Tag: running

Ouch.

Just practicing for March 5, the day after the half marathon I just signed up for. I know, it’s not very far off, but I’ve done halfs on less training than this. Not that it’s smart, but whatever. I’m spontaneous, man.

Love this:

Source: facebook.com via Pam on Pinterest

 

One of the reasons I’m most excited to do this* is that George promised he would bring the boys to the finish line. They’ve never done that, and just the thought gets me a little choked up. Even though I’m sure the boys will say things like, “whatcha running for, Mommy?” and “why are you running, Mommy?” and “you are stinky, Mommy!” but that’s okay.

 

*the only one, actually.

Ten year blog-iversary!

Wow. Ten years.

As of today, I have been blogging for ten years. (It also happens to be my dad’s birthday. He’d be 73 this year. Crazy. But not the point.)

I started out back when blogging software wasn’t readily available. Maybe it was, I’m not sure. I just kept everything in HTML files, but I’ve been working on transferring them to WordPress so you can read them in all their glory.

In April 2001, I was 26 years old, overweight, completely out of shape, and smoked a pack a day. I decided it was time for a change.

If you know me, you know I like to do things big. One baby? No way, let’s do three. So I wasn’t going to start by walking, I was going to go right into running. And that’s what I did. Obviously, I wasn’t very fast, nor could I go very far, but it helped. And to keep myself from quitting (like I’d done so many times before), I signed up for the 2002 London Marathon in April of the following year. Sending in the deposit ensured that I had to do it. I roped my friend Chris to doing the marathon with me, as an even greater incentive.

So that’s what I did. I quit smoking, started running, and finished the marathon a year later. Sure, I was passed by a one-legged guy at the end. I never said I was fast!

Who could have guessed that ten years later, I’d still be blogging?

10 years, 2100+ posts, two marathons, a million page views,

7/14/08

Had a pretty good weekend here. Let’s think…

Friday after work we walked down to the pizza place for dinner. I do love pizza.

Saturday afternoon, my friend Erin and I took the boys to run some errands. I think the reason they get crabby sometimes on weekends is they get bored of being at the house. So we went to Babies R Us and Sam’s, and they were so well behaved and in great moods. Oliver was in a particularly charming mood, later determined because he pooped his pants and was happily sitting in it, getting it all over his carseat. Boys.

That night, Dawn and her husband and daughter came by to visit, bringing…pizza. I do love pizza. Never turn it down.

On Sunday, we mostly hung around the house. I went to the gym while the boys were napping, which was awesome. I ran on the treadmill. People, it’s been over a year since I’ve run at all. Of course, I’m sure it wasn’t a pretty sight for the other gym-goers, but whatever. It felt great. I think I’m going to set a goal to run a whole 5K this fall. And faster than I used to do them.

For dinner last night, we walked down to the pizza place. Heh. But on Sundays they do barbecue. So not pizza again. However, my mom and Larry are coming to visit us this afternoon, and guess what we’re going to do for dinner?

Speaking of last night, I let Auntie Steph do something she’s been dying to do, and I promised her she could do first…give the boys a tiny taste of ice cream. Predictably, they loved it, even though it was only vanilla, and not Peanut Butter & Chocolate from Baskin-Robbins.

I think Oliver loved it best, but they all seemed to enjoy it. (Note, they only ate the ice cream part, not the chocolate)

Linus:
Linus

Oliver:
Oliver

Oliver

Miles:
Miles

I do love pizza. But having friends open a pizza place four blocks from my house might not be the greatest weight loss tool ever.

This week is going to be awesome, and go by so fast.

– Mom’s coming tonigh

– Dinner with A & S (quads and triplets moms – you know, the ones from the news) tomorrow night with margaritas, mmmmm!

– Triplet moms group on Wednesday

– Chris is coming in town this week, and Thursday he’s coming to meet the boys and hang out. Yippee!

And then a week from Friday, myself and as-yet-undetermined random triplet are heading to Virginia!

Too much excitment. Now I’ll stop talking and post some pictures I took this weekend…

Linus and Miles:

Miles cocks an eyebrow at me:

Love Oliver’s face (in red) in this. It’s his new expression:

All three:

Feb 26, 2007

Ooof, am sore today! Kettie came in this weekend and we did the Mardi Gras half-marathon yesterday. We did pretty good, I think, considering neither of us really trained for it.

