Looking Back: April

And then it was April. With it comes the start of baseball season, the tiny curling leaves of the tomato plant and the knowledge that before you know it, summer will be here!

Running: This month should have been one of my higher ones due to upcoming long races. However, a fluke pinched nerve in my back caused over a week of rest, which threw me back a bit. In the end, total miles run ended up being about 211 with about 32,000 feet of climbing. My next race is the Quicksilver 100k and I feel a bit under-trained but will see how things go! As for biking miles, I logged a big fat zero again. Shame on me.

Reading: Lucky for my reading goals, I had over a week where I was unable to do pretty much anything, so I got a lot of reading done! In April, I read 10 books. I knocked off another book from my own shelf (in bold) and also read a few goodies to boot! I actually gave four stars to five of them, which is saying a lot for me (I almost never give five stars and don't give four very often either). In order of favorites, here is what I read last month.

The Underground Railroad ****
The Year of Yes (audio book, read by the author) ****
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle ****
Love Warrior ****
Hillbilly Elegy ****
The Paris Winter (audio book) ***
Modern Romance ***
The World We Found ***
Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget ***
Seven Brief Lessons of Physics ***

Travel: I spent a great weekend up at my parents house on Easter weekend, doing some snowshoeing and hiking and eating. We went snowshoeing at an old ski hill and we were the only ones out there aside from the mountain lions (we saw fresh prints but no cats) and the birds. It was a great way to get some sunshine and fresh air and exercise!

The Parentals

I also went on my semi-annual New York work trip, which was a lot of fun and another successful trip. It was a nice change from last time, when it was cold and snowy and icy and wet! It was in the 80s and I added on a couple extra days in order to spend some time with some old friends who I haven't seen in about 7 years!

The East River

Bonus: I know you are wondering....but what about the garden? Well... I can happily say that I reorganized the back yard, set up the drip system, and planted a bunch of tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, peppers, beans, beets, radishes and carrots. Unfortunately, I have a pest (slugs?) that loves vegetables as much as I do, and it has eaten everything but the tomatoes and radishes. I saved one pepper from certain death by moving it to a pot on the porch, but I think I will have to replant a lot of things. Boo hoo. Back to square one.

Meow!

What was your favorite part of April? Are you stingy or generous with your five star reviews? What is your favorite spring activity?

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Looking Back: April

What's the saying about April? It it the one who goes in like a lion and out like a lamb? Or is it that April showers bring May flowers? The latter is probably more fitting, as it did rain a bit in April and now the days are sunny and bright and the tomatoes are starting to grow!

Running: April was a good month for running! I ended up doing a couple of really long weekend runs with some wicked elevation (one on Mt. Diablo was 25 miles with over 6,000 ft of gain) which helped achieve a total of 223.2 miles of running with 37,500 ft. of climbing. In addition, a couple of commutes plus riding around Brooklyn got me 39.6 miles of cycling with 1,300 ft of climbing. I also clocked one hike, which was 8.1 miles.

Reading: I feel like April was not a good reading month, probably due to the fact that I was often with people. However, once I checked I realized that I actually read 5 books, which is more than my goal of one per week! Here they are (starred ones are for the Read Harder Challenge):

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee -- 3 stars
The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel -- 3 stars
Finding Someplace by Denise Lewis Patrick* -- 3 stars
Spinster by Kate Bolick* -- 3 stars
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline* -- 4 stars

Travel: I actually did not travel that much in April, but I did have events each and every weekend. The first weekend I did some canning with a friend and some trail maintenance volunteer work in Pacifica. The weekend after that, I volunteered at a race, had dinner with my brother and friends in Santa Rosa, and then my parents came to visit and we had a nice dinner and a catch up. The weekend after that, I had breakfast with my grandma in Mill Valley and went to pace/cheer on a friend at a San Francisco race. Then I hosted Lisa and Phil and we had a great time gadding about the city, hiking, walking, going to a Giants game and just hanging out and chatting.

Marshall's Beach

View from Green Point

For the last part of the month I flew to New York and spent a couple of days in the office before heading over to Brooklyn to spend some time with friends. We rode bikes around the borough, drank beer, ran in the park and had lots of fun reliving the "good old days" when we were all traveling around Africa.

How was April for you? Did you travel? What book are you reading now?

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Looking Back: April

Dear May. You are my favorite month. You are the month of flowers and of long days spent outside where it is just the right temperature. You are the month of my birth, mother's day and a long weekend. You are a month full of road trips and races and friends and family. I am ready for you. Bring it on.

Dear April. You were sweet, but it's time we part until next year. There have been fun times. Let's remember them fondly.

Running: The month started off with the Lake Sonoma 50 miler. Then I had a 7 day rest before running another race, which was a loop course and was boring as heck. Otherwise, I did not really run much, as I was basically "tapering" rather than doing what I am supposed to do, which is to be training for the big daddy in July. However, due to two long races, I ended up running about 150 miles. This is unconfirmed because my Garmin has decided to either eat my run completely, poop out in the middle of the run, or refuses to upload onto the computer. 

Reading: While not running as much, I did end up reading 7 books this month. I also started maybe 3 that I only got half way on and then put down. The books were (in order of best to worst):

All the Light we Cannot See (5 stars)
At the Water's Edge (3 stars)
Tiny Beautiful Things (3 stars)
We are All Completely Beside Ourselves (3 stars)
The Book of Unknown Americans (3 stars)
The Life List (3 stars)
All the Bright Places (3 stars)

Travel: Besides traveling for the two race weekends, I also went to Jackson Hole for some hiking (in the snow) and to NYC for a work trip, where I also met up with some friends for the weekend. Basically I was not home very much on the weekends this month! I would like to say that May will be quieter, but that is not true, as I have something planned for every weekend. In fact, as I write this, I am preparing to go to Yosemite. Vive le spring and summer!

And there you have it in a nutshell. There have been some other things going on which have pretty much consumed any and all of my free time in the past couple of months, but I cannot talk about it yet. Once it's over, I will definitely have a lot to say, but for now, mum's the word. Stay tuned.

Also, sorry I have been slack on commenting on your posts! I am there, lurking on Feedly, but not commenting. I will be back in a month or so, don't worry.... 

Did your month of April go by fast or slow? What month is usually your busiest? What book should I pick up at the library next?

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