I'M IN!!!: Virtual Allstate Hot Chocolate 15K - Chicago 🍫

Disclaimer: I received an entry to the Virtual Allstate Hot Chocolate 15K - Chicago to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

While I've been hit with my fair share of race cancellations and changes over the last few weeks, I'm happy to report that I have just registered for a race that I definitely *won't* get cancelled - the Virtual Allstate Hot Chocolate 15K!

I've been wanting to run one of these races ever since my friend and fellow BibRave Pro Cassie ran one a few years ago and told me what a great time that she had. Unfortunately these races don't physically come to my neck of the woods (hoping for a Boston race in the future!), so I knew I had to jump on the chance to run a virtual version of the 15k! They are still dividing the virtual races up by city, but you can run anywhere you want in the world regardless of which city you sign up for!

Personally, I decided to run the Chicago virtual race. As y'all know, I was supposed to be running the Chicago Marathon this fall which unfortunately (yet understandably!) was cancelled. I also ran the Lincoln Park Zoo Run for the Zoo Virtual 10k this summer, another Chicago based virtual race. I knew it was only appropriate to sign up for the Chicago Virtual 15K for this series. One day I'll finally get to the Windy City in person, but for now I'll just have to imagine it!

The Allstate Hot Chocolate 15K/5K is well known for its incredible swag, on-course chocolate, and post-race food and - of course - hot chocolate. They're working hard to bring a similar experience to runners ahead of race day and sending out packets with a charcoal gray full zip jacket with a removable hood, a keepsake race medal (the medals will be unique to the distance you choose to run!), a personalized bib, hot chocolate packets, chocolate squares, and other goodies from their race sponsors! See below for images of the jackets and medals. I am personally so pumped for the jacket!!!

Race day for the Allstate Hot Chocolate Virtual 15K - Chicago is November 8th, and I'm going to shoot to run this distance as close to race day as possible! I'll of course be trying to incorporate as much chocolate into my run as possible as well because WHY NOT? 🍫 If you'd like to join me in running 9.3 chocolaty miles this November, head over to the race page and register today!

🍫 Register here! 🍫

The Final NEWTs 🦎✨ // Week 3 Recap

When Stephen King references Stephen King novels in a Stephen King novel. 
(Granted, he's writing as Richard Bachman in this one but STILL)

Y'all... this week was NAHT a great reading week for NEWTs! The only book that I finished this week was not a NEWTs book and then the week just totally got away from me. I got about halfway through Thinner which is my Acceptable level for Defense Against the Dark Arts, but no other NEWTs reading was completed for Week 3. 😬 This weekend is another round of 24 in 48 for the NEWTs and I'm going to try to finish Thinner, Dominicana, and hopefully start Goodbye, Paris. We'll see though because I have a lot of other personal tasks I gotta get done (running, shopping, cooking, taking care of Snowy, etc)! I'm still feeling like I can definitely finish up my NEWTs TBR this month, but it might be a close one!

DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS

Thinner by Stephen King

145/318 pages

 NEWTS REQUIREMENTS FOR HOGWARTS PROFESSOR

Achieve an "Outstanding" in the subject that you wish to teach 
CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURESAcceptable ✅Exceeds Expectations ✅Outstanding
Achieve an "Exceeds Expectations" in Defense Against the Dark Arts
DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTSAcceptableExceeds Expectations
Achieve an "Acceptable" in secondary subjects of your choice
DIVINATIONAcceptable
HERBOLOGYAcceptable ✅
TOTALS AFTER WEEK 3
Books completed: 3Pages read: 1,138NEWTs Requirements Completed: 0/3NEWTs Challenges Completed: 3/7

Friday Refelctions // More Race Cancellations

 LOL I think I jinxed myself when I posted my last entry because SO MANY RACES GOT CANCELLED THIS WEEK! 😣

1. Rock n' Roll Savannah, my last 26.2 on the calendar, was officially postponed to next November. I'm happy that I don't have to wonder about the status of this race for another 3 months, but bummed that for the first time in a loooong time that I have zero marathons on my schedule and I won't be able to check off another state this year. I'll run it in 2021 (hopefully)!

2. Rock n' Roll Seattle was rescheduled to next June, but they're only hosting it as a half marathon 😢 Luckily RnR allowed runners to choose from a few different races to defer their entries to. Most of the options were either on dates that I know I can't do because they're busy times at work, or states I've already done, so the race I landed on was Rock n' Roll San Antonio which will take place in December 2021! Looking forward to heading to TEXAS next year!

