48HBC Finish Line Post!

I did it! I made it through again and I didn't falter/fall apart near the end! Nearly 35 hours (34 hours and 53 minutes due to sleeping "too much") and smashed my goal for this challenge! Finished my audio book and Twenty Boy Summer, too. Slept about 3 hours last night. Saw sunrise before going to sleep. That was weird. I was awake for 25 hours straight. I, uh, don't do that. So apparently the caffeine worked! Success! So many exclamation marks! I think I am a little loopy from lack of sleep and so much focus over the past 48 hours. So here are my stats:

9 books
2,408 pages
34 hours, 53 minutes

I spent more time reading/blogging this year than I spent doing all activities last year - 30 hours, 53 minutes. Day 1: 11h, 15m reading and 2h networking. Day 2: whatever's left. No, uh, 19h, 38m reading and 2h networking. Whoa. Granted, day 1 is out of 15 hours (pre-six hours sleep) and day 2 is out of 27 hours. I read 5 books that I'd been meaning to read for awhile - Smekday, the Ockler book, The Big Splash, and the two Roland Smith books. Then of course I read four graphic novels - one reread and three new ones. I actually still have three graphic novels leftover, another Adam Rex book, another Sarah Ockler book, another Roland Smith book, and then a couple others. I like being able to choose, but you can see that I went to authors I like and picked many of them to catch up on.

I had a great time this year. I think I really challenged myself, especially when I had to read in my room for 8 hours and couldn't go outside but still kept reading. I drank A LOT of caffeine - Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Wild Cherry Pepsi, Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi, Coke, and Diet Coke. I ate healthier this year - apples, popcorn, fruit snacks, turkey and cheese sandwiches, and a nut energy mix. I mean, there were also Milanos, Goldfish, and pizza, but I didn't eat most of the unhealthy snacks I bought - Dove chocolate bars, Swedish Fish (how did I not gobble those down at 4 in the morning?), and most of the Milanos.

Usually I can't wait til next year to improve, but for now I'm going to bask in the glory of how well I did, take it easy, and sleep. Really, I can't improve too much next year. I don't think I could do 40 or more hours because I need to sleep. Sleeeeeeeeeeep. So if I can get 36 hours next year, that sounds good enough for me.

I had a great time reading everyone else's blogs and seeing newcomers and finding new people on Twitter. I hope everyone else had just as good a time as I did. Congrats everybody!