Laissez les bon temps rouler!

It's official--Marathon #12!

This message is generated as confirmation of your recent registration on Active.com. You have been successfully registered for the following:

Registration: New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon
Purchase Date: 12/07/07
Category: New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon
Event Date: 02/24/08
Name: Shawn Newton

More YouTube goofiness...

Best. Wedding dance. Ever.

Sadly, they busted out some of my best moves...

Have a Happy Happy Happy Happy Chanukah

I'm sorry, but I still laugh at this even all these years later. Thank you, Adam Sandler!




Drink your gin and tonicah, don't smoke marijuanica...

PR Goals

Since one of my running-related goals for 2008 is to PR every distance, I looked up my previous PRs and when I set them. Here's what I'm looking at:

5K 34:26 (2002)
10K 1:10:23 (2006)
12K 1:25:33 (2007)
15K 1:48:37 (2007)
Half 2:59:05 (2003)
Full 5:42:27 (2006)

Let the training and weight loss begin!

St. Pete Times Turkey Trot 10K

This is the race I PRd at last year. It wasn't to be this year :(

It was cool and kind of humid on Thanksgiving morning, and overcast, which was nice. I saw all the usual stuff at this race: a mariachi band, bagpipers, a steel drum duo, a guy quoting scripture at us, tons of turkey hats, several dogs (my favorite was the Rhodesian ridgeback in the Gators shirt,) and a guy in a viking helmet with horns and the whole shot. Can't quite figure that one out, but okay...Oh, and I don't know who they were, but the band playing at mile 5 ROCKED!! I'm going to have to email the RD and let them know how awesome they were. They were singing "Wild Night" as I was running by, and they were fantastic. They got a really loud "wooooo!" out of me and a Rock On hand signal. I got both back from the spectators near them, and a thumbs-up from the girl singer.

I moseyed my way to the finish line in 1:21-ish, which is 11 minutes slower than my PR and about seven minutes slower than my typical 10K time. Here are my excuses: I worked until 11 PM the night before, I hadn't run much since Marine Corps, I've put on a few pounds since last TG, and, uh, I'm lazy ;)

I looked for Slow Twin Bill, but I didn't see him this year. I did see one of the assistant managers at my work. He and his wife and 6-month old baby and in-laws were walking the 1-miler. Baby's First Turkey Trot! So I talked to them for a while before they took off.

So it was a pleasant way to spend the first part of my favorite holiday. I burned off about 1/6 of the calories I had planned to eat, then I gorged on turkey and stuffing (my mom's stuffing ROCKS!) and then I watched the Cowboys spank the Jets. So it was a fabulous day :)

Heaven in a Pie Plate

Okay, so I realize that I've been extremely negligent to my own blog as well as all my bloggie friends. Allow me to apologize yet again. I just lead an incredibly boring life :-D

I also am aware that I owe a race report for Marine Corps Marathon and a spectator report for Linae's Ironman victory weekend. I promise that those will come THIS WEEKEND.

But for now, this is how I spent my late morning/early afternoon:




That's right, it's my Nationally-Renowned apple pie (by nationally-renowned, I mean people in four states know it and love it.) I only make this once a year (twice if someone asks nicely/guilts me into it at Christmastime.) Once a year for the same reason I only make my sugar cookies once a year: not because it's difficult; it's just a huge pain in the ass working with the dough :-P

If anybody wants some, most of you know how to get here ;)

Doing a 10K Turkey Trot in Clearwater tomorrow, so I'll be back and regale you all with the details of that tomorrow! Betcha can't wait!

He's playing my song!

We're country music fans, and a big joke around the house is that Brad Paisley's song "Online" is pretty much my life (sadly.) This song is hysterical. Here's the lyrics, and I've added my own unique circumstances in parentheses:

"Online"--Brad Paisley/Chris DuBois/Kelley Lovelace

I work down at the Pizza Pit (BBB)
And I drive an old Hyundai (I drive an '06 Hyundai)
I still live with my mom and dad
I'm five foot three and overweight (I'm 5'7)
I'm a sci-fi fanatic (no), a mild asthmatic (exercise-induced)
Never been to second base (well, it's been a while...lol)
But there's a whole 'nother me that you need to see
Go check out MySpace (www.myspace.com/shawnchristine)

