No time to post. But did my four miles this morning. Thank God for my break tomorrow! Yay! Happy Pam!

Sad Chris, though. He’s injured. Can’t run for a few weeks. Must get physical therapy. On the bright side, at least he can walk at the pace I run, if nothing else. Thank goodness I’m so slow!

Tonight I’m trying out Ian’s Chickpeas with Chorizo recipe he has on his site. We’ll see how the Pam version turns out, considering I hate onions and can’t afford saffron. Oh, and have to substitute chicken bouillion for vegetable stock. Oh yeah, and I don’t know measurements in grams, so it’ll be a guess. 🙂

Good run again today, but I’m so tired now! I definitely don’t like doing my long runs on Sundays. Lesson learned. I suppose, though, if I kept running on Sundays then I could run Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday or something, but if I’m going back to Saturday long runs, like this coming weekend, I have to do Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, which is tiring. On top of the craziness of work right now. Ah well, now at least I only have one day left to run and then a break on Friday!

So, this morning, I ran 5.3 miles in 1:14. Not great, not bad, I’m happy with it though. I walked a bit at the beginning, as my calves were a little sore and I wanted to get them warmed up before I ran. And then I walked a couple of times throughout the run, but nothing major. I definitely ran most of it, which is good. More than 3.5 miles of it. Also, I think I have a new friend at the park. There’s this man who runs around the loop also, but the opposite way as me. So we passed each other 5 or 6 times this morning, and he always says hello. Nice!

The weather here has not been very cooperative, though. It’s January, for goodness sake! It’s supposed to be cold, even in Louisiana! But no, we’ve got 70 degree mornings and highs of 80 degrees. Granted, I would kill for that in the summer, but winter exists for a reason! I guess this is the price we pay for having a relatively mild summer. And anyway, it really is gorgeous outside. Blue skies, breezy, the whole lot.

Only ten weeks and two days until I arrive in London! Yay! I can’t wait! I got an email from my friend Marianne, who I’m staying with. She was one of our flatmates when we lived in London. She’s lots of fun, and fortunately, she doesn’t live far from Liverpool Street, which is where the Stansted Express goes to. Or something like that. I suppose I should be more concerned with how far it is from the start of the marathon, but really, it’s the loads of heavy luggage I’m worried about.

Oh yeah, and Paco, our landlord here at the office said yesterday that he thought I had lost weight. Woo! That’s a nice boost to the old ego!

I have a new plan for this weekend. Seeing as Chris isn’t supposed to run, I think I’ll just stay in New Orleans and run around the park where my 5K was last weekend. It has a 2 mile loop, which I can do 5.5 times. I’ll figure out the logistics later. But Ren, who is going to Thailand for 6 weeks in a week or so, wants me to stay in town this weekend, so I’ll make her come with me. She can run some of the loops with me, and just lounge around the rest of the time. Bring a book or something. That way, I’ll have an incentive every two miles. Hope she goes for my plan!

What a great run this morning! It started off not so great, I was sore and stiff and felt really awkward, but after a mile or so of walking a bit and running a bit, I got into my groove and ran the rest of the way. This week, in the psychological portion of my training program, I’m supposed to be practicing “self-talk.” It’s something like, if I tell myself I can do something, eventually, my mind will think it’s true, and I’ll be able to do it. So instead of focusing on the negative aspects of this morning’s run, I talked myself out of the pain and the awkwardness. Or something. Or else I just warmed up and got into the run. I’m not so sure about all this mumbo-jumbo but I’m certainly willing to give it a try.

Anyway, once I got into the run, I just kept going to the next quarter mile, thinking if I wanted to walk then, I could. But it was so easy, and I wanted to finish before it got too late, that I just kept running. It felt really good. I wore my new shoes, which are somewhat different from the old Structure Triaxes that I’ve been wearing. They seem to have more support in the arch, which I think is going to take some getting used to. My right arch was pretty sore during and after the run, I hope it’s not going to always be like this. Hmmm.

