Category: pre-triplets

New PR

Yay new PR! Saturday was the Fat Boy 5K. My goal was to do it in under 35 minutes, which I thought was sort of ambitious since my old PR was 36:11. I’d have been happy with anything under that, but boy did I go under!

The race was in Baton Rouge, and I ran it with Chris, Teresa, her sister Larissa, and Joe. Oh, and Hunter the dog. We made up a team (had to weigh 650 lbs, we did that easily) and they combined our times at the end. I’ll just say now that we came nowhere near winning for the team time, but it was fun anyway.

Friday night I had gone to a baby shower for a friend who works at Barnes & Noble, so I didn’t even make it into Baton Rouge until about midnight. I was a little worried that a lack of sleep would affect my race, but as usual, I slept like a rock at my mom’s house and was pretty well-rested for the race. Chris and I rode together to the race, and it was a gorgeous morning. A bit too sunny for my liking for a race, but fortunately the course was very shady, you never actually had to run in the sun. The temperature was in the 60s, and there was no humidity, so it really was nice running weather.

What I’m never prepared for in Baton Rouge is hills. New Orleans is literally flat as a pancake, there are absolutely no hills, no undulations whatsoever in the roads, so even though Baton Rouge would be considered flat by most standards, compared to New Orleans, it’s positively mountainous. So I struggled a bit with the hills, but it was not a really big deal.

So the race started with Chris and Joe lined up near the front, and Teresa, Larissa and I in the middle. Teresa and Larissa went ahead of me for the first half of the race, but after that I passed them up (slow and steady, etc, etc) and met up with a struggling Joe. We ran together a bit, but soon enough, I left him in the dust. Woo hoo! Okay, it’s mean and petty, but all these people are thin and healthy, and even though they’re not runners, I didn’t really think I’d beat them. I’m a terrible friend. Sorry, guys!

I was keeping a very steady pace for the first two miles, 11:01 for the first, 11:00 for the second, and during the third mile, I knew I’d be able to go under 35 minutes. Before I knew it, I could see the end, but there was a steady grade that wasn’t pretty. The clock at the finish was approaching 34 minutes, and I knew I wouldn’t make it by the clock, but I’d crossed the start line about 30 seconds after the gun, so I was safe.

By my watch, I crossed in 33:38! Ack! 2:33 faster than my PR! Amazing! Wow! I couldn’t believe it. Yay! After that, we all met up (Teresa, Joe, and Larissa all came in around 36:00 – see, they also beat my PR, those slender people kill me!) and had Krispy Kremes, sausage po-boys, eggs and grits…well, it was the Fat Boy…

So that was my exciting race. There really aren’t any more 5Ks until the fall around here, so I will have to wait until then to reach my next goal…sub-30:00!

But I have decided to possibly sign up with Team in Training for the Marine Corps Marathon in October, so I’ll be training a lot this summer. Will be hellishly hot. But should be good conditioning. We’ll see. There’s a meeting on the 30th. The cool thing is, last night at the pub, I was talking to this woman Cindy, and she did the Maui Marathon with TNT, and she might do MCM with me, so I’d have a training buddy. Yay!

Last night was another wedding reception at the pub, this time a crawfish boil. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!!! Oh god, it was so good. And I only have to wait two weeks until the next one, at Kettie’s mom’s house; it’s her wedding shower. And then the following weekend my mom’s having one because my brother/sister-in-law/sister/her boyfriend are all coming to town. Woo hoo! Crawfish out the wazoo!

Job milestone!

Oh my gosh! Very exciting! I got my nameplate on my door! I’m official! Wow! Okay, I’m a dork. I get excited about these things. But I’ve never had a nameplate on a door!

04/04/03

yay! am going to DC tomorrow! And my boss is letting me leave at 3 so I don’t miss my plane. Yay yay yay!

Worked out today with Terry. I sweated a lot. Ran 2.6 miles on the treadmill. I think I’ll be able to break my PR (36:11) in my next 5K, on the 12th. Am excited to see.

Last night went to dinner at Ross & Raul’s. Was very yummy, yet spicy. Delish.

04/03/03

Yesterday was April Fool’s Day. Fortunately, I was on alert at all times, and nothing happened to me. Have to be very careful, especially around George. I figured this would be his favorite holiday of all. Hmmm. I inadvertently played a trick on him, though. Laurie offered me free Mamma Mia tickets (the ABBA musical) and when I told George about it, he thought I was playing a sick joke on him. Ha ha. I ended up giving them to Ross and Raul, they were very very happy and grateful. I hope they had a good time. They’re having us over for dinner tonight. Yum. Still have to pack, though. And clean. And dye my hair. So much to do, so little time!

Watched Requiem for a Dream at Robert & Terry’s house on Sunday. Evil movie. Had to keep my eyes shut for most of the second half of the movie. Well, okay, shouldn’t blame the film, is the fault of my own wussiness.

02/05/03

Oh, haven’t posted in a while. Not much to say. Today is my first day off since my root canal last Tuesday. Unfortunately, I can’t just laze around all day and enjoy it. I have an interview this morning, then I have to run 7 miles, then I’m meeting Sarah for lunch. Hmm, I think I made all that sound bad. I’m very glad I’ve got a job interview this morning, I’m looking forward to the run, and I can’t wait for lunch. I haven’t seen Sarah in so long, and we have lots to catch up on. I’m really looking forward to that most of all. But then I have to clean my house because my mom’s coming to stay with me tomorrow night. I’m also excited about that, but not about the cleaning part. Who would be?

