Marathon Madness

Sometimes what I really need to keep myself going is a concrete goal. I have many goals: to publish a book, to pay back all my loans, to be a better person…. But these are not things I can accomplish in a week, and that can wear me down. I haven’t so much as looked at my book outlines since June out of fatigue and fear!

So I decided to join two marathons that are close to my heart this past week. They aren’t real, running marathons – although it’s one of my goals to complete one of those, as well – but inclusive, nerdy marathons that have real world impact! They began on the same day, July 30th, and I was raring to go!

The Harry Potter Alliance House Cup Marathon will be continuing through the end of August, but I’m proud to say that I finished the course in three days! I really wanted to make it into the top ten and I had an inkling I could. I was able to do this by walking from my home in Brooklyn to my then-office in Manhattan for two days, as well as by logging the miles I spent walking dogs for work! It felt so great and I felt so strong (and sweaty!) I’ll still be logging my miles to try to loop the course and to give team Blue and Bronze some mileage, but since I’ve switched jobs and will only be walking dogs on more of a volunteer basis, the miles will be going down until I get settled at work and try to start actually running again!

The money raised for the House Cup Marathon will be benefiting the HPA’s fall immigration advocacy campaign. Families belong together! If you would like to donate to the cause or to join the race – you still have plenty of time at the time of writing this, and you can walk, run, or wheel – please be sure to use my affiliate link here.

The next marathon I took part in was the Booktubeathon! It’s something I’ve been following since university, but never had the wherewithal to actually participate in. I admit that I didn’t do any of the video challenges – I tried to make my own booktube channel once to disastrous results – and I sort of cheated to finish all the reading challenges! I don’t think you can really cheat in this sort of thing, but I do want to qualify that I didn’t start and finish all the books; some I had already started.

Ultimately, though, I finished seven books in seven days and got my reading swagger back! I’m reading about seven books at once right now and I’m not stressed about it, just enjoying it. You can see a breakdown of the reading I did each day below!

Monday, July 30:
M Train by Patti Smith: 103 pages FINISHED
Dream of Life Documentary
*4 challenges completed: flipped a coin to start with M train, wore a hat the whole time, read a book about travelling, which I obviously want to do, and watched a documentary about Patti Smith’s life as a book-to-movie adaptation
Middlemarch by George Eliot: listened to 4 hours, 9 minutes
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: 31 pages STARTED

Tuesday, July 31:
Mockingjay: 359 pages FINISHED
*1 challenge completed: beautiful spine; I read the Hunger Games trilogy every year, but seeing their spines on my bookshelf always excites me
Middlemarch: 3 hours, 26 minutes

Wednesday, August 1:
Middlemarch: 2 hours, 33 minutes
Not on Fire But Burning by Greg Hrbek: 22% on Kindle
Women’s Uncommon Prayers edited by Elizabeth Geitz: 98 pages
Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann: 30 pages
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang: 42 pages STARTED

Thursday, August 2:
Women’s Uncommon Prayers: 233 pages FINISHED
*1 challenge completed: green cover
Middlemarch: 3 hours, 15 minutes
The Poppy War: 20 pages

Friday, August 3:
Middlemarch: 2 hours, 44 minutes FINISHED
Not on Fire, But Burning: 88% FINISHED
Three Bags Full: 15 pages
The Poppy War: 22 pages

Saturday, August 4:
One by Sarah Crossan: 123 pages STARTED

Sunday, August 5:
One: 266 pages FINISHED
The Princess Saves Herself in this One by Amanda Lovelace: listened to 1 hour ST/FI
*Final challenge completed: finish 7 books
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls: 25 pages STARTED
Misery by Stephen King: Chapter 4 STARTED

Sometimes it’s just nice to challenge yourself, even when you don’t get anything physical out of it. I donated to a cause I’m passionate about, got some exercise, broadened my mind, and finished some books that I’ve been meaning to for a while!

Here’s to achievable goals, extracurriculars, and battling anxiety and depression. 🙂