I’m still trying to get everything worked out with the fundraising page I made. I want badly to help all of these people that have helped me, I just hope I’m not creating false hope in anyone. I got an email from the head of another charity yesterday, and I read some articles he sent me about it. Now I want to help them, too. The story behind the charity is just heartwrenching. Sigh. Well, I’ll do what I can, I guess that’s all I can do.
.: posted by pam m 9:58 AM

Just checking in again. We’re so busy at work…I’m so tired…wait, I’m still at work…no lunch break today…so sleepy…not to say we didn’t eat lunch, not to worry…of course the end of the day is always a pleasant experience when the UPS guy comes by. Yummy!

5 miles tomorrow.

From reading Chris’s journal entry today, it doesn’t look like he’ll be up to doing the 11 miler this weekend. Sucks for me! But I’m more concerned with him getting better so he can, you know, run the marathon with me, that I can deal with a measly 11 miler. Ha!

Sore today. Quads, knees, shoulders. Iced knees last night, though. Much better!

Very busy at work. No time to post more. 😦
.: posted by pam m 10:42 AM

Got my plane ticket! Yay! Sadly, though, I won’t be flying with Chris and Rebecca and her sister. I was really looking forward to a flight to London with other people! I rarely fly over with other people. It’s okay, though. The flight I got is rather hellish (start in New Orleans, connect in Detroit, then Amsterdam, then to Stansted Airport. I’ve never been to Stansted!) so I’m glad for them that their first experience of London is not marred by 16 hours of flying and layovers.

Aaaaand, I got my new shoes today! Yay! Can’t wait to run tomorrow morning in them! Kristina was supposed to fly in at 12:50 a.m. tonight, but fortunately for me, unfortunately for her, she won’t be able to make that flight (she’s snowed in) so she’s going to have to come home tomorrow. Well, also unfortunately for me because I miss her!

snoooooooze…i just want to take a nap now…probably will after i write this….

Just got back from me and Chris’s 10 mile run! Wooooo! Yeeeeahhhhh! We did it! (Well, of course Chris did. He’s already run a marathon!) It was not bad at all! I was secretly kind of dreading it, but I can’t believe (yes I can) what a difference it makes to run those long ones with other people. We just chatted and gossiped and planned for London and had a great time.

We started out doing a 6.5 mile loop of the LSU lakes (click for map). This is the larger loop. Within that, is a 4 mile loop that we did the second time around, for a total of 10.5 miles. We walked the first half mile to warm up, though. It was dark when we got started, at around 6:15 a.m. Not too cold, not too warm. I started out wearing shorts, a sleeveless shirt, and a long sleeved t-shirt over that. It felt really good to take off the long sleeved shirt after the 6.5 mile loop. I also brought my Camelbak for the first time. I didn’t know what I was doing, so I filled it up all the way. Ack! Heavy! And I didn’t drink all of the water in it, so I know next time I don’t have to fill it up quite so much. Especially since we stopped at the car after 6.5 miles and drank some Gatorade and water. I also brought along some wine gums which were delicious after 8 miles or so. Chris loves them, and I have never appreciated them as much as I did this morning. So fruity and delicious! Oh yeah, and we split a GU when we stopped, which was disgusting. It wasn’t the flavor…I had no problem with that. But I’ve always been more of a texture person rather than flavor, and the texture of slime, is well, extremely unpalatable. I gagged but finally got it down. I have no doubt that it helped, but I don’t know…I’m going to have to work on that.

With about two miles to go, Chris volunteered to take the Camelbak for the rest of the way. My hero! Love Chris! He is the best! What a friend! I felt so much better when I took it off, like I was flying. I felt so light! I think I’m going to take it to London, but without the water reservoir. Just as a waistpack. It’s pretty comfy and handy.

The last mile was pretty tough, even without the Camelbak. I was aching in several places…my knees, my hips, my lower back, my feet. But not in an injured way, more like in a “you’ve been running for almost 10 miles” kind of way. Just achy. We stretched for a while afterwards, and went home. Now I’m ready for a nap!

No running today. Rest day. Tomorrow’s the 5K! Still haven’t figured out what my reward is going to be if I get my goal time. Let’s seeeeee:
If I run it in under 39:05 (PB) I get to buy a new magazine.
If I run it in under 38:00 I get to buy a paperback book to read for fun. (Under $10)
If I run it in under 36:30 I get to buy a Heart Rate Training book. Okay, I need it anyway, but I’ve been putting it off.
And that’s only one gift per time! I don’t get all three rewards if I run it in under 36:30. Hmmm. Unless it’s waaay under. Ha ha. Fun!