3. The Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon was cancelled and turned into a virtual event, which is probably the biggest bummer of them all because we were oh so close to race day (7 weeks)! I will say that Loco Races has done a fantastic job pivoting to virtual, though, and is stepping up its game with the swag pack. I'm still planning to train up so I can run the race on the original date of October 4th. I haven't run 13 miles since MARCH so I am definitely not half marathon ready quite yet, but I will be in October!

In the meantime, I'm still chipping away at my Massachusetts2Medford miles, and have also signed myself for another insane mileage challenge that I am severely late to the party for - the RunMA challenge sponsored by Millenium running! (It started on July 1 and apparently I never heard of it until yesterday... oops.) This challenge prompts you to virtually run the PERIMETER of Massachusetts -- a whopping 645 miles -- before the end of 2020. This is going to be a TOUGH challenge to conquer but I'm hoping it will keep me motivated to continue to lace up, especially once it starts to get colder again (which is way too soon, imo 😭).

Also, if nothing else will, hopefully this dope MEDAL will keep me motivated!

This weekend I do have a bit of a longer personal to-do list. I need to catch up on some video editing and want to throw myself into reading. This week has been a tough one mental-health wise, and I have felt so exhausted at the end of every day because things have been really crazy at work. Fortunately two of the major projects I have been working on this summer finally got off the ground today and I can breathe a bit easier. Hopefully that will mean more energy at the end of the work day for the coming weeks, but in the meantime I need to play some serious catch up, especially in the NEWTs reading department! Here's what I'm hoping to read this weekend:

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Thinner by Stephen King

Dominicana by Angie Cruz

Goodbye, Paris by Anstey Harris

This weekend is the second of the two NEWTs 24 in 48 readathons, so hopefully that will help me get through these titles! Fingers crossed that lots of pages will be read!

Running Game Plan // Fall 2020 Running Season?

Disclaimer: I received entry to the Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Hello, it's your friendly neighborhood marathoner-who-has-totally-slacked-off-since-COVID-hit-and-blamed-it-all-on-her-lack-of-motivation-and-cancelled-races-when-in-reality-it's-because-she's-lazy. 😬 I am here yet again with a declaration of "I'm TOTALLY going to stick to this plan" when it comes to my running. I'll be the first to admit that I've totally sucked at running since the end of June, but I hope to get back into a better routine to prepare for the potential of a fall running season. I need to lean back on being disciplined instead of relying on motivation. One day at a time! 

In order to keep some goals in mind while I'm running, here's what I'm working toward:

1. Finish my 142 miles across the state of Massachusetts for the Medford2Medford challenge

2. Train for the Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon which is in 7 weeks (!!!) 😳 (Discount code at the bottom of this post!)

3. Train for the Rock n' Roll Savannah Marathon in November (it's still on as of now, so may as well train in the meantime so I'm not caught off guard if by some miracle it doesn't get cancelled). This race is 12 weeks away but I think I can do a proper build up in that time.

4. Finally run the Virtual Providence Half Marathon that I've totally slacked on since May (oops!)

Because it worked so well for me during my training for NOLA and LA, I'm going to be using the Runner's World sub-5 marathon training plan and the 16-week strength training plan for marathon runners. These are both 16-week plans but I think I can make it work for all of the races I need to train for. The timing works for Smuttynose, and I can move some things around to make it work for Savannah should that race still happen this November. 

I will be doing a running log every Monday from here on out to keep myself accountable. I'm also thinking of making running TikToks while I train. I've been making a few as I've been teaching Snowy how to run with me, and it's been so fun! (Check out my profile here!) Let me know if you'd like to see more running TikToks and I'll happily oblige (or I'll just oblige anyway because they're so fun to make). 

Because the Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon is still scheduled to be in person, I've been trying to spread the word as much as possible! All of my fingers and toes are crossed that it will still happen in-person, but if it changes to virtual I'm sure that I'll still have a good time. Either way, if you'd like to join me for 13.1 miles along the coast of NH, sign up at hamptonrockfest.com and use code "SAVE10" for 10% off your registration! 