CHORUS:
'Cause online I'm out in Hollywood
I'm six foot five and I look damn good
I drive a Maserati, I'm a black belt in karate
And I love a good glass of wine
It turns girls on that I'm mysterious
I tell them I don't want nothing serious
'Cause even on a slow day I can have a three-way chat
With two women at one time
I'm so much cooler online, I'm so much cooler online

I get home, I kiss my mom
And she fixes me a snack
I head down to my basement bedroom (no basement)
And fire up my Mac (PC)
In real life, the only time I've ever even been to LA
Is when I got the chance with the marching band
To play tuba in the Rose Parade (No marching band)

But online I live in Malibu
I pose for Calvin Klein, I've been in GQ
I'm single and I'm rich and I've got a set of six-pack abs
That would blow your mind
It turns girls on that I'm mysterious
I tell them I don't want nothing serious
'Cause even on a slow day I can have a three-way chat
With two women at one time
I'm so much cooler online, Yeah I'm cooler online

When you've got my kind of stats it's hard to get a date
Let alone a real girlfriend
But I grow another foot and I lose a bunch of weight
Every time I log in

CHORUS


If you really listen to his songs, the funny ones as well as the serious ones, in my opinion, Brad Paisley is the best songwriter in any genre in the past 20 years. And he's the best damn guitar picker in music today!

Bad Blogger and Bad Blogger Friend...

I haven't been keeping up with either writing OR reading blogs, and I apologize to all of my bloggy friends. I will catch up with you all this week.

As for me not blogging, well, not much has been happening. My toe is healed, and I'm back to training for Marine Corps Marathon. I'm still plugging away in school, going for the so-far elusive 140 wpm jury charge (still working on 120 in literary (my nemesis) and Q&A. Getting close on those two.) Still working at the Hellhole two days a week. And my two favorite managers are leaving, so THAT should make things fun :-P Basically, my life is school, work, run, repeat. But I'll try to check in here at least once a week, just for grins.

Big Sur has been postponed for our group, so I'm going to Mardi Gras Marathon in February in New Orleans with Kay from Winter Garden instead. And then I'm going to run Country Music Marathon in Nashville at the end of April, the same weekend as Big Sur. I'd also like to do a fall 2008 marathon, of course, but I'm not sure which one. My friend Kirsten from Indy, who we met at Kiawah last December, is trying to raise interest in Mount Desert Island Marathon in Bar Harbor, Maine. I must admit, I'm intrigued...Damn, I hate when people put little nigglings of ideas into my head!

Dixie, my semi-evil kitty, is doing very very well. She's fat (sorta) and healthy and currently sleeping on a plastic grocery bag that was laying on my bed. Weirdo.

I'm currently reading Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. I'm enjoying it so far, but I'm not quite a quarter of the way through it. I haven't had a ton of free time to read lately, but I try to get a few pages in every day.

Over my summer break, I became obsessed with The Office. I watched all three seasons in a two-week span of time, so I'm really looking forward to the new season this Thursday. Yeah, I need a life...

I went to Orlando with Linae on Sunday to watch Nancy do the Disney Triathlon. Nancy was fabulous! Took third in her division! Awesome, as always. And I'll be cheering Linae on in just a few weeks in Panama City Beach at Ironman Florida. Which reminds me: I need to pick up some kazoos...

Smooth Move, Ex-Lax

That's what we used to say whenever someone did something particularly clumsy, especially if it resulted in injury. Or, we would say something along the lines of, "Nice landing, Grace," if the clumsy person fell. Let's just say I'm not the most graceful creature on earth, and here is photographic evidence:

I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but the bruise extends about halfway down my foot.

It's kind of a lame story (according to Wilson, tonight's closing manager at the Hellhole, who said I should change it to something more exciting.) As I was getting ready to go to work, I tripped over one of the several baby gates we have in the house to keep the animals contained to whatever rooms they're supposed to be in. I trip over these gates all the time; that's nothing new. However, I caught my pinkie toe just right on this one (I was wearing socks but no shoes.) It hurt so bad, I had to sit down, and then I took my sock off and saw that the toe was cocked way out to the side. THAT'S when I started to cry! I think I freaked out a little--I thought it was broken, and I had never broken a bone before, and I was thinking about that damn marathon coming up in two weeks, and the one after it in October. So my mom helped me tape it up, I called work and told Wilson I'd be a little late, I washed my face, put on a slipper, and went to work.

