Two down…

I did it! I did it! Marathon #2!

Final time: 5:49:33. Not the improvement I had hoped, but better than London, at least.

Will be writing up full race report later. After I have some beers to celebrate…

10/23/03

Ok, well, he apologized. And today I’m supposed to be able to go pick up cash. Including the NSF fee. So at least that’s something. But I’m still mad.

Now on to happier things…leaving today for DC! Ack! Had dinner last night with Peggy and Emily, which was really fun. I do love those girls. (Can I call Peggy a girl, even though she’s two decades older than me? Of course!) On Tuesday night we had dinner with Lindsay and Colin and Vince at Jacque-Imo’s. Awwww, crap, that place is so so so good! On top of the soup, salad, and entree (and corn muffins), the waiter brought us three desserts to “share”. But Colin was very protective of his white chocolate bread pudding, Vince of his banana cream pie and I of the vanilla bean creme brulee. Beware anyone who tries to invade its sugary caramalized crust with their spoon! It will be mine! All mine!! Ah ah ha ha ha (um, pirate laugh.) Fortunately for them, George and Lindsay didn’t really want any dessert. Suckers!!!

Poor George thought he lost his cell phone at the restaurant or at the bar we went to afterwards. Alas, it was actually in the washing machine. After the cycle had run. Silly boy.

10/22/03

I am so angry I could scream. Stupid me, stupid me, stupid me. I cannot believe I trusted that man for one minute. The man, of course (OF COURSE) is my ex-boss at GPA. The one I was doing freelance work for. The one who wrote me a bad check that leaves me now, $250 in the hole. This is exactly what I need right now, right before I leave for DC. I really am amazed at his balls. But I am more angry that I trusted him.

Okay, if anyone from GPA is reading this GET OUT NOW!

Six days until the marathon

Six days until the marathon…

Was supposed to run 10 miles this weekend. My ankle is bothering me. This is not good. So I ran 2, went to gym, cycled 10, walked 1.5. At least I got the blood flowing. Yeesh. Talked to Ren, though. She got us some kind of anti-inflammatory medicine from her stepdad that should at least get us through the marathon. (Her knee is her problem.) Well, it’s not a terrible pain, just a niggling ache. But 26 miles of a niggling ache isn’t fun. Whatever.

The best part of the weekend, though, was that Kristie came in. We went to our old college friend Marcie’s wedding. I wasn’t really invited, but Kristie took me as her date. It was okay. I only knew Kristie and Anne and Herpreet, another old college friend, but it was basically a high school reunion for most of the guests. I did not go to high school with them, so you can imagine how fun it was. But the food was good, and it was nice to see people I haven’t seen in a while. Harry Anderson, of Night Court fame, was supposed to be there, he’s married to one of Marcie’s friends. (Yes, he married a hot young twenty-something.) But he didn’t show. Dang!

After the wedding, Kristie and I hung out at the pub, reminisced, that sort of thing. Yesterday I cleaned the house a bit. Just enough so that when I get back I’m not depressed by my messy house.

Tomorrow night is dinner at Jacque-Imo’s with the pub gang and Vince (yay!), as long as I can reschedule my dinner with Peggy and Emily for Wednesday night.

Before I go to work today, I need to call a guy named Squirrel who hangs out at the pub to fix my breaks. Don’t you just love his name? I’m sure it’s not the one his mom gave him, though.

10/16/03

I feel kind of like a fraud while training for this marathon. I haven’t been keeping up with my midweek runs, so while I’m in my “taper” now, I’m not running any less (or more) than I was three or four weeks ago. I don’t feel like my lack of midweek runs has hindered my long weekend runs (but then, how would I know, really? Perhaps I could be doing so much better?) so I don’t feel all that bad about them, but still. My left leg was really bothering me this morning while I tried to run on the treadmill. I had to give up and end up doing elliptical trainer work instead. It has hurt, though, at the beginning of my long runs, and I do get over it, so I’m not that concerned about race day, I just don’t want it to get worse.

Can’t believe it’s Thursday already. This week has gone by fast. Monday I’ll be full-time! Parking in the employee lot…a badge…health insurance beginning Dec 1…accruing vacation time (three hours every two weeks – that means 2 weeks of vacation a year! Woo!) and all the other good stuff that goes along with full-time permanent employment. Yay!

Am a bit stressed about this weekend. So much I want to do, so much I need to do…Friends I want to see, friends I won’t be able to see…ugh. I hate this. So I’ve made an executive decision to follow the following schedule this weekend:

Friday evening…hang out at pub, see Vince (who I haven’t seen in well over a year and is in town for only a week.)

Saturday morning…run 10-12 miles at Lafreniere Park

Saturday afternoon…clean my house! Do laundry! Whatever!

Saturday night…hang out with Kristie. She’s going to a wedding Saturday afternoon in N.O., I hardly ever get to see her, since she lives in Boston.