We also went and saw Music and Lyrics on Saturday. I have to see it again, I loved it. And I’m humming the songs, can’t get them out of my head. Ack! Highly recommend it.

Also got some sky-high heels for Kristina’s wedding. Must practice wearing them. They are uber-dreamy, though.

Who watched the Oscars? Chris won the pool this year. Congratulations, Chris! If only I’d voted for the Departed for best picture. Oh well, I went out on a limb with LMS. (And I watched the Departed right before the Oscars came on. Still not sure I would have changed my vote.)

Jenny’s shower is this weekend. I think Miss Emily is going to end up a very well-dressed baby, thanks to Aunt Pam.

Fun stuff!

Do you ever have so much fun, that you’re almost jealous of yourself? Last night I had dinner with my friend Laurie, and it was just so nice. I hardly ever see her because she works full time (at night) and takes care of her son during the day. Yow! Speaking of her son, he is the sweetest pumpkin ever. His birthday party was on Sunday. Much fun was had playing on kid’s gym equipment.

Also had a fun weekend. Did Mary Kay facials on Saturday, and ended up buying the microdermabrasion kit. It’s amazing. Amazing. No kidding, I can’t wait to get my kit so I can have baby-soft and lineless skin.

Had fun with camera, too, but didn’t take as many pictures as I’d have liked to. My battery died at Elliot’s party, so I only got three pictures of the cake before it conked out.

Ran five miles on the treadmill at the gym last night. Hope I can maintain the losses I’ve had for the last few weeks!

Must continue to run lots. Kettie and I are doing the half marathon on the 25th. Eeeps!

11/20/06

Word to the wise:

Don’t do a half marathon on no training. Or, at least wear socks made of wicking material. Not cotton.

And that is all I’m going to say about that.

Had a fun weekend, even including the 13.1 mile death march I voluntarily participated in. Teresa and I went shopping on Saturday and got a ton of cute outfits. And yesterday after the “race” (I came in second-to-last, hurrah!) there was a barbecue at the pub. Which is always fun. And hard to feel guilty about eating after you’ve just burned 2000+ calories.

Lucky George has this week off work. Ah well, at least I don’t have to work on Friday, like some people do. Blech!

November 14, 2006

Fitness Goals. Something I’ve been thinking about. Or not, since I didn’t go to the gym yesterday. (You try running on the treadmill with a huge splinter in your heel! Not easy.)

But, let’s forget the splinter. Today, splinter or no, I will be at the gym on the treadmill. I would say I use the treadmill 90% of the time for my cardio exercise. Some people say they’re boring, but I highly disagree. Elliptical trainers – those are boring. You can only do one thing on them. But with treadmills you can walk or run. You can do hills or flat. You can run a 5K. Personally, since my goals include burning lots and lots of calories, I’ll set the treadmill so that my workout burns, say, 500 calories.

Or maybe I’m training for a race and I need to run 4 miles that day. So I’ll set the treadmill for 4 miles. Or when I was training for the Baltimore half marathon (which of course I didn’t do), I would set a brutal hill program because Baltimore is v hilly (and of course New Orleans is not, so even if I wanted to run outside in August, it wouldn’t do me much good.)

So today, my goal will just be to run. If I can just get this massive chunk of wood out of my foot.

July 11, 2006

Oh wow, this has to be the longest I’ve ever gone without posting. Bad Pam! Sorry about that. Wait, no one reads anymore anyway, so it’s okay. Whew.

Let’s see…Kristina came down for a day and we found her wedding dress. It’s so beautiful. Stunning. Breathtaking. It really is. No exaggeration.

Ren lives here now! Well, Hammond, which is about an hour away, but still…closer than Richmond!

Went to California. Duh. Ellie. There are not words to express Ellie. I adore her beyond all reason. She has the cutest wrist dimple where her chubby arm meets her chubby hand. It kills me. When she giggles, my heart melts. And so on and so forth. As soon as I get my pictures organized, I’ll post some. Because I cannot keep the Ellie all to myself. That would be unfair.

Right now I’m sick. Sinus infection gone awry. Hacking cough. That’s fun.

Working on some wedding albums. Now that really is fun.

