06/09/03

I feel like I was really lazy this weekend, but I did do my prescribed workout, so I guess I shouldn’t worry about it. The only run I did was early Saturday morning, and I’m not working out again until this afternoon, so it makes sense that I’d feel like I’ve hardly worked out at all.

I got up bright ‘n’ early Saturday morning and drove to Audubon Park. It was already hot and humid. This is what I hate about running in the morning – the humidity. You can barely breathe, the air’s so thick. I like it better in the evening, when it may be hotter, but the air is less muggy.

So I got to the park, noticed some people standing around, among them two women I knew as the running coach (Patience) and the TNT person Jennifer. A few other people ended up in the group, another woman running the MCM, and some other women (all females, hmmm) walking the Bermuda Marathon. Apparently there are only six or eight people from New Orleans doing the MCM.

The schedule called for 2-4 miles, I figured since I’ve been running for a while, I’d do 4. But no one else was doing four, so I only did two. I did, at least, run the entire path of the park, but whatever. It was definitely easier to run on the paved path of the park rather than the dirt and gravel of the levee. I think I’ll be going to Audubon Park more often this summer, after work. After the run, we ate bagels and chatted. Everyone seemed nice.

Spent the rest of Saturday relaxing and napping. Saturday night, we went to Polly & Colin’s and ate dinner and watched a boxing match. It was actually a lot more entertaining than I’d anticipated. Had a really good time. Nick & Annie were there too, which is always a treat since I hardly ever see them.

On Sunday George and I went to see Finding Nemo. I loved it. And then spent the rest of the day relaxing, napping, reading. I got the new Bill Bryson book in the mail on Friday, so I read most of it this weekend. Boy, I know more a lot more about the history of the earth than I did before this weekend!

06/06/03

Didn’t work out yesterday; went by Sarah’s office to pick up a big load of stuff left over from UKtoYou to use at the silent auction. Score! Lots of great stuff, should make tons of money. (Plus, as a bonus, it’s all British-themed, and the event is at the pub…perfect!)

Terry and I are going to work out tonight, then tomorrow’s the group run. Woo!

06/05/03

Thirty five minutes of cross-training yesterday, pretty much as prescribed. I walked on the treadmill, with inclines, and read the InStyle Makeover issue. Fun! That’s what I like about walking on the treadmill, as opposed to running. You can read!

Didn’t get any checks yesterday. Was very sad. Well, it was bound to happen….But I did find out that they listed my fundraising night in the calendar of the AP paper, so I’m hoping that people will put it on their fridge…then see it…and go! And spend lots of money! And bid on things! And tip a lot!

06/04/03

Went to gym yesterday, ran 2 miles. Was hard! Not sure why. Used my new mp3 player for the first time. Love it! Great song to run to – Bittersweet Symphony by the Verve. (Also – Bad Bad Leroy Brown is great.)

Got another $140 in donations yesterday. Am nearly 25% there!

06/03/03

Didn’t work out again yesterday. Ack! I’m going to turn even more into mush, especially considering how much I’ve eaten and how little exercise I’ve gotten in the last week and a half. I am a big blob. Oh well, I’m definitely going to the gym tonight, no question, so hopefully I’ll feel better after that. And I’m going to go to the grocery store, stock up on salad stuff, sandwich stuff, etc. So I’ll be back on track within the next couple of days. I’ve missed two days already of my official marathon training, but today’s scheduled to be an off day, so I’ll do the two miles scheduled for Sunday today and tomorrow I’ll do 45 minutes of cardio instead of the 30 minutes scheduled for yesterday and tomorrow. So really, by then, I’ll only be 15 minutes of cardio behind.

Fundraising has been going very well. Lunchtime is exciting every day now, because I go to the post office to check my PO box. I’ve been averaging over $100 a day. Now, if that can only continue for the next month, I’ll be set! Yeah, right… I did get a very pleasant surprise yesterday. I had put a letter and sponsorship form in with my rent check, thinking maybe…and I got home yesterday and there was the return envelope from my landlord with a $75 check! Amazing! Yay! So I have about 20% done. I’m encouraged by that, but still, I have $2800 to go…that’s a lot of money…still early days, yet, must be patient.