Sunday…what…ev….errrrr

Could run on Sunday morning instead, and see Polly play soccer, but I’d rather get it over with on Saturday and really enjoy myself Saturday night with Kristie. Yes, that sounds good. Because next week is going to be too crazy to get much done, I have to do it this weekend. Tuesday night I’m having dinner with Peggy & Emily; Wednesday night Dawn is coming home and I want to say hi and bye before I go to bed early because; Thursday I’m working at 7:30 am until 1, so I can leave to catch a flight at 3:50. Whew!

Training – long run

Long run was yesterday. Went really well. Met Peggy and Denise (the other girl doing MCM with TNT, but we never run with her because she’s faster) at Lakeside Mall at 5:15 a.m., then Peggy drove us across the Causeway to the Tammany Trace trailhead in Mandeville. It was pitch black when we got there shortly after 6. We got started, and not long after, it got light. It was foggy and misty, kind of cool but overcast, great running weather. Of course, cooler would have been nice, but alas.

We decided to do 10 miles out and back, and Chris was going to rollerblade out to us. He ended up catching up with us about 9 miles out, with much needed water. There’s a trailhead with bathrooms and a market about 5 miles out, but that’s the only place to stop and refill water bottles, so it was a good thing he met us when he did. He rollerbladed alongside us for a while and then headed back to the car for us to pick up GUs and more water. All in all, he did about 30 miles – what a friend!

Things got tough for Peggy and Denise (pains in calf and knee, respectively) at about 15 miles, and I ran with Chris rollerblading alongside me the rest of the way. I managed to keep up 6/1 and 5/1 pretty much the whole way. Peggy and Denise finished about 15 minutes after me. I had an exactly even split, the ten miles out and the ten miles back each took 2:25. Not the greatest time, but there were some stops in there. So I’m fine with it. We decided to try to hang out with the Galloway pacing group for a 5:30 finish at the marathon. They do 5/1 run/walk ratio, which I think we can handle. We’ll see.

We were late getting back to New Orleans, and Anne Comarda’s wedding started at 2, in Lafitte (which is about 35 minutes from my house) so I had exactly 15 minutes to shower my salt and sweat encrusted body, change, fix my hair, etc. Managed to do it! Yeah! Put my makeup on in the car (George drove) and made it there at 2:01 or something. Fortunately, the wedding didn’t start until 2:15 or so, so there was no embarrassing late entry (like when Ren and I got to our friend Nicole’s wedding, and she was about to walk down the aisle). Anne and Bill were there, thank goodness, as they were the only people we knew there (except for the bride, of course.)

Lovely wedding, very them, reminded me a lot of Nick and Annie’s wedding. I know I must have talked about the Piepers incessantly, probably sound obsessed. (I’m not!) Anne and Jay (not to be confused with Ann and Jay, whose wedding I went to in Baton Rouge in May. Same wedding planner, even.) sailed off on a sailboat from the B&B’s dock, while guests waved hankies and the band played. Lovely.

Anne and Bill came to the pub afterwards, Bill made friends with Colin (they bonded over baseball) and then Anne, Bill, and I went to the east bank. We were going to go meet the wedding people out, but we were all so tired (A & B had got in from the night before at about the same time I was waking up) that we just ate dinner and went our separate ways. At least I’ll see them again in two weeks!

I feel pretty decent today. A bit sore, naturally, but I had frozen a bunch of small water bottles and brought them to the Trace. By the time we had finished, they were somewhat thawed, so I poured the ice-cold water over my legs. Ahh, bliss! I think that had a lot to do with how I felt yesterday (fine) and today.

This week I figure I’ll do a few short runs, and 10-12 next weekend. Taper time! Yeah!

10/09/03

Work has been very busy, don’t feel like getting on a computer at home. Hence the lack of postings since whenever it was that I posted last. Sunday, maybe? Monday, perhaps?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my lame blogs. Or rather, how much duller my blogs have been since I started blogging. Maybe I just had more time on my hands at work (that is definitely true) and I used to have tons of time to write whatever popped into my head.

Well, whatever. Had a lovely yummy breakfast with Anne yesterday at IHOP. Oh, I can still taste the delectable stuffed crepes. Yum, yum, yum. Scrambled eggs, mixed with bacon, rolled into a soft crepe, topped with melted cheddar cheese. Woah. And I don’t have any ties to IHOP, either. I was sad that they didn’t have the pumpkin pancakes, the main reason we went there for breakfast, but as much as I love pumpkin, I don’t regret at all having to order those crepes. Holy cow. At least when we’re in DC we’ll get to have the pumpkin pancakes.

Today I picked up my first check for freelance work from GPA. Deposited it already, let’s hope it doesn’t bounce. I saw Tariq and Betty, two of the sales people that still work there. They were practically salivating at the thought of working for a large, stable corporation, where your paychecks don’t bounce, where you actually have health insurance (instead of just being told you have it), etc, etc.

Anyway, much to do, much to do…

Zzzzz…

Am sleepy. Verrry sleeepy.

