Category: running

Stuff

Ooh, I haven’t been very good about posting much, have I? Sorry about that. I need to have a more exciting life.

So…weekend…it was actually somewhat of a three day weekend for me, as I wasn’t feeling well on Friday and stayed home. But Saturday I was feeling better and Polly and Regan and I went blueberry picking in Mississippi. I probably have a raging case of West Nile now, but it was worth it. We got tons of berries and Polly and I made jam yesterday. I have no clue how I made jam by myself last year, it is very tricky getting extremely hot jars of jam in and out of boiling water without taking off flesh. But we managed it. Haven’t tasted any yet, will probably open a jar tomorrow for my toast. Must remember to buy bread.

Anyway, after berry picking, we went to the outlet mall in Gulfport and bought a few things. I got Ellie a really cute present, but I must keep it a surprise, in case she’s reading.
(Hey, she’s the smartest baby in the world, so it’s possible.) Polly bought some new perfume from the dumbest human on the planet. That was amusing.

And then yesterday I went to my cousin Max’s birthday party and ate way too many cupcakes. Oh, the cupcakes. So good. But it was nice to see most of my family there (aunts and uncles, anyway.)

Tonight I’m going to have dinner with Peggy and Emily, my marathon training friends. I really need to think about training for another one. After the wedding, of course. Hmmm.

+1

Feh. Gained a pound. Oh well. Still, a net loss over the past two weigh ins. And I have a new (secret) number that I will not allow myself to go over any more. It’s .4 lbs over what I am now, so I’m going to have to be extra good this week. And next, and the next, and so on and so forth, etc, ad nauseum.

But I have been working out diligently. Every other day doing weight training and yesterday (fer’instance) I did 50 minutes, thats 3.5 miles (walking and running) on the treadmill. 450 calories burned. Not too shabby. I have a new way of keeping motivated on the treadmill. One song I walk, one song I run. After about halfway through, I change it to one song walk, two songs run. It makes the time go by.

I read in the paper this morning that Paula Radcliffe, the English runner who is really really fast (as in she holds the world records in lots of things) is supposed to do the Crescent City Classic this year. Like me. In 2002 we did our first marathon together in London. Well, okay, I finished almost four hours and 40,000 people after her. But I do feel a bit of a kinship with her. (Writing it down makes it seem retarded, but I can’t help it.) Anyway, now I’m sort of wishing I hadn’t signed up to run the Classic, but instead could be at the end watching her set a new world’s record. Ah well. Maybe I’ll win this time.

aaaagh!

I really hate it when I lose a post. I hate hate hate it. We’re having network troubles at work, so did I do the smart thing and copy and paste it somewhere in case I lost it? No, I did not. So there’s going to be a really quick recap instead.

Friday: babysit cousin Max.

Saturday: went to Regan’s house, she found her ring, we celebrated. A lot.

Sunday: George was sick.

Tonight: Having dinner with Peggy and Emily (marathon training friends)

Wednesday: Dinner with Monica and her mom.

Saturday: Going to visit dress with Monica and Max. Bringing new veil. That’s my excuse.

Maybe later when I’m less irritated with myself for not copying what I’d written, I’ll expand on the weekend. Because there are some good stories in there. Or maybe it’s a blessing. Hmm.

February 28, 2005

Okay, time to post again. Apologies to my many fans.

Though it was a weekend jam-packed with fun, the weather was so gray and overcast that I just can’t look back on it with excessive fondness. Yes, this coming from a woman who wants to live in London. I’d deal with it better there. Yeah.

Anyway, on Friday evening I drove up to Baton Rouge, after catching a show at a local bar by our friend Bill. Everyone in the neighborhood was there, and George’s parents even came. I wish I could’ve stayed longer.

But I had to get to Baton Rouge because on Saturday morning my mom and I did the Race for the Cure there. I was planning on running, but then I decided that I’d rather stick with my mom and walk. It was a nice time to chat with her and catch up on things. And we actually did run a little. I think it was the first time in my whole life that I’ve seen my mom run. Next up – our mother-daughter marathon debut.

Then we went to lunch and shopped and looked at hideous mother-of-the-bride outfits. Always fun. I got two pairs of shoes, some eyeshadow and the free gift from Estee Lauder. Fun.

Back to New Orleans and to the pub to celebrate Lindsay’s 23rd birthday. Only, she never made it. So instead we hung out at the pub, drank far too many martinis and relaxed. A guy my sister used to date was there. Odd.

Sunday was the biweekly (or is it semi-weekly?) trip to Whole Foods. Oh yeah, before that, breakfast at the new cafe in the neighborhood. A new tradition we’re going to start – breakfast with friends on Sundays. Only problem is I can’t not order the cinnamon roll, which is probably a bad idea. But it’s so good.
Hmm.

On Sunday afternoon we went to a farewell party for a friend who is moving to DC (what is with people moving to DC???) where I ate far too much. Again. And then last night I watched the Oscars. Teresa beat the pants off Chris and I in the pool. (Ha ha, take that sentence out of context and it takes on a whole different meaning!)

