Two more books

I figure that whenever I don't have anything to post about, I will write about the books I am reading. I finished two over the last few days. I listened to People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks and I just finished Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt about 45 minutes ago. They were both interesting, but I liked Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil more because it was non-fiction. I usually think a true story is more engaging and impressive than fiction.
It is about Savannah, Georgia and the crazy people who lived there in the 80's and early 90's. There is also a murder mystery and a sassy black drag queen named The Lady Chablis.
People of the Book started out really great-an old Haggadah was found with illumination (apparently forbidden in Jewish texts) and lots of little mysteries: a butterfly wing, a blood stain mixed with non-kosher wine, some sea salt, and a painted cat hair- but it ended a bit drama-your-momma when Mossad and conspiracy and fraud were brought in for no real reason. The beginning of the book was really intriguing without the hokey hijinks, so why make it a thriller? The story follows the woman who is studying the old text while an alternate story tells the history of the book in reverse, explaining each of the mysterious discoveries. To be fair, I might have liked it better if I had read it instead of listening to it. The plot would have seemed more connected.
Now I am reading Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers and listening to some of those Modern Scholars lectures. I got a set about Western Civilization from Athens to Rome and the Four Gospels. Sunrise over Fallujah is the sequel to Fallen Angels about the Vietnam War. I read it a few times in middle and high school, so I am excited to read this one. The protagonist of the sequel is the nephew of one of the protagonists in the original.

I feel so bad

I feel like I got kicked in the ankles, knees and thighs all day, but I finished my sweet marathon. I left the house at 4:10 and walked (slowly) through the door at 9:26. I felt a little sore, but much better than I had expected. Then I showered and felt all the chafing that I hadn't noticed before. Hopefully I will be back to normal by the time I have to go to work on Monday.
Leaving that early was probably a good choice for running, but it was scary. I didn't even know I was still scared of the dark. There was no moon last night so it was very dark. The sun started to light up the sky at 5:45, so I went over an hour and a half without light. I had to look at the sky just above the treeline in order to see where the path was. Everything looked the same if I looked down or straight out.
I saw two shooting stars, watched the constellations revolve and disappear when the sun came up and almost ran into a groin-high post.
The first 13 miles were easy. The second 13 were horrible. But I am done. Also, knowing that I burned approximately 3000 calories means I am just fine having eaten that 2100 calorie pizza for dinner tonight, cheese stuffed crust and all.

Booty!

As in treasure! I got two packages today and go to open my secret box of running stuff. I got a pair of pants and a dress shirt that I ordered online that smell like cheese; a box with electrolyte jelly beans and a running shirt (courtesy of Potomac River Running, my secret sponsor); and a secret box full of energy bars, gels and love. Yeah!
I should get sponsors for my life. If anyone is interested in sponsoring my sleeping habits, I could use a new pillow. Also I wouldn't mind a motorcycle or a vacation to Atlantis.
Just one week of work left and then a week of packing. We drive out of Lincoln on Monday the 30th. So far our only goal is to see Independence and check out the temple lot and the visitor's center there. Is there anything cool in between that anyone would recommend? I wonder how far out of the way Kirtland is. Sometimes I get Kirtland Ohio and Kirkland Signature mixed up. I have to double check in my head.

I was so sure I was going to win

From June 1 to July 31, Lincoln was having a summer reading contest. Every book you read got you one entry into your local branch drawing (there are about 9 or 10 branches in Lincoln) and after four books you were entered into a city-wide drawing for a tote bag or something. I got really excited about this because I like contests and I was so sure I was going to win. This happens to me sometimes. I start figuring odds and decide that for some contests, I am destined to win. I don't think I have actually won any of them yet, but that doesn't seem to shake my conviction.
I put down my books that I had been reading and started picking books that I knew I would get through quickly. I finished my first four in about 10 days.
I read:
-Carrie by Stephen King
-Agents of Innocence by David Ignatius
-One of the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout. I remember Archie was in the war in this one and Nero Wolfe was jogging in the park everyday to train to kill Germans but he was grumpy because they only ate steamed vegetables. Ha ha ha.
-Airtight Willie and Me by Iceberg Slim

I handed in my sheet and got a complimentary water bottle and went to read more to increase my chances of winning the Gere Branch Library prize (one was only allowed to submit one sheet for the city-wide drawing).
So I read:
The Pluto Files by Niel DeGrasse Tyson (which convinced me that Pluto should NOT be a planet)
Mary Mary by James Patterson
The Spy that Came in From the Cold by John Le Carre
Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography by John Dominic Crossan
The Increment by David Ignatius
Heavy Words Thrown Lightly by Chris Roberts (a disappointing book with a great premise: the historical roots of popular childrens' rhymes)
The Mission Song by John Le Carre
Balance of Power by James Huston
The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L Carter
The Devil In the White City by Erik Larsen (a well executed [pardon my macabre pun]historical non-fiction account about both America's first known serial killer and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair)