Became enamored of a hair straightening iron. Really, it’s magic. I don’t hate my hair so much anymore. At least not on the days I use the iron.

Anne’s bachelorette party is the weekend after next. Can’t wait! Should be fun. Except for the bathing suit part. It’s at the beach in Delaware. My first trip to Delaware! Exciting.

Marathon training has been derailed a bit by illness and travelling. Must get back on track as soon as my lungs are empty of goo. Cross fingers.

6/24/06

Okay, okay, it’s been a while since I’ve updated. It’s a combination of blah and having too much to post. So I’ll make a bunch of short little paragraphs. Yes.

Went to Baton Rouge last weekend. Hung with Dee. That was fun. We ate, we shopped, we drank, we watched movies. What more can you ask for?

Going to California next week! Aaaagh! A week from today Ellie and I will be hanging out. Just Ellie and her favorite aunt. Woo hoo!

Going to San Diego for a few days too, for work. Going to take the train there from LA and then back to LA after the convention. I’ll get about 12 more hours of Ellie time, which is a great bonus.

Also I’m excited about taking a train. It’s a two-story train, too. Fun!

There’s a 5K as part of the convention activities. I want to do it, but I don’t think it’ll work out with my hotel being as far as it is from the convention site. I guess I could go to the sessions all stinky, but I don’t think that would be highly appreciated.

Tomorrow is my second long run of marathon training. Seven miles. Not bad.

Kristina is coming next week! Ren’s moving here next week! Well, Hammond, but it’s closer than Richmond, woo!

Making some focaccia right now. Using my handy-dandy new butcher block to knead the bread on. Got it at IKEA. Love IKEA.

Design site is going well.

Got a haircut last weekend. It’s short. But now it’s ready to grooooow again. Long. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, poor sick kids who need hair.

Okay, that’s about it. Actually, it kind of was an exciting week, with the San Diego trip planning and all.

There, that wasn’t so bad.

6/16/06

Go buy this game. It’s more fun than you’ll know what to do with. Last night we played with Jon and Teresa while we ate pizza and partook in some adult beverages. Such good, wholesome fun!

Going to Baton Rouge this weekend. After I do my six mile “long” run on Saturday morning. I say “long” like so because this is one of the shorter long runs. Can’t wait til it gets back up to 18 mile long runs. That’s loads more fun. Ha ha!

Am finishing up a really fun project for my design site. It’s a wedding save-the-date in the shape/style of airline tickets. I even perforated the boarding pass part so people can, oh, put it on their fridge or something. I’m pretty happy with how they came out. After Anne’s passport save-the-dates, I’m like a destination wedding save the date expert.

Less than two weeks to Ellie time! Eeeeeeep! Yay!

Oops.

Am I crazy?

I just registered for the Baltimore Marathon. October.

Yes. Am crazy.

CCC 10k

Crescent City Classic (10K) was on Saturday. I kicked it’s arse! Woooo!

So I’ve done this race twice before, but it’s always been so hot that I’ve had to walk more than run. Plus, I’ve never done it alone and been able to go at my own pace. So my time has always been around 1:25. Today, I was racing alone, so I was able to go at a pace that was comfortable for me. My goal was just to finish in under 1:25. My secret, don’t tell anyone goal was 1:15, which means 12 minute miles the whole time. I’ve barely been doing 12 minute miles on the treadmill, I thought there was no way I’d be able to do 12 minute miles outside, in the heat.

Guess what my time was? Guess! Guess!

(Just kidding)

1:14:27! Yay!!! I actually maintained 12 minutes miles the whole way! (I kept up a 4:1 run:walk the whole time, so this is an average.)

Here are my splits:
Mile 1: 12:31 – this mile is spent largely running around walkers. I was actually concerned that I did it so fast! I really didn’t expect it to be my slowest mile
Mile 2: 12:01
Mile 3: 12:11
Mile 4: 11:50 (!)
Mile 5: 12:00
Mile 6: 11:39 (!!)
Mile .2: 2:11
Total: 1:14:27! Yay!

Woah. This means I ran negative splits, too! That’s amazing! (When you run the second half faster than the first.) I don’t think I’ve ever done this!

Wooooo!

Easter dinner was a lot of fun. So much good food. Can’t wait for lunch today…leftovers! Yum!