New PR!

Race this morning – beat my personal best time for the 5K! Previously 33:09, now it’s 32:26, thankyouverymuch. Yay!

Last night we had a yummy steak dinner with Polly and Colin, and then saw The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I liked it a lot, only not as much as the Royal Tenenbaums.

Tomorrow I’m going to see my baby cousin Sara star in her high school production of Oklahoma. I can’t believe she’s 18 and all grown up! And she can sing. She must’ve gotten that from the other side of the family.

LWE!

Well, wouldn’tcha know it. A new Lowest Weight EverTM this morning, but it doesn’t count because it’s not weigh-in day. I wonder why it is that I always weigh a bit less on the day after weigh-in day. Would it help if I changed my weigh-in day to Thursday, or would I then just weigh less on Friday? Hmmm. It doesn’t matter. Anyway, I shouldn’t be weighing myself every day anyway. Bad Pam!

Goal for Saturday: new 5K PR! Let’s go back in the archives to see what my previous best time was…hmmm…(wavy lines a la Scooby Doo and Waynes World…)…ah yes, 33:09 at the Molarthon in November 2003. Oh crap. I thought my PR was 33:36. I suspect the Molarthon course was short, though. Okay, well, still. Must beat 33:09. Surely, if the weather cooperates (60 degrees and overcast? Would that be too much to ask for in January? Probably.) then I’ll be able to beat it. Surely! 10:41 miles, times 3.1. That’s the speed to beat. Holy cow. Okay. Sure.

And finally, to top off this very exciting entry, I found out something pretty cool about my (wedding) dress last night. It is, in fact, a knockoff of a $4000 designer gown! Yeah! I paid a mere fraction of that for my dress, the only difference being the fabric. Mine is silk satin instead of silk mikado, this strange fabric I don’t even like. Score! I clearly have a good eye for high fashion. I say this with a straight face as I wear a wrinkled hand-me-down shirt from Kristina, a black t-shirt I wore yesterday, and some ill-fitting trousers from Old Navy. And some hand-me-down scuffed loafers. What a fashion plate!

January 5, 2005

Forgot to weigh in this morning! Bad Pam. But once I’ve had my coffee and toast, the window of opportunity for weighing oneself has definitely closed. (Coffee is heavy! So is toast! Who knows how that might skew my results?) So tomorrow I will hopefully have some decent news. I have a bad feeling that my body is all of a sudden realizing exactly how much crap I ate over the holidays. (Chocolate? Don’t-mind-if-I-do! Sugar cookies? Why sure! Uncle Greg’s crab and oyster tartlets? Bring ’em on! And that was just Christmas day.) Anyway, if I don’t post a loss tomorrow, it won’t be the end of the world. (That’s Sunday, when I turn 30. Ha ha ONLY KIDDING.)

Last night I had my dance class. Finally I seem to be improving a bit. Or else my teacher is taking pity on me and doing easy stuff. Whatever. I need some new tap shoes, though. Maybe I’ll get some for myself for my birthday. But is that really necessary? Two pairs of tap shoes when I only use them for half a class, once a week? And not even during the summer? I might have to start tapping in the French Quarter for some extra money anyway, so perhaps it would be a wise investment.

Also, Polly and I started running again on Monday. I’m going to be training for the Mardi Gras half-marathon at the end of February. Mardi Gras is only about a month away now! Crazy.

Dec 22, 2004

Okay, fine. My sister is not totally evil. Did you see those comments from yesterday? Didn’t I tell you Paula would remember all that? Yes, because we go waaaay back. To first grade. Amazing, eh? Who else knew me when my obsessive nature began? For it was Paula whose mom took us to our first concert, in the fourth grade. At the tender age of nine, we were kissing the television screen whenever a Julian Lennon video came on. Sigh…what a fox!

Went to Curves yesterday and had my monthly weigh-in and measurement. Lost an inch overall, which I was not expecting due to my holiday Weight Watchers philosophy. (Don’t count the candy, brownies, cookies, cake, etc – just the real food.) I tell ya, it’s been liberating not having to stress so much over the holidays. My goal was just to stay within 4 or 5 pounds of my lowest weight, and that’s been no problem. And I’m actually sort of looking forward to detoxing after New Year’s. (Or my birthday. I’m gonna be thirty, I should be able to eat chocolate for abandon.) But seriously. My teeth will thank me.

Can’t believe Christmas is in four days. Also can’t believe that my Christmas present from George is in the garage and I haven’t peeked! The tremendous amount of willpower that takes on my part amazes me. Surely, if I can complete two marathons, if I can quit smoking, if I can lose weight, I can avoid peeking at my Christmas present! But it’s so hard.