Just thought I'd share with all of you before I go ice it and then tape it back up ;) I don't think it's broken as I can still move it and bend it like normal. It just hurts like a bitch when I do it. So I'll give it a few days rest and see what happens. Hopefully Tupelo is still in the cards for me.

So that was my excitement for the day...

Ewwwwwww!!!

I was sitting on the couch earlier this afternoon, and my mom, who had been working out in the yard, went to take a shower. She was almost out of the kitchen when I heard, "HOLY SHIT! SNAKE!!" She didn't have her glasses on, so I thought there was some string, or maybe something from one of the trees one of us had tracked in. Nope. Sure as shit, there was a goddamn SNAKE in our dining room! Of course, we're a bunch of sissy-girls, so we're freaking out, saying, "What do we do? What do we do?" Then Mom went across the street to get our neighbor, Jim, who swept it out the front door. That's what I do to the lizards when they get in the house; I don't know *why* I didn't think about doing that with the snake. Panic, probably ;)

So now, we're looking around all the corners before we walk anywhere in the house. Ick.

In other news, my alarm didn't go off this morning for the second day in a row, so I'm guessing I need a new one. So I got up 45 minutes later than I had intended, making my 7 mile run start at 7:45. I did 6 miles instead. I probably could have eked out another mile, but I was starting to feel wiped out and I really didn't care anymore. Tomorrow, I attempt 16. I'm supposed to be at 18, but I got sidetracked by the hotspot I had to let heal. So we'll see how that goes... :-P

I *AM* a runner, dammit!!!

Since I haven't run for almost a week and a half, I have really NOT felt like a runner lately. I came across a list of "You Know You're a Runner When..." entries on a website, and I had to laugh. I'm sure y'all have seen all these before, but I copied down the ones that I identify with:

*You carry a water bottle everywhere
*You can use the words "easy" and "10 miles" in the same sentence
*You return from vacation more exhausted than when you left
*Your shoes have more miles on them than your car does
*Ibuprofen is your recreational drug of choice
*You have hundreds of safety pins scattered around your house
*You can correctly pronounce names like "Khalid Khannouchi" and "Meb Keflezighi"
*You shower about 12 times a week
*You have a watch tan line that never goes away
*You own spandex in more than one color
*You have chafing in strange places (aaaaaaaand how!!)
*You haven't bought new work clothes in two years but you own running shorts by every manufacturer under the sun
*Your heart rate is below 50 and you are not dying
*You try to convince people to run a 5K because it's "only" three miles (guilty...)
*Your watch is more expensive and more complicated than your car

I *WILL* run tomorrow. I have a marathon to prepare for in less than a month.

Cheers!

Geeeeeek....

I stayed up almost all night last night to finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I thought it was an excellent and appropriate way to end the series, and J.K. Rowling answered the questions and mysteries she had set up in the six previous books. Well done, Ms. Rowling!

Decided to take this week off from running due to my most recent Injury of Idiocy. Hopefully I won't lose much fitness. Let's pray to the Running Gods that this thing is healed enough by at *LEAST* next Tuesday. I need as much training as I can get...

I'm halfway through the second of five weeks off from school, and I'm already going insane with boredom. Thankfully I haven't been grazing. I'll probably wind up going to the movies at some point, which I haven't done in forever. I'd like to go bowling, but not sure if I want to go by myself.

I've been watching the Tour de France a lot. I'm not a cyclist and I don't have a favorite rider, but it *is* fascinating nonetheless.

Big plans for tomorrow: Watch a movie from Netflix and a trip to Target! Yeee Haaaaw!

Harry Potter Madness!

Okay, I'm a complete geek, but I'm soooo excited about the new, and final, Harry Potter book. I was going to head over to Borders tonight because it's fun to people-watch during a Potter Party, but it's not so much fun by yourself. You know, no one to make snarky comments to :( So I'll just go to sleep, get up, run my 14 miles, and head to the bookstore tomorrow morning.

Well, that's it for now, Muggles! I'll catch all y'all later on :)

So broke I can't even pay attention...

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. Like my title says, I'm broke. My former car insurance company debited my bank account despite my closing the insurance account, and then took their sweet time refunding the money. And then they only refunded part of it. Moral of the story--never have your insurance taken directly out of your checking account unless you're POSITIVE you're never going to cancel the account. Insurance is a racket, anyway... :-P

However, I got a happy surprise. In August of 2006, I found $50 in front of the service desk at work. I gave it to the manager, per BBB procedure, and he put it in an envelope with my name on it and put it in the safe. He told me if no one claimed it in 30 days, it's mine. Well, I had forgotten about it, and it somehow got stuffed to the back of the safe. Long story short, the closing manager found it Monday night while we were counting the safe, and I have $50 more in my race travel fund! Only 10 months later, but hey--it's better than a stick in the eye! WOOOO HOOOO!