So I had all these slips of paper and I was reading all the time to cram in as many books as possible. I was so sure that I would win. But the deadline came and went and I hadn't heard anything. I still have not heard anything. A part of me really believes that the library has not pulled the winners' names yet. I am sure that the only people that read more than me were probably the crazy unemployed people that sponge-bathe themselves in the drinking fountains. Or cheaters that counted the books they read to their kids and magazines.
Anna says that they probably picked the winners the next day and let them know, but if that is so, why haven't they called?
I think they should change the criteria to win. So that it is fixed in my favor.

August 11

1) A butterfly smacked me in the head on my ride home from work today. It was a pretty big Monarch, about three inches high, and surprisingly solid. It flew into my forehead and then beat me about the eyebrow and fell away. I hadn't ever been assaulted by a butterfly before.

2) My recruiter called today to confirm that I was going to report to my MEPS (military entrance processing station)for Basic out of West Virginia. Dang it, Army...

3) Slate magazine put together a cool application that has tracked the most common names on facebook. You can search by surname and look at the most common given names that match it. I was shocked to see how many Joseph Smiths there were (1,402) which shouldn't be really surprising given that it is a comically generic name, but it really is because it is such an associated name. There are also over 17,000 John Smiths. And 1,510 Chris Lewises.

A bad omen

I am suffering through the consequences of not drinking water. I have this dinosaur headache that feels like the backs of my eyes are drying out and getting sucked in by a vacuum. I had one bottle of water (during lunch) and didn't take another drink until I got home from a move-in at 6:30. This was after a 14 mile bike ride and an hour of heavy lifting on a heat-advisory warning day.
Now I have had too much water and my stomach is getting full. Have you ever had so much water that it starts to taste gross? It tastes like dull misery. I became hyponatremic once at the Athens paralympics because my missionary companion and I had a water drinking contest. I had 11 bottles of water over the day and felt really weird. Drinking contests are really dangerous.
Other than that, I am destroying my chances of a wildly successful marathon in other ways, too. I am going to eat mini-pizzas and oreos for dinner and probably will not run far or hard enough tomorrow morning to get my body prepared for Saturday.
I am not too worried about it (even though I should be, despite the great story I am about to tell you about) because I heard a great story that I would like to tell you about on RadioLab about limits. The story discusses physical and mental limits and how we can meet and surpass them at times. They interview a woman who wanted to test her body in the Kona Ironman and finished in spite of her body, and a man who participates in RAAM (a bicycle race across America) and discusses the common physical and mental deterioration. There is a story about the negative aspects of a really great memory. If you have an hour and like interesting things, I think you should listen to it. Bryan likes it, I think you will too.

A marathon

I have been planning to run a marathon since January. I was told in January that I wouldn't enter Basic Training until September, so I decided to set lots of goals to help pass the time. One of them was to run 100 mile before Josie was born, which I accomplished. Another was to max out on the Army's sit-ups and push-ups, which I definitely did not accomplish.
Next Saturday is my chance to run a marathon, which I hope I will accomplish. My route is set up so that if I don't accomplish it, it means I have not made it back home. You should know that this is not an organized event. It will entail me getting up at 4am and running 13.1 miles away from home and then coming back again. I was talking about it to Mom and she said that I should write about it. She said she would sponsor me if I wrote about it. SO i am going to write posts from today to September 13 or 14 (I don't know what time I have to report on the 14th) and in exchange she will make me a t-shirt and buy me some of those energy-electrolyte jelly beans.
She didn't know what they were, but I have always wanted to try them so I made her add them to the deal.
I think this run is going to hurt pretty bad. I was getting pretty good at my half-marathon time in April (while I was finishing up the last of my 100-miles-before-Josie-gets-born goal) but I have done very little long distance running since. Nothing over 6 miles in fact. The good news is that as long as I finish, I will have gotten first place. And because I am leaving at 4am, even if I was to walk the whole thing with my hands in my pockets, I could probably be home before noon. But I am hoping to get below 4 hours, and also to not collapse from dehydration. I only know of one drinking fountain along the way. I suppose I could drop off water bottles the day before on my bike. That is a pretty good idea actually.
Well, wish me luck.