A Book Review and Extra Bright Colors.

Things about today :

1) Pineapple shirt makes it a good day

(I've wanted that shirt ^^ for over a year and finally was able to buy it for over 50% off :)

2) My mom got a "3 for FREE" deal on ZOYA nail polish and this color came in the mail for me today... thank goodness because I really needed to give myself a pedicure (runners' feet = not pretty). Did my fingers too :) I'm not a big nail polish & make up girl for the most part so this subtle color is definitely a new fave!

3) Read this book in a day

I loved Elin Hilderbrand's bestselling book The Matchmaker, especially at this time of year! It's been awhile since I've picked up a book (that I haven't read before) that I've been inclined to finish in a sitting.  It's summer, I needed something light yet engaging, uplifting yet...heartbreaking. I'm a sucker for a love story. This story is set on Nantucket and follows the life of a woman who is a matchmaker on the island. The story is told all in third person (except for personal accounts from the couples that the matchmaker set up, which are sprinkled throughout the novel). However, I like that the third person follows the different key characters of the story. For example, the narrator might be on Nantucket with Dabney, the matchmaker, but then in the next chapter the narrator is with her husband in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I'm not a huge fan of books that switch from each characters' POV each chapter, but I was a fan of how this was done. This isn't any old quick-read chick-lit story. The story is told in a light-hearted manner but is not "frilly," and each of the main characters has depth and personality. You grow attached to each one of them throughout the read. I'm not going to say much more because I don't want to give any spoilers but I highly recommend it! I even cried at the end and I'm pretty sure that last time I did that was the first time I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If you want an impossible-to-put-down, not-too-heavy, yet enrapturing read, go for this :)

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I wore extra bright colors on my run today (bright orange + neon yellow) because it was POURING rain for the entire time and I wanted to be quite visible.

Got up extra early this morning to do 9 miles with 6 middle miles of SPEED but almost as soon as I got out of bed I realized that workout wasn't happening. I've been ramping up the miles and going fast for the last several weeks... and for most people that means INJURY CITY! So when my knee was aching and my IT-band felt a little "off" (my IT-band is my 'Achilles' heel' so to speak) I knew that it was going to be an EASY day and that I might not even complete the run. Every time I start to intensify my running, I can certainly tell because I feel it in my IT-band. 2 years ago, I had a serious enough IT-band injury that I was sidelined from running and in physical therapy for 11 weeks! So today I ended up doing 7 very easy miles like yesterday, and then iced my IT-band and knee 3 times for 30 minutes throughout the day. I wasn't in pain, but the precaution couldn't hurt! I also stretched twice and did my General Strength and Mobility exercises because those felt okay. I will be taking tomorrow OFF (probably a bike ride in the afternoon/evening with my dad) and then see how things are on Friday and decide if I want to resume my weekly training runs as they appear on the schedule. The key here is flexibility - which can be hard for me because I adore schedules and sticking to routines. In this case, sticking to the schedule could cause me to come out worse for the wear, so I have to be sure to learn to take it easy when needed! I guess there's always something to learn from the marathon ;)

Over halfway through the week now - weekend here we come!