The Final NEWTs 🦎✨ // Week 2 Recap

This week was super busy (for obvious reasons! 😍) so, again, I didn't read as many NEWTs books as I thought I might. I did get to Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett and In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire, both 4 star reads! ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Both reads help me work toward completing my Care of Magical Creatures exam, which is the one exam I have to read 3 books for in order to complete. After this week it's just one more book to go for CoMC! I do still have 4 books left to read for NEWTs and about half of the month left to read them, so hopefully I'll be able to fit them all in!

CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES

Acceptable level achieved: Read a book with fire on the cover/in the title

🤩 Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

421 pages

Exceeds Expectations level achieved: Read a short book

💭 In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

204 pages

NEWTS REQUIREMENTS FOR HOGWARTS PROFESSOR

Achieve an "Outstanding" in the subject that you wish to teach 
CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURESAcceptable ✅Exceeds Expectations ✅Outstanding
Achieve an "Exceeds Expectations" in Defense Against the Dark Arts
DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTSAcceptableExceeds Expectations
Achieve an "Acceptable" in secondary subjects of your choice
DIVINATIONAcceptable
HERBOLOGYAcceptable ✅
TOTALS AFTER WEEK 2
Books completed: 3Pages read: 993NEWTs Requirements Completed: 0/3NEWTs Challenges Completed: 3/7

Friday Reflections // Snowy's First Few Days at Home

 

It's the return of Friday Reflections! And, of course, the only thing on my mind this week is Miss Snowy and her first few days at home with us! We've been doing so much bonding, training, and figuring out being pup parents this week and boy is it A LOT! It's so, so, SO good and we are so thrilled that Snowy is a part of our lives, but getting Snowy acclimated to us, her new home, and the neighborhood is a full time job. Our top priority right now is properly caring for her especially in these crucial first few days, and I'm happy to report that she is doing GREAT!

Snowy and I sat outside in the front yard for a solid 30 minutes on her second day home just to take in the sites and sounds of the neighborhood!

Snowy is pretty timid by nature, which isn't surprising as she is a rescue and we're unsure about her history before she was rescued. She gets pretty nervous on walks, especially around other people and ESPECIALLY around other dogs. I'm sure the fact that she is unfamiliar with her surroundings makes everything so much scarier. She's gaining more confidence each day and with each walk and I'm sure with time and gradual exposure to different areas of the neighborhood that she'll lose her fear. 

Showing Snowy her kennel!

In addition to getting her acclimated, we've been working on training Snowy in a lot of different ways. We've gotten "sit" and "paw" down pat, and we're working on perfecting "down", "come", "stay", and even "roll over"! We're also planning to crate train her, which I've worked on a bit today. We've been keeping her kennel door open and keeping her toys in there so she can go in and out and learn that that is her "room"! We won't really need to use it too often as of right now since we're home most of the time, but we want her to get used to being in her kennel whenever she might be home alone.

Our first two runs together! After a 1 miler on the left, and after two miles on the right!

Of course I'm hoping Snowy can be my running buddy as I train for my races. I'm slowly introducing her to running with really short distances that are really close by to our home. Like I said above, she's really nervous about her surroundings so that's still definitely present on our runs. There's some moments where she has to stop and get cuddles from me before she'll continue on which is definitely adorable, but I hope that she will get more comfortable with it with time. I think I'm going to keep the runs on the shorter side until she's more comfortable, but I'm sure we'll get there!

The thing that we're happiest about is how quickly she's become comfortable with us. From the very first day she has been very cuddly and she sleeps in bed with us every night. While we're still nurturing our bond with her, we are over the moon with how quickly she has grown to trust us. We'll continue working to maintain that trust over time, but she has fit so seamlessly into our little family and the three of us are all so, so happy!

Snowy had her first puppuccino!

This weekend Brett is away camping with his family. We had talked about maybe bringing her on the trip so the three of us could enjoy a summer get away, but ultimately we decided that that might not be the smartest decision and that I should stay home with her. She's been through a lot in these last few weeks and we thought that bringing her to yet another strange place with more strange people would just cause her more unnecessary stress. So we're having a bit of a relaxed girl's weekend at home instead so we can continue to work on getting her acclimated!

Of course we had to try the Disney eye filter on her!

