I went to the library again today. I had several books to pick up on the hold shelf plus I grabbed a few magazines because I want to change the look in our living room and I need some inspiration. And by a few I mean eight. I kind of have a problem. My eyes are always bigger than… my eyes? I was thinking how your eyes can be bigger than your stomach but that’s the wrong saying. Unless you eat books. Which I don’t. Isn’t there a reality show where people do really weird sh*t, like bathe in urine, and eat paper? Man, sometimes I wish we had a TV…

Anyway, I picked up How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran, which I am so excited about. It had about 67 holds on it when I logged into the library website 3 weeks ago so I am really surprised I got it so quickly. I heard an interview with her on NPR, then few weeks later, I think I saw an interview with her in the New York Sunday Times (in the Styles section, the only one that’s worth reading, or at least you should read it first and then see what else you have time for). It’s a memoir and it talks a lot about feminism and why every woman should be a feminist, and I think it’s going to be hilarious. At least, I gathered this from her NPR interview where she read a few excerpts.

I also got Admissions Confidential by Rachel Toor. I just finished her memoir, Personal Record, a story of her life as a marathoner and a writer. I would give it an A- so I am looking forward to this one. Apparently she was an admissions officer at Duke University (Blech, btw. Go HEELS). The subtitle of this book is “An Insider’s Account of the Elite College Selection Process.” I can’t tell you much more till I read it.

Also in my queue was Nazis on the Run: How Hitler’s Henchmen Fled Justice by Gerald Steinacher. I am not sure what compelled me to put that on my list. If I had to guess, that will be the one I renew twice and finally return before I have a chance to read a single page.

And my impulse grab (not from the hold shelf but from an aisle display) was So Much Pretty by Cara Hoffman. The cover (which is a black and white image of a person standing on the horizon) and the title caught my eye, and then I liked the first paragraph, so into my pile it went. Or rather into the cargo area of the BOB stroller it went. The BOB is great for walking on streets, bike paths, and sidewalks, but not as great for navigating the library, FYI. Anyway, this one is a novel about a woman who disappears.

I kind of have a thing for books (almost always non-fiction) about women who disappear, are beaten, or killed. I am not sure what is with that. I am about to finish Erased by Marilee Strong, which profiles dozens of cases where men murder their wives/lovers and create or attempt to create a scenario where the body cannot be found. Did you know how hard it is to get a conviction for murder if there is no body? I do, because I read this type of creepy book.

As much as I have learned about forensics, legal proceedings, and the mindset of the players involved in these types of crimes, the downside is it makes me super scared when maybe I shouldn’t be. Like tonight, I was running on a rural road near my house at dusk when a car drove by me, in my direction, very, very slowly. I watched it take a right at a stop sign. My intent was to finish my last of three mile repeats at the stop sign (which OMG, I have done this route probably a hundred times and never knew till today there is a marking on the road that says “1 mile” and if you start there and end at the stop sign, it’s exactly a mile!), then go to the end of the road, turn around, and head home as my cool-down.

Well, this car really creeped me out, so instead of continuing, I stopped and tried to spy on the car. I was thwarted by a fence, which fully blocked my view. I turned right around and headed home. I heard a car coming up behind me. I glanced back and saw it going pretty slow. Was it the same car that had been going slow in the other direction just a minute ago? Was the driver looking for me? Was he going to force me into the vehicle at gunpoint, and take me to some other location and do God-knows-what to me? I crouched behind a bush in someone’s yard and watched the car pass. It was not the same car as before. I continued running home, intermittently looking over my shoulder the whole time.  Would I have been so paranoid if I didn’t love true crime books? Probably not…

Other than the prospect of possibly being abducted, it was a stellar run. The weather was just the perfect amount of cool, the sunset put on a show of soft pinks and purples over the mountains, and my legs felt super fresh. My workout was a 2 mile warm up followed by 3 mile repeats at goal half marathon pace (which is 8:00/mile) with a 2 minute jog recovery between each repeat. The first mile (slightly uphill) was 8:03, the second mile (slightly downhill) was 7:39, and the last mile (again, slightly uphill) was 8:09. I did a very similar workout about 6 weeks ago or so and my times have improved significantly which is awesome. Maybe I am doing this self-coaching thing right, after all!