11/16/04

Okay, so I sound like a broken record. Must get back on track. Well, I was doing great this week, until Saturday. 🙂 Okay, that was somewhat extraordinary. And really, I shouldn’t be complaining because I’m only -.5 flex points and today’s my last day. But there was the half bottle of champagne. The drinks purchased for me. And most of all, the IHOP omelette early Sunday morning. Mmm, but that was good. And you only get to have
one first breakfast after you get engaged.

But now, look! I have another goal! Just like I wanted! Excellent. I have approximately one year to lose 25 lbs. Oh wait, that’s not right, is it? When do I have to get a dress? Six months before? So I have about six months to lose 25 lbs? (I think my goal of Feb 18 is a tad unrealistic.) I think I can do 25 lbs in six months if I really work hard and don’t gain a million pounds over the holidays and train for the one or two half marathons I was planning to. I think running a lot is my best plan.

So now I get to come out of the proverbial wedding-planning closet and I can read my Bride’s magazine in front of George without hiding the cover! Now I can tell him when I think of ideas for the reception. It’s all very exciting.

Race

Just got home from a 5K race I did with Polly. 34:03, which is I think 25 seconds slower than my fastest time. Which sucks. I don’t think I could’ve gone that much faster. And it was finally cold during a race. Which was very nice. So all in all, I’m not disappointed, seeing as I haven’t really been training, but it would’ve been nice to have beat my PR. (And the only reason I think I could’ve is because of the weight I’ve lost since I set my PR.)

10/27/04

Okay, so I gained .2 this week. I want to say I’m not really concerned. I should be, probably, but I’m not. I know why I gained .2 and didn’t lose this week.

It started with two Krispy Kremes on Saturday morning and swiftly went downhill from there. Granted, the doughnuts were after a brutally hot 5K race that I ran nearly all of. (Can’t end sentence in preposition. Must figure that one out.) But ten points for two delicious rounds of fried, sweet love don’t offset the mere five activity points I earned for the race. So then it was the waffle cone of ice cream at Six Flags. And then later the half of a large pizza at dinner. I wasn’t that hungry. It’s just that it was sitting in front of me and it was so good. (Did I mention the five beers? At least they were light beers. Don’t laugh.)

Anyway, that was just Saturday. Sunday was Mexican food, Monday was leftovers. And so on and so forth.

But today is a fresh start. This week may be difficult, with dinners out and Halloween on Sunday. But I’m going bowling on Friday night. How many activity points is that? Ha ha.

Will be good this week. I swear.

10/26/04

I have yet more wedding pictures to post, but I’m being lazy. As if anyone (including, possibly, my sister) wants to see yet more pictures of the nuptials of Jenny and Rob. But post I will.

Had a fun weekend. Fun! Saturday morning Polly and I ran in a 5K. It was a teeny tiny 5K, maybe 30 people total. We didn’t even get numbers, it was so teeny. But the upside to teeny races is you get a better chance of finishing with a good-sounding place. (Or you could easily finish last.) Fortunately, I didn’t finish last, but I was the 5th female! That is terribly exciting to someone who is usually the 286th female. Okay, so this time there were maybe 10 or 15 females, but still! It was exciting! I didn’t get a medal or anything because they only gave out one award in each age group and a 27 year old girl (who, Polly and I couldn’t help but notice was wearing a THONG under her MESH RUNNING SHORTS) finished ahead of me. Ah well. I even beat Polly! Miracles do happen. She probably let me, but I don’t care!

So the race ends (and I finish in a miserable time of 37:12 – hey, we’re still having a heat wave, in fact the warmest October on record) and then they have door prizes. And this race had lots of door prizes, and since there were only about 30 participants, Polly and I each got prizes! Yay! I won a $20 gift certificate to an Italian restaurant and Polly won two sets of Halloween potholders and dishtowels. She very generously gave me one set of them. Tee hee. Okay, I came out ahead twice in this race. Sorry, Polly.

Anyway, so later, George and I and Polly and Colin went to Six Flags to use the free tickets Polly and I got at a race we did back in April. It was fun. I ate a massive waffle cone of ice cream. I didn’t ride too many rides because I am a wuss but I didn’t care. The log ride really was fun! And we got really wet! And then we rode another ride and got nauseous! And I didn’t realize George really doesn’t like rides that go upside down, until we were strapped into a ride, whirling around and I wondered aloud when we were going to go upside down. Well, the panic in his voice made me laugh, I’m sorry. So I’m an insensitive girlfriend, but it really was funny. Anyway, we only flipped around once or twice.

Saturday night was pub time and I ate HALF of a pizza. God, I love pizza. Pizza is why I will never get to my goal weight. Sigh. It’s worth it, though. Pizza or being thin? Pizza. I would rather have pizza and be fat. (I know, I know, it doesn’t have to be one or the other.)

Sunday was relaxing. Was going to work in the yard, but it is TOO DAMN HOT and I was worn out from Saturday. Then we went and ate Mexican food (hello, lots more points!) and watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. What a great movie. That reminds me, I have to return it tonight. Damn. I hate Blockbuster.