I'm off school for five weeks for summer break. I go back August 21. I haven't touched my steno machine since last Thursday. I am making it a priority to get on it starting tomorrow. I want to pass my 120 wpm tests when I go back. I'm pretty close, but if I don't practice for five weeks, I may as well go back to 100 wpm. <>

Training for Tupelo is not going well. It's so hot and humid out, I don't want to even go out and run. Even at 6 AM, it's about 80* and the air is so thick, it feels like you could cut it. But I gotta do it.

I'm currently reading Evening by Susan Minot. Next up is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I will go pick up from Borders in north Tampa on Saturday morning. Last time a HP book came out, I did the whole go to the bookstore at midnight thing. It was cute, but it would be no fun by myself. They'll hold it until the end of business Saturday, so I'll just get it then. All I can tell you is, if Harry Potter dies, I will be one pissed off girl!

Other than that, not much else is going on. Talk to y'all soon!

AAAAARRRRGH!!!

My fingers are all over the damn place this morning! And it doesn't help that I'm distracted by the guy dictating my online testimony practice. He sounds like a gay Al Gore.

I put a deadline on myself that I **MUST** pass my 120s by summer break, which starts July 14. I'm kinda close, but on days like this I wonder what the hell I was thinking when I got into this.

Rant over. Back at it.

Mississippi!

I'm going to Mississippi! Kay and I are running the Tupelo Marathon on September 2. This will be state (and marathon) #11 for me. Yay!

I am an addict.

Fifth Annual 29th Birthday Run

Saturday, May 26, was my 33rd birthday. Or my fifth annual 29th birthday. It's a joke that kind of took off on my 30th birthday and never died around here :) I always do a run on my birthday, so I decided to take my camera with me, just so my friends who don't live near me can kind of see where I live. I made a birthday mix of songs for my iPod. I went with country music in honor of my redneck Pasco County home ;) Hope y'all enjoy!

Our house. There used to be a big-ass camphor tree in the hole in the middle of the lawn, but it was cracking the driveway, so my folks had it taken out. And we took the shutters off the windows so we can get the hurricane shutters up if need be (let's hope we don't need them...)

My mom, Carol (in the middle) and our neighbors across the street, Jim and Lydia (the Nicest People EVER.) Jim is a retired Army captain from Boston, and Lydia is from Argentina. My mom threatened me physically if this photo of her showed up online. What she don't know...hehehe She was doing yard work. She cleans up good ;)

The 17th green of the Beacon Woods Golf Course, aka, Jim and Lydia's backyard

Our hibiscus

Ain't they purty? They look so tropical...

I'm 97.5% sure these are azaleas...

(Update 6/2: These are actually oleander. Thanks, Linae!)

I was pretty far away from this guy, and the picture got all blurry when I zoomed in. These dudes run amok around the neighborhood.

Hill. It's worse than it looks. We'll call it a bad camera angle. Or we can call me a wuss ;)

I love this little condo area. One of these babies will only set you back $250,000 with an in-ground caged pool. $230,000 without the pool. They're about 1200 square feet. Being a Midwesterner, I find that slightly insane, but whatever...

I'm not sure if these are ibis or egrets. I get the two mixed up. I want to say ibis, because egrets have longer, more 'S'-shaped necks. I think.

(Update 6/2: These *are* ibis. Thanks Ellie!)

Yep, we're in Florida :)

Magnolia. It smells absolutely heavenly around here between the magnolias and the gardenias

Two and a half years and I still have only seen one...

The road leading back to the house

Brown anole, one of several who live in our grill. We have to shake it before we fire it up, the little bastards...

My birthday cake. It was soooooo gooooood. My eyes still roll back when I think of it

My dad was on his way to California for work, so he wasn't able to be here. He called me while I was running and sang a birthday song he made up :) Mom and I went to dinner at a little Mexican restaurant, Estela's. Excellent food. And great margaritas! (I wanted to get a picture of me drinking one, but I forgot my camera, and I have the only cell phone in North America that doesn't have a camera in it.)