So I didn’t get any clothes last night at the mall. I hate the mall. I hate trying on clothes. Ugh. Oh well. I don’t need to be spending money on clothes when I still need to get my plane ticket to London. Eeek!
.: posted by pam m 10:58 AM

Because I was feeling guilty (blame it on my Italian/Catholic upbringing) for not raising money for any charities while training for the marathon, I decided to put a page on my site to (hopefully) help all of the other runners I’ve met raise funds for their causes. It’s at
http://www.geocities.com/pdotmuk/charity.html. Now, go donate!

Just once around the park this morning. Only 1.77 miles. But, notable because I did it in 20:26, a new record for me. I think. Well, I haven’t kept track of all of my times around the park, but I’m almost positive this is the fastest time ever. Considering it’s an average of 11:30 per mile, I can’t see how I ever would have gone faster. I didn’t want to go too far this morning, considering this weekend, and my legs were a bit tired halfway around, so I’m glad I didn’t go further. Not surprising, considering my blistering pace. ha ha!

Also notable this morning was the sociability of the other runners at the park. Generally park runners keep to themselves, but several said hello this morning and one guy (hmmm….my age-ish, tall, attractive…hmmm) even started a tiny conversation with me. Well, it was after I ran and his car was next to mine and he was commenting on the unusually warm weather. However, I think he said something positive about the humidity and negative about running in colder weather, so I don’t think we have a future. Too bad. ha ha.
.: posted by pam m 9:11 AM

Oooh, going shopping after work. I need some new clothes. Non-running clothes. Wish it would stay warm so I could wear shorts. To show off my newly muscly running legs. Wish the rest of me would catch up with my legs. But I knew this would happen because my legs have always had a tendency to look good while the rest of me is flabby. The frustrating thing is, I know I have muscles under this layer of blob. Must shed, so that muscles are revealed! Seems so easy when I put it that way. Much more difficult, though, when there is chocolate in the house. Sheesh.

No run today. 😦 I was really looking forward to it, too. I was going to go to the park I’ve never been to, the one I have a race at this weekend, and go three times around the 2 mile loop, but I had to bring Kristina to the airport. I had wanted to leave early, but she was running late, so there was no time. Sad, too, because the park is near the airport, and there is no other time to go, as it’s pretty far from home. Ah well. Guess I’ll make up the run tomorrow morning at good ol’ Audubon Park.

On a bittersweet note, Kristina won’t be able to watch me run in the Mardi Gras half Marathon. Bad for me, but good for her, because she has an interview with a nice law firm in NYC.
.: posted by pam m 11:10 AM

just got my new laser printer…yay! i’m so excited! i love getting new gadgets! i was finally able to convince sarah that we needed one. oh dear. i’m such a dork! yikes.

No run today. Rest day! Woo! Love the rest days. I’m about to order another pair of my shoes from RoadRunnerSports.com, seeing as they’re on sale and I have a gift certificate to that store (b-day present from Chris & Rebecca). Plus, I’ll probably need another pair before the marathon, anyway. I just have a bit of a dilemma. First of all, the ones on sale at RRS are a slightly newer model. They look a little different – but are they basically the same shoe? Plus, I don’t know what size to order. Do I get the 11s, which is the size I got my new pair in? Or do I get the 10.5s, which is what my old shoes were? I have a blister from the 11s, but never got one from the 10.5s. But…do I want to be training in two different sized shoes? Shouldn’t I just stick to one size? Hmmmm. A dilemma. I suppose I’ll call to place my order, and just ask the people there. They should know.
.: posted by pam m 10:46 AM

Yeesh. Just ordered a new pair of shoes from Road Runner Sports. Only ended up costing $26.98, with my gift certificate from Chris and Rebecca. Woo! And Chris got some new shoes today too, from them! Yay! Too bad we won’t have them by Sunday, when we’re going running together. Ah well, next time. Now I’ll have two pairs of (nearly identical, as I got the newer model) new shoes to rotate. Yay!

Oh, and can’t believe I forgot to mention this…Chris finally set up his own little online journal for his London Marathon training. It’s at http://runnerchris.blogspot.com. I set it up for him. He’s ever so grateful. Tee hee!