While I'm at home with Snowy, I'm planning to get a lot of reading done. I mainly want to catch up on the reading that I didn't get to last weekend, and try to fit in a couple more NEWTs TBR picks as well. We're two weeks into August and before we know it the month will be over, so while I have this time to myself I may as well get some serious reading done! Fingers crossed that I don't get too distracted 😂

MEET SNOWY! ❄️🐾 Our adoption experience & welcoming the newest member of our pack! 💖

In case you missed it (which if you follow me anywhere, I'm unsure if you could because I've been posting about this EVERYWHERE), Brett and I adopted our first pup this weekend! Her name is Snowy and she is an 11-month old husky mix who was rescued after being left outside of a church in Tennessee. We are so thrilled to have a pup of our own finally join our family! As y'all probably know, we've been wanting a pup of our own for years, and we finally feel like we are ready and able to give one a happy and loving home. We are oh so thrilled to have Snowy (Full name: Snowy Marshmallow Angel-Fickett-Fickett-Angel) as part of our family! 💖

Enjoying the ride home!

Welcome home snuggles!

The windows in our apartment give Snowy a great view of the neighborhood from up above!

Brett and I went through the Survivor Tails Animal Rescue to find Snowy. I talk about our adoption experience in the vlog below, but it was really important to me to go through a rescue to give a dog in need a good home. I'm so glad we matched with this absolute sweetheart of a pup and that we are able to give her a loving home and a happy life! If you're in Connecticut, Massachusetts, or New Hampshire, check out Survivor Tails Animal Rescue to find the newest furry member of your family!

Survivor Tails Animal Rescue on:

Facebook

Instagram

PetFinder

If you'd like to see more of our journey to adopting Snowy and see her first 24 hours or so, check out the below vlog! I will of course be doing regular updates on Snowy and she will be heavily featured in all future vlogs. We are so happy!

The Final NEWTs 🦎✨ // Week 1 Recap

Week One of the NEWTs is complete! I read significantly less of my NEWTs TBR than I probably should have (isn't that always how it goes?) in favor of reading some other August TBR books, but the reading that I *did* do for NEWTs this week was just *chef's kiss*. I read the entirety of Felix Ever After this week and WOW what a great novel. We need more YA stories with imperfect main characters and Black, queer, trans representation. Absolutely loved this reading experience, and gave it 5 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

HERBOLOGY

Acceptable level achieved: Read a book with flowers on the cover

🌺 Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

368 pages

NEWTS REQUIREMENTS FOR HOGWARTS PROFESSOR

Achieve an "Outstanding" in the subject that you wish to teach 
CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURESAcceptableExceeds ExpectationsOutstanding
Achieve an "Exceeds Expectations" in Defense Against the Dark Arts
DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTSAcceptableExceeds Expectations
Achieve an "Acceptable" in secondary subjects of your choice
DIVINATIONAcceptable
HERBOLOGYAcceptable ✅
TOTALS AFTER WEEK 1
Books completed: 1Pages read: 368NEWTs Requirements Completed: 0/3NEWTs Challenges Completed: 1/7
For Week Two, I'll definitely be hoping to complete more than just one book on my requirements. 😅 In case you missed it, I'll be participating in the 24 in 48 readathon this weekend and I have a couple of my Care of Magical Creatures books on my TBR for that. Hopefully I can get through those this weekend and also get through another during the week for a total of three solid NEWTs books completed in Week Two. Wish me luck! 🤞🏻

NEWTs 24 in 48 Readathon #1 🦎✨ // Friday Reads

Happy Friday, folks! It's been a while since I've written a Friday Reflections post and I definitely want to get back into the routine of doing that, but instead I'm going to be sharing a bit of a Friday Reads today. One of the fun things that the Magical Readathon is hosting this round is a couple of 24 in 48 readathons, and the first one is this upcoming weekend. I don't have really any plans this weekend until Sunday, so I figured I'd jump on the opportunity to get some serious reading done and participate in my favorite format of readathoning - attempting to fit in 24 hours of reading within a 48 hour window! I've never really gotten close to 24 hours (lol), but I really enjoy the concept of reading for time vs. reading for book or page count. It always seems to motivate me to read more! 

This weekend I'm going to be reading a combination of my NEWTs books and some non-NEWTs books that I want to read this month. I always like to have a fairly large stack of books to choose from for these readathons in case I go on a TEAR and get through a TON of books, so here's the stack I'm working with:

Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett 

(Acceptable for Care of Magical Creatures)

Hello Girls by Brittany Cavallaro & Emily Henry 

(August BoTM book)

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire 

(Exceeds Expecations for Care of Magical Creatures)

I also have a couple of audiobooks out from the library for the moments when I'm unable to physically read:

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

What are you reading this weekend?