Then I had a Will Ferrell movie-thon: "Anchorman," "Old School," and "Talladega Nights." So I worked off some of the calories I had ingested by laughing my fool head off.

So nothing fancy, just a nice, quiet day :)

Random

I'm bored. I don't wanna do anything. I think I may skip out after lunch. Too bad I can't skip out of work tonight. I can't think of anyplace I would like to be less than the Hellhole today. However, if I keep up with the trend of no motivation, I will never complete my program and I will be stuck at the Hellhole for the rest of my life. It's a vicious circle.

Forgot my sunblock yesterday and got a farmer tan (burn) on my arms.

I now have incontrovertible, real-life, actual-experience proof that I am socially retarded when it comes to guys/relationships. My fate as the Crazy Cat Lady is all but sealed.

I'm about ready to start running again. I've had just over a week off completely. It feels wonderful to not have to keep training for yet another marathon. Of course, training for Marine Corps starts in July (when the weather is just lovely in Florida...) but I'll probably have forgotten how friggin' long a marathon actually is by that point ;) Anyway, I'm planning on running Tuesday morning.

Well, that's all I've got in the way of pointless, random thoughts this morning. Except for the ones about Keith Urban, but nobody wants to hear those...

I hope all the moms out there had a great Mother's Day!

And now--I'm out!

Flying Pig Photo Report

Marathon, and state, number 10! I finished in 6:04:03, which I'm pleased with considering I ran three marathons in three months. We had a great time, and it was fun to meet Jo and her Toronto contingent, and Barbara from Boston. And, of course, it was wonderful to see *jeanne* again!

Downtown Cincinnati, taken from a bridge

Courthouse in Covington, Kentucky

Who's your daddy? I was mighty tempted...


Hey, maybe it's Ocho-Cinco (Chad Johnson) in there!

Water stop just past mile 8. Cincinnati Parrothead Club

Mr. Incredible, aka Mark Carlson of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Pete Rose Way. Any 'bets' on whether I'll finish? bwahahaha

Considering it was near mile 26, the odds are very good ;)

Finished! Jo from Toronto, *jeanne*, and me

Statue just past the "Finish Swine"

It's all about the bling, baby! Medal and technical shirt

Four Days Pre Pig

This morning, I went out for an easy three mile run. It was already hot and humid at 8 AM. Aaaaand we're back to the days of having to get your run done by 7 AM to beat the heat. Oh well, it's only for another eight months :-P

Then I did some laundry, mostly stuff I'm taking with me, including my beloved Bermuda shorts. Girls, bring your sunglasses, because I'm unleashing my brite white legs on Cincinnati!! But, being the Midwest, I probably won't even have the whitest legs there, seeing as how mine have been exposed (although properly lubed with SPF 36) for the better part of two-and-a-half years now.

Painted my toenails a bright coraly-red (OPI Cajun Shrimp, thankyouverymuch), because, as PR Goddess Nancy T. told me in Panama City Beach, "Red is fast!" My toenails were papaya-colored in Atlanta, and look what happened to me there. We only THOUGHT it was the lack of water, killer hills, and searing unseasonable heat wave that was responsible for my demise. No, my friends, it was the pretty peach nail polish. So I'm back to red, and all shall be right in my running world again ;)

Tomorrow is packing and a bit of cleaning, maybe another easy short run, and then lots of nothing.

Buh-bye, Flames

Detroit 2, Calgary 1 in double overtime. Detroit wins the series 4-2. And all is right in Hockeyworld again...

Bring on the Sharks. Um, or the Stars. But probably the Sharks.

:-D

Not the bird...

Got this from Una's blog. Guess what finger I *thought* I'd be?? ;)

You Are a Ring Finger

You are romantic, expressive, and hopeful. You see the best in everything. You are very artistic, and you see the world as your canvas. You are also drawn to the written word. Inventive and unique, you are often away in your own inner world. You get along well with: The Pinky Stay away from: The Index Finger

What Finger Are You?

Georgia Marathon Photos--Better Late Than Never

Start in the dark--15,000 bodies crammed in the street

Atlanta skyline

Shut the hell up!!

Entrance to a local park

This sign was pinned on a guy's back. Personally, I blame Kay ;)

Speak of the devil--Kay (on right) with her friend Laura

Typical residential neighborhood we ran through. I was surprised at how pretty much of Atlanta is.

