Bryce - there's not as many places to eat as Zion, so your options are pretty limited. They have one restaurant, but it's kind of fancy with long waits, so I went to a little pizza place across the street because that's all there was to choose from. Next time I would probably drive 20 minutes to the nearby town and try to find something there.

Utah National Parks: Zion

I was going to do a post about all the National Parks I visited in Utah on my way back, but didn't get around to it for a long time, so my memories aren't as fresh and this won't be as detailed as it could have been. Still, I want to remember what I liked about each park.

Zion National Park - This was probably my favorite of the four! The landscape is breathtaking and there are tons of good hikes. When you get into the park, you have to take a shuttle everywhere. It's actually really convenient because the shuttles run every 5-10 minutes, you can start and end a hike at different points, and you don't have to worry about parking (other than getting there early initially to find parking at the visitor's center).

I went hiking through a canyon and loved it! It was so cool to look up and see the huge rock formations on either side, and it was a new experience to wade through thigh-deep water in many places. I recommend a walking stick - other people leave theirs behind at the entrance to the Narrows and you can pick one up. It definitely helps you gain more stable footing when you can't see the bottom of the river.

The little town right outside the park is so cute and there are lots of places to eat and stay. I stayed at a campground right outside the park that had a few more amenities than campgrounds inside the park. The next day I did a shorter hike, but I would love to come back and hike Angels Landing. I also really want to do a canyoneering tour. I heard the Subway is a good beginner canyon to try.

Crossfit continued

I went back to Crossfit again a couple times, but I was really busy and only went once each week.

First week: Again, this is the kind of workout I really like. Lots of variety. I can actually get my elbows to my knees now! (but still can't get toes to bar). The hardest part of this was the box jumps- I actually got winded after doing 12, even though I think I'm fairly good at box jumps.

WOD: 20 Min AMRAP
250m row
12 box jump (24/20)
9 slam balls (40/25)
6 Toes to Bar
3 HSPU
Rest 1 min…

Second week:

WOD: 5 Rounds For Time

30 Double-Unders
30 Sit-ups
30 Squats

Oh boy. I didn't think this workout would be that hard. It wrecked me. I did this two days ago and my quads are so sore I'm having trouble walking, especially going up and down stairs (I've been this sore before, but only after a half marathon or marathon!). I was going to go hiking in Yosemite and I couldn't go because I'm literally having trouble moving. My abs are sore too.

This workout was deceptively easy, but the amount was just too much. The squats were unweighted air squats. I can do a lot of squats. The total amount of 150 didn't seem too bad at the time, but now I'm feeling it, and I don't want to be this sore because of squats! (If it was due to a race, okay). Doing 150 sit ups was also a lot.

So now I'm unable to work out for a few days because I'm too sore. It's frustrating. I'm kind of mad about this workout!

I want to try Crossfit some more when I get back to Lynchburg, but I really have to be careful about how much I'm doing, and when to limit myself. I want to build up my strength slowly, not tear my muscles down so badly that I can't work out the next day!