I also had another interview last week, for a job I really want. I hope I get it. But we’ll see. The interview today, who knows, maybe that will pan out.

12/09/02

Yay! George is home. Has been for a week. As usual, neglectful of my blog. Was a very nice reunion, no making out at the airport, not to worry. There was some couple going at it right in front of the entire arrivals area. Niiiiice.

Tooth isn’t hurting anymore. Think it was a sinus infection. Yay. Have to go to dentist again on Wednesday, just to be sure.

Got lots of nice presents from George from London. Underground socks, Coldplay CDs, book, pens, pub sign, underground sign, yay yay yay! We went and saw Harry Potter last night. Was good second time around. George liked it. Work is crazy right now. Well, actually, kind of dull. We aren’t allowed to do any projects, just help people, but they have so many people working that it’s never very busy. Hmm. And I have this weekend off, for the Celebration in the Oaks 2 mile run. So maybe the following weekend will be bad, but whatever.

12/01/02

George is coming home today! Yay!

Wednesday night was fun. Girls night at the Chimes with Kristie, Tatum, and Amanda, plus Tim, who counts as a girl, I guess. Oh yeah, but went to the dentist Wednesday and he told me I might need a root canal. The upside is root canals are now really cheap because I have dental insurance. However, a root canal is a root canal. Still time-consuming and expensive. But now I’m not sure what I have is a toothache at all. Yesterday it migrated to the right side of my head and so now I think it’s a sinus infection. Hmmm. Anyhooooo…

Friedman’s in town, we went out Thursday night when I got back into town. Toothache nearly ruined evening, but was fun anyway. We went to a bar we’d never been to, the Bridge Lounge. Nice place. Worked on Friday and Saturday, was pretty boring. Thought the store would be packed the days after Thanksgiving, but not so. Hmmm.

Anyway, just excited that George is coming home today. Woo hoo!!!

Oh yeah, and got a letter from my oldest friend Paula with pictures of her kids. Ack! Paula, if you’re reading this, Cole and Caitlin are the cutest children ever, and they really need to get to know their Aunt Pam. 🙂

11/27/02

George comes home in four days! Four days! Four days! Yay! And I’m going to see Anne tomorrow! And maybe Kristie today and Ann Tatum today and so yay, I have lots to keep me busy until Sunday when George comes home! Yay!

Today I have to go to the dentist, though. I have a terrible toothache. This is always a bad thing, because when Pam has a toothache, it’s usually not just filling a cavity. It’s usually an expensive, painful, and time-consuming root canal. Sigh. At least I have dental insurance now, that’ll pay for some of it.

10/27/02

Oooh, great race yesterday. Race for the Cure in Baton Rouge. George and I drove to BR Friday night (in his car, had to return my rental, because they’re actually going to put a new engine in my car! How stupid is that?) and ate at, appropriately enough, George’s when we got to BR. The next morning, my mom, Chris, George and I went downtown for the race. It was raining. We got there late, I didn’t get to pee before the race (sorry, but I have a small bladder!) so I was mad when it started. They had some news anchor saying a prayer at the beginning that had “Lord Jesus” or “Lord God” every other word. It was a bit much. So anyway, the race itself was pretty uneventful. There were some hills, so I walked the uphill parts, but not too much, and strangely enough, I actually finished in 36:23, which is only 12 seconds off my previous PR! I couldn’t believe it! So now I’m determined to run more, and Chris and I are going to do the Mardi Gras half marathon. Of course, this time, he doesn’t have to stay with me the whole time!

10/23/02

Looks like my car needs a new engine. Sheesh. May be driving a new (to me) car by next week. Perhaps a Hyundai. Hmm. Boooring.

Haven’t heard any good news about jobs lately. Hmmph. Am applying for a promotion at B&N, but don’t hold out much hope. Apparently, everyone in the department is applying for it, and I’m the newest one there. So it doesn’t look good. But if I did get it, I’d at least make sort of enough money to last for a little while. Perhaps even enough to give cheap Christmas presents to my nearest and dearest. I hope.

10/19/02

Oh, okay, I should be more positive. I mean, besides the job thing (oh, and the car thing) life is good. Well, my rental car got taken from me on Wednesday, so George has let me use his car, or he’s been driving me wherever, which is nice, but I feel bad. Today I get the rental car back for another week. The car place said they were going to start working on it on Monday (what, only 3 1/2 weeks after I brought it? Greeeeaaaat!) but my mom doesn’t think they’re going to fix it, that they’re going to total it, so I may have to look for another car soon, blah blah blah.

But on Wednesday night, George took me to a restaurant on some bayou, pretty cool. Didn’t see any alligators, though.

10/19/02

blech. I’m really getting sick of these people telling me they’re going to call me, then never calling me. How professional is that? If I wasn’t so desperate (after two overdraft fees of $28 in two days) I’d say I’d never work for those companies. But let’s face it, I’d do anything now, just to stay afloat. And what’s worse, they’re cutting my shifts at Barnes & Noble, so I only have four next week. It’s all so discouraging and depressing. Tonight’s Teresa’s birthday dinner, but I can’t even afford to eat, much less have drinks afterwards. But I’ll figure something out. It’s just so depressing. But at least I’ll get to see friends I haven’t seen in a while tonight. I’m excited about that.