Georgia State Capitol. Aaaaand a row of portolets. Adds character to the photo, right??

Finish line waaaaaay down Peachtree Street. I thought I'd NEVER get there!

The finisher's medal and technical shirt. It's all about the bling!

ING Georgia Marathon Report

Many of you have already read this report (probably more than once), but I'm re-posting it here in case there's someone who reads this and isn't on any of my lists. And for posterity ;)

=======================================================

I'm back, and alive (barely).

I think I could have handled EITHER the hills *OR* the heat *OR* the pollen,but mix them together, and you have a recipe for disaster, at least for me. I have truly never been more miserable in my life. I would have started crying,but there was not enough moisture (or salt) in my body to form tears. I was extremely unpleasant toward the end--I even snapped at one of those annoyingTeam in Training motivational people. Bouncing around looking all cute and clean and wearing her half marathon finisher's medal, telling me how great I look and the finish line is JUST a half mile up the road!!! Wooo Hooo!! (smile smile smile) Shut the hell up. I KNOW what I look like. My friends (Daria and Kay) TOLD me I looked like hell. Kay ran with her friend Laura, who owns the Marathon Charms booth, and even *she* said I looked terrible (I guess she saw me around mile 25) I felt like I was gonna die. There's no way I would believe I look "fantastic!!"and that I was "going strong!!" I was wandering listlessly down friggin' Peachtree Street, praying to God to not let me die on the streets of downtown Atlanta, licking my arms because I hadn't had any Lava Salts for the past 9 miles and I was worried about dying of hyponatremia(seriously).

(The story with that was I was a glutton and hoarded water at the 18-mile marker (you didn't know when you would get it again...) and I spilled some in my baggie full of Lava Salts, which dissolved the capsules and I wound up with a baggie full of powder. So I tried to lick the powder and sip water, which didn't work out so well, but I got the genius idea of pouring some water into the baggie and drinking the mixture, which tasted horrible, but worked fine. Until I dropped the baggie and it spilled all over the ground. And I wasn't quite at the point to where I would get down and lick the ground, although I thought about it briefly.)

Everything you heard was true. It was 86* when I finished. No shade for thelast 7 miles or so. NO POWERADE AT ALL ANYWHERE ON THE COURSE, even though it was heavily advertised. Water on only one side of the street, and you couldn't get to any of the tables anyway, until the half marathoners split off at mile 4. I took water with me, but it only lasted about 5 miles. No water at all between miles 3.5 and 8. A few stations ran out of cups. There were just dozens of gallon jugs of water sitting on the side of the road at one "water station." If it hadn't been for the awesome residents of Atlanta and Decatur, there would have been WAY more sick and dehydrated people than there were. They set up their own water tables, they were handing out pretzels and chips and ice, some had orange slices and gummy bears. They set up their garden hoses to spray us. They offered us beer. They rocked. It was a beautiful course, but the organization was for crap. The RD should have known better. She's run marathons before. I heard she was Jeff Galloway's right hand woman for years. You can skimp on some things, or let them slide, or whatever. I don't think water or Gatorade should be one of those things. But that's just my opinion...

The expo was craziness, but I don't care for huge crowds like that. Too many people crowded into one space for too long makes me cranky. Especially the idiots pushing strollers through those narrow little aisles, banging into people's ankles, and then not even apologizing. I *still* have bruises. We sawKaren B., who looked great. Chatted with her for a while, then wandered around a bit more before heading back to the car and trying to get to the hotel (thank you, Magellan!!)

Anyway, the tech shirt was nice, but kinda plain. The medal was okay. I'll post pictures of both soon. Atlanta was beautiful, and the people couldn't have been nicer, friendlier, or more helpful. Other than the whole crappy marathon thing, I loved it there :) I finished in 6:39 and change, about 50 minutes slower than my most recent efforts, but still not as slow as my PW. Hooray for me :)

What the hell did my $80 fee pay for? Certainly not freakin' Powerade. I am still wiped out, and I'm hoping I'll have more fun at the Pig. I'm sure it will be MUCH better organized, and, hopefully, a bit less brutal weather-wise (I've already got it on good authority that the hills aren't nearly as bad as Baltimore, which was not as bad as Birmingham or Atlanta. Atlanta was the hilliest course I've run yet.)

So, bring on the Pig, and then I am DONE!! Well, for six months, anyway :)

(Pictures are coming soon!)

