Readathon Wrap-up!

Phew! That was a BLAST. Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-thon is always a great time, but this was the first year I was *really* able to commit. I had so much fun! Since it was my first full-on readathon, I elected not to blog during it and just read and poke around on my phone. I have a horrible laptop (that isn't portable because the battery doesn't hold charge!) and I wanted to spend a lot of time outdoors, so I stuck to instagramming and a bit of tweeting. I am proud of how much I was able to read and hope that now that I've got my first full readathon under my belt that come October I can schedule and plan to blog and read!!

Readathon Recap:

As I'm on the East Coast, I started at 8am. I woke up and had a book ready to go on my nightstand and didn't even leave my bed for the first house... I just basked in the morning sunshine streaming through my window and read A Dog's Journey. 

Once I did crawl out of bed, Barrett was off to go get some supplies for the basement and I went to sit in the sunshine out back. He brought me back a vanilla chai and a yummy breakfast sandwich.

I spent the first few hours outside. I was reading A Dog's Journey on and off while lounging in the sunshine and helping Barrett. He was building some raised flower beds, so I helped him a bit here and there, then helped him place them on the side of the house and fill (half way) with dirt.

While outside I also had my first snack... I had yummy Mango-Pineapple infused water and sunflower seeds (totally a guilty warm weather pleasure!)

I stayed outside until almost 4pm. At that point I had finished A Dog's Journey and was starting Tomorrow, When the War Began. I was struggling to get into that one, so I decided to take a break.  

Barrett had a hankering for a burger, so we went out to Thirsty's for dinner and a round of quickdraw. I had pulled pork and fries... and naturally a hard cider. This was around 530ish... and a much needed break. I was full and rejuvenated!

Bear was planning to go out to a friends house to watch the Jon Jones fight (woohoo!.. go Jon!.. he won, AGAIN. Kick ass.) so we stopped at the store on the way home from dinner so he could grab some brews and snacks... I decided that I would probably need some junk food to get me through the second half of the readathon, so I grabbed some too.

Once we got home, I was ready to get back to reading... I took out Tomorrow, When the War Began and gave it another go. After a little more than 100 pages, I gave up. It just wasn't working for me. I decided to switch over to The Resurrectionist by EB Hudspeth. Since it was late and I could feel myself getting sleepy, I went out to the front porch and read while burning some nag champa incense.... I also had my second snack- some SmartPop!

I read until 9:45pm and decided that it was time for my first nap! I had previously decided I would give myself two naps during the readathon. One power nap for 30 minutes and one decent nap for 2 hours. I set my alarm and enjoyed a little snooze.

Back to reading The Resurrectionist! I read for a bit then went in to bed and slept for a few hours... I woke back up around 1am and got back to reading! I spent a little time reading in bed with my booklight, but was fading fast.

After an hour with the booklight, I realized I kept nodding off and rereading the same paragraph because I just couldn't focused. I moved out to the living and curled up on the couch and broke out my snacks. Chips and dip woke me up! 

I finished The Resurrectionist (which I LOVED) and took out some poetry to wind down with for hour 20. I had sprinkled a few poems in throughout the day, and finished this up right as we were closing in on hour 21. It was a nice way to break up the reading throughout the day and I enjoyed reading Emily Dickinson as a transition from The Resurrectionist.

I was beginning to fade again, so I took out some chocolate and did a little refuel. I started Blindsided and stayed on the couch until I fell asleep with the book on my face a bit before 5am. I was groggy and just couldn't focus when I woke up, so I decided to call it and roll into bed.

So, I didn't finish my first full-on readathon. I made it until 5am (which was hour 22)... I'm a bit disappointed I couldn't pull through another two hours, but I figured this was pretty damn good!

In all, I finished 3 books and started 2. I did zero blogging *hangs head in shame*, but did peruse some blogs and mini-challenges. I tweeted a tiny bit, and instagrammed a lot. My snacking was pretty good -- I munched on sunflower seeds, chips & dip, Smartpop, and a Cadbury egg... never did get around to the doughnuts or 3 musketeers bar. For bevies, I drank vanilla chai, coffee, infused water, and a glass of milk. I moved around a lot throughout the day... I read outside, on both porches, in bed, and in the living room. 

So friends, how did you guys do? Did you make it the full 24 hours? How much reading did you get done?

Can't wait to spend the remainder of the week catching up on readathon posts and browsing the blogosphere! Hope to see everyone around and many thanks to the hosts of Dewey's Readathon! It was such a great time and I can't wait to participate again in October! 

xoxoxo

write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow