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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Books, A Run, and Some Chicken Pot Pie

Thanks to a busy day, I was able to push the gruesome morning (see post below) behind me and get on with other things. So, after a busy day of classes, I was happy to come home, do a few household chores and then sink into my book. I spent all of the late afternoon and early evening finishing it, and I do have to admit that I really enjoyed it. It is, yes, a young adult book, but that doesn't much faze me; there's plenty of young adult fiction that I think is very good (Harry Potter, for instance).

The basic premise for this novel is simple, but fantastic at the same time: a vampire and a human fall in love. Quite the dilemma, right? It makes for good tension throughout -- should they be together despite the fact that the vampire is tempted to suck the life out of the human? And how can the human remain protected from the other vampires? It made for good tension, and the climax of the novel was so fast-paced that I couldn't put it down. And how couldn't it be exciting with vampires as main characters, eh? But, trust me, I have read books that made dull work of vampires (cough, "The Historian," cough).

Anyway, there were some weak aspects of the book, but I was willing to look past them; plus, I learned that it's the first book in a series, so when I finish typing this, I will be making a late night run to Barnes and Noble!

Once I finished the book, it was time for me to head outside for my evening's 5 miler, which went fine, but I clearly started off too fast and wore myself out early, as the numbers indicate:

Mile 1: 10:05
Mile 2: 10:17
Mile 3: 10:26
Mile 4: 10:51
Mile 5: 11:04

Obviously, I need to work to make those numbers go in the opposite direction, but for now, it works. After I got home from the fiver, my husband had some delicious homemade chicken pot pies ready (he's turning into Chef Jer-Bear: look for him soon on the Food Network), so I ate mine and it was sooooo good: flaky, buttery crust, with thick, creamy pot pie goodness inside!

So, like I said, I think I'm gonna quick dash to the bookstore to purchase the next 2 installments in this vampire/romantic series and see what's in store for my characters; and when I get back, "Top Chef" will be on. Ahhh, it's always good when the day ends better than it started. For that, I am grateful.

11 comments:

David said...

Oh great, now you ruined the middle part of the book for me! Now I have to just read the last page and see how the vamp turns the mortal into a vamp, so they can stay together forever.

Negative splits are good, but don't look for them every time, IMO. If a person always does them, to me it means they aren't pushing hard enough in the middle of the run, holding too much in reserve to attain the negs. My .02, for what it's worth.

MNFirefly said...

Nice job, Jess!

Anonymous said...

I'm so jealous just reading your post. Sounds like a perfectly delightful evening!

L*I*S*A said...

Sounds like an all-around great day. I'll have to check into those books, too...

ws said...

I'm happy to see your day improved after the not-so-ducky start. Those splits are great, I wouldn't let it stress you out...is it only because you were wearing the Garmin or without the Garmin would you have noticed your change in pace?

Jenniferlyn said...

YUMMY! Chicken pot pie sounds delish! What a fine reward for finishing a book and going for 5-miler.

Wes said...

Yea! Nice run!! Negative splits are cool. Since I tend to "warm up" during the first part of my run, I pretty much negative split all my runs. I researched negative splits a while back and posted on our group blog (gone now), and they are a good thing. You lose more time by burning yourself out early.

I love to cook and the food network. I'll be looking for hubby's alternate :-)

keith said...

Chicken Pot Pie is the shizz. You will have to have Chef Jer send (or publish) his crust recipe. Mine always gets too solidified.

i'm glad your training is going well.

J~Mom said...

I will check out those books! I love young adult fiction and I love sharing it with my kiddos when they are the right age for it. One of my all time favorite books is "A Wrinkle in Time" and I just read that with my son last year.

Ian said...

Sounds like a fun evening. I wish I had more time to read.

Mendy said...

Glad your day got better! and sounds like a really nice night and with a good run to top it off! Plus I love chicken pot pie -delicious.