MIA

Sorry I've been MIA lately. Not a ton of stuff going on. I still owe a Georgia Marathon report and pictures. I'll do that later this week, as we have several days off from school for the Easter holiday.

I'm just very, very tired. They have me scheduled for 6 hours at the Hellhole tonight, which I may call off from because they pissed me off yesterday (when I shouldn't have even *been* there, but I digress...) I go through phases where I truly dread going in there and hate every second I spend in there.

I've also spent an inordinate amount of time in the past couple of weeks feeling sorry for myself. I haven't been running. I haven't been reading much. I have fallen way behind on my blog reading. Even my steno practicing has dropped off. I just don't want to do anything except lie around, which sucks.

Hell, maybe depression is revisiting me.

Ah, well. I'll get over it. Talk to you all later on this week with a marathon report.

Going to Atlanta!!

Kay and I are heading to Atlanta tomorrow to run the ING Georgia Marathon on Sunday. They have runner tracking which you can sign up for at: http://www.doitsports.com/results/MSG-signup.tcl?sub_event_id=189429

My bib number is 5985 and my name is Shawn Newton, if anyone wants to keep track of me :)

It's gonna be warm, and I'm kind of undertrained, so don't look for any land speed records from me. I'm using this as a supported training run for Flying Pig. I'm there for the tech shirt, the medal ('cuz I'm a medal ho--it's all about the bling, baby!!), and the pin in the middle of Georgia on my US map ;)

So take care, and y'all behave yourselves this weekend! I'll talk to you when I get back on Monday evening. Or Tuesday afternoon at the latest :)

Cheers!

Friday!

Well, another Friday is here and that means another update! Yay!

I finished my book last Friday evening. Sobbed like the hyper-emotional wreck that I am (was.) My parents went out to the store and decided to bring dinner home, and my mom called to see what I wanted. She said, "What's wrong? You sound like you're breathing hard." I answered, "*sniff* N-nothing...*snuffle*" It's the rare author that can get me so involved in a story and make me actually care about fictional characters. I feel kind of silly. But I now have a better understanding of people addicted to soap operas. I once heard a girl I worked with talking on the phone, and I thought she was talking about someone she knew. Turns out it was characters on "Young and the Restless." :-P Anyway, even though I have no intention of reading book #3 (Voyager) until May, the way book #2 ended, I *had* to read the first ten pages, just to appease my curiosity. I doubt I could have made it two more months ;)

For my next book, I went with Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, which wasn't even one of my original options. It's supposed to be hysterically funny. I'll let you know; I haven't started it yet. I used this week to get caught up on magazines that have been laying around on my desk (two issues of Self, one issue of Runner's World, one issue of Bookmarks, and three issues of Journal of Court Reporting. Fun stuff there!)

On Sunday, my parents and I went to the celebration of all things redneck (no, not the Florida State Fair, but close), the Strawberry Festival in Plant City. It was pretty fun. Watched pig races, counted mullets, and saw lots of morbidly obese people hanging around the fried candy bar stand. So it was pretty much exactly like every state fair I have ever been to (Michigan, Texas, Indiana, and Florida so far.) The Strawberry Festival's big draw is strawberry shortcake, which was so tasty, it made my eyes roll back in my head. And anytime I go to a fair, I *must* get a corndog (mustard only, please) and a lemon shake-up. We got two flats of strawberries on the way out, and then realized that two people would never be able to eat all of them before they go green and fuzzy, so we gave a flat to our neighbors. And we've been making homemade strawberry shortcake and chocolate dipped strawberries for a week. Not to mention I've been popping plain strawberries like they're candy. Yummmm....Florida has the BEST strawberries I've ever tasted :)

I watched one of the two Netflix movies I've had for six weeks, Invincible. It was a really good movie. Being a Disney movie, I was prepared for a lot more schmaltz than I got :) I'm watching Nacho Libre tonight. I know it will be completely stupid, but that's why I got it.

I spent a load of money over the weekend. I ordered my Big Orange shoes (see previous post) from Road Runner Sports, and a bottle of my perfume. I was very excited that they FINALLY came out with an eau de parfum; the "fragrance spray" I've been using doesn't last very long on me. Not that anyone's been sniffing me lately...

I also got my airfare to Cincinnati for Flying Pig, and I sent in my check for the guaranteed entry to Marine Corps Marathon.