Spent Friday evening at Terry’s house, watching TV. Cable! Yeah! Got up at 5:30 on Saturday morning for my long run. 18 miles. Got to the park, where several buses were disgorging groups of runners with numbers. But oddly, there were no cars. It was pitch-black outside. It was surreal, but I found out a little while later that it was a private race for a bunch of convention attendees.

Got through my 18 miles in just under 4 hours, including stops to stretch (my knee, worryingly, really hurt at the beginning, but I guess I either stretched the pain away or, more likely, slaughtered it with several Advil. Several times.) Am happy with the time, at this rate, I won’t have any problem beating my London time.

The temperature, unfortunately, has warmed back up, so even though my run started off in cool weather, it ended up in full sun. To be fair, though, it wasn’t quite as hot as usual.

After the run, I went shopping with Terry and her friends (and George’s neighbors) Jen and Drew. Fun, but exhausting. Got some new sheets for very cheap. Yay! Love new sheets!

After that, I was able to rest for a few minutes before we went to dinner with Nick and Annie in Lafitte. Yummy dinner, great company, went to the pub afterwards, overall great night even though I drank too many beers and was absolutely exhausted. I don’t know how I’m going to make it through next Saturday. Set off the alarm at George’s house afterwards. Oops!

This afternoon, George and I rode our bikes (!!! George rode his bike!!!! it was sunny!!!!) to the Gretna Heritage Fest, about 5 miles away. Ate ice cream, listened to bands, walked around, rode the Spider. Felt nauseous. I’m getting old. I used to love those rides!

Am now very very tired. Must go to sleeeeeep.

Shooot. Just reread a bit of my London Marathon training journal, and I have clearly gotten very lazy when it comes to writing in my blog. Dang, I wrote much more interesting things before! Must…try…to…get…more…interesting…

10/03/03

Dang, I just realized I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been so busy at work that the last thing I want to do is get on the computer when I get home. And I have to anyway to do the freelance work I’m doing for GPA.

Haven’t done a whole heck of a lot this week. Went to the gym twice with Terry. Ran 2.4 miles in 27 minutes this morning. woo! I really wanted to test my 5K time this weekend at the Race for the Cure, I’m still thinking about it. But it’s $25 that I really don’t have to spend.

That said, I purchased a new pair of running shoes yesterday with my anticipated money from GPA.

18 miles tomorrow, alone. Can’t decide where to go. Will probably end up at Audubon Park on the levee and around. Hmm.

09/29/03

Fun weekend. Friday I had dinner with Larissa (oh wait, I’ve already written about this, it feel familiar typing it) and then went to the pub. And everyone was there, so it was fun. Saturday was a loooong bike ride for Annie and me, involving many adventurous stops. First it was a a Rue coffee shop and a cool antiques store to get out of the rain. Next we made it to Audubon Park without anything bad happening. Rode around twice, saw some cops attending to a truck that had hit a tree. But cars can’t get into the park! How did this happen, we wondered. Never figured it out.

Went to Whole Foods, ate a snack, went to go and found out Annie’s bike had a flat tire. Called Nick, he and George came to fix it. (Well, George watched.) While we were waiting for them to arrive, we browsed around a bookstore and ran into Annie’s friend Lizbet. Very strange because we had hung out the night before, certainly weren’t expecting to see her on Magazine St!

Flat was fixed, Annie and I were off again, this time homeward. A few blocks on, a pop and a clang. This time Annie’s tire had well and truly popped. So we walked her bike to St Charles, where she caught the streetcar and I made my way home. Very brave of me, if I do say so myself.

Was exhausted afterwards. Did nothing but lay around, in preparation for yesterday’s 11 miler. Which went well for Peggy and I, but I am afraid Emily’s knee may prohibit her from doing the marathon. I will be very upset if that is true.

Last night was a football BBQ at the Williams’. Saints lost horrendously, almost humorously. Actually, was humorous to, since I don’t care about football. Especially since Norman Hand was traded.

Annie is coming to interview for a job in my department tomorrow. Yay!

09/27/03

Not a very exciting week, which is why I haven’t posted anything. Went to the gym on Wednesday morning with Terry, ran for a mere 15 minutes so I could do some weight training afterwards. Went to Chevy’s for Emily’s fundraiser Wednesday night, then Thursday was the season premiere of Friends, etc, so I watched that. Friday was slightly more interesting. Our boss took the department to lunch. Yay! Very exciting, even if it was a cheap restaurant. Then went to meet Larissa and her friend Shannon for dinner so we could discuss marathon stuff. They’re training with TNT for the Mardi Gras Marathon. And then to the pub for a bit.

Today I’m going for a bike ride with Annie and then tomorrow is a 10-12 mile run with Peggy and Emily.

09/23/03

Oof, went to Laurie’s last night after work, she cooked dinner (Pad Thai – yum!) and we finished off a bottle of wine. Plus a bit of another one. Yeah, didn’t feel great this morning, but went to the gym with Terry and felt better afterwards.

Nothing else exciting to report. Ran two miles at the gym this morning.