I have so much to do, to catch up on, I’m a bit stressed about all that. Laundry, grocery shopping, clean my house, and most importantly, finish knitting a blanket I must have completed in the next few days. Plus working out, spending time with my cat who is not happy with me for leaving her so much, and hanging out with George. Well, at least I can hang out with him while I’m doing laundry at his house. 🙂

06/02/03

Oh my gosh, what a tiring weekend. Had a lot of fun, but I’m very glad it’s over.

I left work on Friday at 4, drove to Baton Rouge, met George at my mom’s house, got dressed, drove downtown for Ann Tatum’s wedding. Met up with Kristie and Amanda at the church. Nice wedding, Ann looked beautiful, naturally. Kept thinking “but they’re already married!” Ann and Jay got married last June before Jay was shipped off to Afghanistan. But it was only a civil ceremony and only Jay’s parents were there. So it’s not like I don’t know why they had another wedding, but it was kind of funny. Reception was very pretty, she had cheesecake and chocolate cake for the wedding cakes. Amen!

After the wedding, George went back to New Orleans, I went to sleep at my mom’s house. Woke up at 4:45 a.m., left for Dallas by 6. Drove, drove, drove, drove, got to the airport to pick up Kristina just in time. It was actually kind of amazing that my seven and a half hour drive was timed exactly right. So then Kristina and I went to the hotel, checked in, ate lunch. Then we changed into our bathing suits, went down to the pool and practiced our sychronized swimming routine. I must say, we just picked it right back up, the routine we made up three years ago to the tune of “Oops I did it again.” Ren and Gary came and hung out by the pool for a bit.

After that, we took naps, and got dressed. Went to church for wedding. Was really nice, Mark (Kelly’s, um, husband)’s dad married them. Kettie looked beautiful. Radiant. Didn’t stop smiling, ever. (Not a big surprise.) Went to reception. It was in a rustic cabin overlooking White Rock Lake. It was so beautiful and personal. White twinkly lights, candles, pictures of Kettie and Mark on every table (from when they were little until now), lots of fresh flowers. There was a screened in wrap around porch overlooking the lake. Very nice. Open bar. Yummy food. Almost everyone there that I knew was from LSMSA. Kristina was a bit irritated. But how many times did I have to sit in a group and be the only person who wasn’t a law student? Too many times to count.

Sunday morning, Kristina and I went and ate breakfast (ugh…too much) and then I dropped her off at the airport. Made the drive home. In a daze. I got stuck in traffic for half an hour in the middle of nowhere Texas. Ugh. It was hot. My car was overheating. Misery. No reason for the traffic jam, either, from what I could see. Very irritating.

Glad to be home. I’m not going anywhere for a long time! This week is when I start my official training for the marathon. I was supposed to run 2 miles yesterday, but obviously that didn’t happen, so I’ll have to use one of my off days this week to make up for it.

05/29/03

Didn’t work out yesterday. George and I went to see the new Matrix movie instead. Woah. It made my head hurt. In a good way, I guess. I only had to close my eyes during one scene (when they were fighting with swords – don’t like blood, especially inflicted by sharp-object-wounds. Blech.)

Today I got another $100 in checks and two donations – a tour for 10 people of Mardi Gras World and also 2 passes to a Haunted History Tour of the French Quarter. Cool. Yay! This is getting really exciting! And now I’ve actually hit 10% of my monetary goal! Woo!

05/28/03

Update: Just checked my new PO Box – had three checks in it! My first mail in my PO Box! Yay! $95 more! So that means just $3150 more to go…

05/28/03

Terry and I ran outside yesterday because it was so beautiful outside. Well, it was kind of overcast, but it was cool! Probably in the high 70s, low 80s. It won’t be like this for much longer, so we thought we’d take advantage of it. We ran on the track at the base, which was cool for me because I’d never run on a proper 1/4 mile track before. I knew it would be more difficult to run outside after running on a treadmill for so long, and boy, was it. I could barely run 1.5 miles without needing to walk. Sheesh. So I’ll definitely be doing some more running outside. All long runs – outside, for sure.

I think I’ll probably be going to Dallas without George this weekend. I emailed Kristie to see if she wanted to go with me. We used to go on all sorts of road trips in college. Austin, Houston, the beach…this could be our last chance for a girly road trip for a long time! But even if she doesn’t or can’t go, it’ll be good to have some thinking time. Plus, George got the Hobbit on CD for his birthday, and I could finally “read” it. (Because I know I’ll probably never read it otherwise.)