May, June, and July 2020 Reading Wrap Up + 2020 Reading Stats Update

Classic move - go three months without updating my reading on the blog! I actually kind of like this cadence of reading wrap ups, though. It's far enough apart that I'm not scrambling to post something every month, and it kind of takes the pressure off of reading! It does take me a while to pull these posts together (I've been calculating and writing for hours!) but I think it's worth it if I only have to do this once every three months. 😂 We'll see if this sticks!

The summer months have been busier at work than I had anticipated (though I am still working from home and will be for the forseeable future), but my reading pace has really picked up from the end of 2019/beginning of 2020, so that's exciting! I've also been reading some pretty incredible books lately. I don't think I've rated anything below 3 stars in the last 3 months which is fantastic, and I still have yet to come across a 1 star book (though I rarely rate things 1 star anyway). I might be just really great at knowing which books I'll like and which ones I won't! Keep reading for all of the stats on the books that I read in May, June, and July!

The Final NEWTs TBR 🦎✨ // #magicalreadathon2020

It's August which means it's time for round 2 of the Magical Readathon! Before I get into my TBR for the NEWTs, I want to acknowledge that a *lot* has happened in the HP fandom since the OWLs in April, particularly with JKR being extremely transphobic. G, the host of the Magical Readathon, has been extremely thoughtful in her decision to conclude this year's round by still running NEWTs and officially retiring its affiliation with HP after this round. You can listen to her reasoning in this video. I really do commend her for being so thoughtful during this extremely difficult and disappointing situation, and I appreciate the effort that she's putting forth for the Magical Readathon community.
I also want to share this resource on keeping our love of Harry Potter alive while distancing ourselves from the author. For lifelong HP fans like myself, I hope you find this resource helpful in moving forward.

For this final round of NEWTs, I will be continuing my pursuit to become a Hogwarts Professor that I began in April! As a reminder, I am hoping to specifically become a Care of Magical Creatures professor, which does influence my TBR a bit. Here's what the NEWTs requirements for becoming a Hogwarts Professor are:
Achieve an "Outstanding" in the subject that you wish to teach (For me that's Care of Magical Creatures!)
Achieve an "Exceeds Expectations" in Defense Against the Dark ArtsAchieve an "Acceptable" in secondary subjects of your choice
For those who need a reminder, you need to read 3 books in a subject to achieve "Outstanding", two books to achieve "Exceeds Expectations", and one book to achieve "Acceptable". You also have to read the books in order of the grade levels and you cannot skip around. For example, for my Care of Magical Creatures exam, I have to read the book for the "Acceptable" challenge, then the book for the "Exceeds Expectations" challenge, then I'll be allowed to read the book for the "Outstanding" challenge.
SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, here's what I need to read for NEWTs to officially become a Hogwarts Professor!
CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES
ACCEPTABLE LEVELSalamander: Read a book with fire on the cover or in the title

Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett (421 pages)
EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS LEVELFlobberworm: Lazy is fine! Read something short

In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire (204 pages)
OUTSTANDING LEVELHagrid's Hut: Start a book with a snack

Goodbye, Paris by Anstey Harris (279 pages)
DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS
ACCEPTABLE LEVELBoggart: Read a horror/thriller

Thinner by Stephen King (318 pages)
EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS LEVELKappas: Water demon! Read a book with demons or a water theme

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman (384 pages)
DIVINATIONSecondary subject #1
ACCEPTABLE LEVEL"Take the red cup, dear.": Read a book with a red cover

Dominicana by Angie Cruz (323 pages)
HERBOLOGYSecondary subject #2
ACCEPTABLE LEVELPuffapods: Read a book with flowers on the cover

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender (368 pages) I'm really excited for a great month of reading. My plan is to weekly vlog and update my reading at the end of the week as I normally do, but I plan to do an end-of-week reading update specifically for NEWTs here on the blog. I really enjoyed doing blog updates throughout the Reading Rush so I'd like to do that throughout the month of August as well to help keep myself on track! I hope you all have a great reading month, whether or not you're participating in NEWTs! 💖