05/27/03

Love holiday weekends. Particularly when you get a day off after driving for ten hours in the previous two days.

Reunion was great. It was so good to see everyone. I only wish more people could have made it. So many people look exactly the same, which is great because it certainly lessened the possibility of “who the hell are you?” and a surrepticious glance at the name tag. (Not that it didn’t happen once or twice, but I won’t name any names.)

George and I left right at 3:30, and made it out of New Orleans without hitting too much traffic. And then we got to Baton Rouge. The interstate goes through the city in about ten or twelve miles. So on a day with no traffic, you can drive through it in less than fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, we hit it right at Memorial Day Weekend Rush Hour Traffic (TM). Took us two hours. I had to pee the whole time. George, while admirably patient through most of it, nearly lost it when we had about two miles (and twenty minutes) left. The rest of the trip zoomed by and we made it to Natchitoches by 9. Went straight to the Ramada and saw Maura, Ann, Kettie, Bill, Erik, Betsy, Allison, etc, etc. It was so great. I am so glad we were able to go up on Friday. Drank a few beers, chatted with everyone, and went back to The Best Bed & Breakfast in the World (TM). Okay, I guess that isn’t fair to all of the other B&B’s on Earth, especially considering this is the first one I’ve stayed in. But it was so nice. Antique furniture, our own bathroom, our own deck overlooking the beautiful backyard, a little bottle of wine, and the next morning, a delicious breakfast. It was just so cool. I want to go back!

Saturday morning, we got up and ate breakfast with Kettie, Maura, Donald, and two other couples. Then we sat in the upstairs parlor and watched the Senior Class Video. Poor George. After that, we walked around downtown, went in the shops and then stopped for a beer (George’s request) at a rather nice pubby-type bar. Very nice for Natchitoches. Then we went to Lasyone’s for meat pies. Yummmmm.

Went back to the hotel, met up with some people, then went to the high school building for a class picture and a little reception. Was cool to see the building again. On the way back (in Rebecca’s jeep) we stopped at Maggio’s for a daiquiri and then went back to the hotel to hang out by the pool with everyone. After a while, everyone went in to get ready for dinner.

Dinner was at the Landing. Food was not very exciting, but whatever. It was a lot of fun. Talked to more people, handed out sponsor forms (as if I’d let this opportunity pass me by) and collected $80. Not bad! Everyone went to the pubby-type bar after that until we were too tired to stay out any more.

Went back to hotel. I tried to meet up with people to hang out some more, but didn’t have much luck, so I went to sleep. Sunday morning was the breakfast at Merci Beaucoup. Fun again. Yummy food again.

I guess the whole weekend doesn’t sound very exciting, but it really was a lot of fun. Who knows when I’ll see some of these people again? Hopefully sooner than ten years. Oh, and pictures of the reunion are here.

I just relaxed yesterday. Terry and I went to see Bruce Almighty. Was funny. Bought wedding presents for Ann and Kettie. Read and watched TV for the rest of the day.

05/23/03

Brief workout last night. One last chance to lose 40 pounds before my 10 year reunion. Ha! Didn’t work. Not after a mile on the treadmill, 10 minutes on the bike (while reading InStyle) and 15 minutes of strength training. Ah well, I did what I could…

Am very excited, couldn’t sleep last night.

05/22/03

Last night Terry and Ross and Raul and I went shopping instead of working out. Well, I needed a shirt for the reunion… They convinced me to buy a shirt I’d never have bought on my own, hmmmm. My god, I think I’m turning into an airhead. I really am intelligent, sheesh. All I talk about here is working out and shopping. I suppose this isn’t really the forum for deep thoughts, anyway. Plus, I think my brain is turning to mush. I need to pick up a non-fiction book soon. A biography. A historical biography. A very serious historical biography. Political would be best. Or maybe I should brush up on my calculus. Or physics. Maybe some of the people at the reunion will rub off on me. The doctors, scientists, and lawyers.

Okay, so onto a less happy subject…today is the fifth anniversary of my father’s death. Funny that it was on the eve of my five year high school reunion. Obviously didn’t make that one. I really miss him still. It surprises me that I still dream about him, I still cry sometimes, I still can’t really believe that I’ll never see him again. Sigh. It’s really going to suck when I get married. Talk about rubbing it in. No dad to walk me down the aisle, no dad to dance with. I’ll have to borrow an uncle.