Worked at the Hellhole Saturday night and Monday night. It wasn't horrible. I got to work with my buddy Paige, which is always fun. How sad is it that my best "work friend" is a 17-year-old girl?? I think the fact that everyone I work with is so young (most of the people I work with are 18-24) is the reason I don't always realize that I'm as old as I am. I once told my friends Melanie and Amy (who are 32 and 36, respectively) that I would get messages on my Myspace page from 37 and 38-year-old guys, and I would think, "Why is this 'old' guy messaging me?" Oh, wait--I'm 32....And it's REALLY strange that I think that because I *like* older guys. My ex-husband is 48 now. I probably won't go THAT much older than me next time, but still...

All right, I'm rambling now. Sorry. This weekend has me running 15 miles in preparation for the ING Atlanta Marathon in two weeks, and working a nice, short, five-hour shift on Saturday, and giving the Great Dane a bath on Sunday. And practicing as much as I can stand it :) Which will *still* not be enough.

Have a great weekend!

Big Orange Shoes

These are the new shoes that are on their way to me from Road Runner Sports. Asics Gel Nimbus VIII. Ain't they purty? I dig the orange. My Nimbus VIIs are purple, which makes me happy, but the new purple ones are kind of ugly, and I was completely in love with the orange the second I saw them, anyway. So it took me about two and a half seconds to click 10.5 B Tangerine/White.




After some calculations, I realized that I would need new shoes after Flying Pig. And, uh, I like to plan ahead. Way, WAY ahead...

They look like they'll be fast though, huh? :)

Mailed My Golden Ticket!!

I dropped my GUARANTEED ENTRY for Marine Corps Marathon in the mail this morning!! OORAH!!

Yes, I'm very very very excited about this. I'm also thinking of taking an extra day and wandering around DC, since I haven't been there since I was 13.

Same Ol', Same Ol'

Nothing much going on in life, really, but thought I'd check in just the same.

I've got about 75 pages left in the book I'm reading, Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. It's second in the Outlander series. This book weighs in at 743 pages, so it's no small feat to only have 75 pages left! I figure I will be done with it no later than Saturday afternoon. I have all six books in the series (so far...rumor has it the author will have one, and possibly two, more) but I want to spread them out a little because I'm enjoying them so much :) I have a To-Be-Read pile as high as my waist, so I have a decision to make about what to read next. My top three right now are Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (amazingly, I've never gotten around to reading this), Widow of the South by Robert Hicks , and The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt.

School is going fine. I'm still working on my 120s. I think I'll be ready to start testing again after spring break, in three weeks. I've tested at 120 wpm twice so far, both times against my will. On the first test, I missed 216. On the second test, about two weeks later, I missed 111. So I *am* improving :) I just want there to be a chance in hell that I'm gonna pass before I waste a test (you need to miss less than 30 to pass a 120 wpm test). We had three women who opened their own reporting firm in Lakeland come in to speak with us yesterday, so I'm super-motivated to practice and get out of school and start working at a "real" job.

I still work two days a week at the Hellhole. I still hate it. I'm still doing work study with my instructor three days a week. I still enjoy it :)

Running is going well. I took last week off. My body was telling me it was exhausted after running a marathon and then a PR 15K six days later. My next race is Bay to Bay 12K on March 18, and then the ING Georgia Marathon on March 25 in Atlanta.

No big plans for the weekend. I have a couple of Netflix movies I need to watch, Nacho Libre and Invincible. I've had them both for over a month, so I'm not getting my money's worth doing that ;)

Well, that's it from here. I'll post again if anything exciting happens. If it doesn't, I'll talk to y'all next Friday :)

New 'do

Basically the same, minus four inches and too many layers that were starting to grow out funny :)

Gasparilla Distance Classic 15K

It was a lovely, sunny, chilly day in Tampa last Saturday. The Gasparilla races are always fun, and they bring out tons of people. There were about 3,500 in the 15K, and 7,000 in the 5K. We watched the 5K runners take off after we finished our race, and it was just a huge sea of humanity. It didn't look like it would ever end :)

Mom and I finshed the race in 1:48:37, which is a huge PR for me. Of course, I ran Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham six days before, so I didn't know what my legs would be capable of. I bet I could've gone sub-1:45 had I been on fresh legs!

Mom, Linae, and me at the start. Yes, I am wearing a pink tiara...

Bayshore Boulevard along Hillsborough Bay. I think that's Harbour Island in the background

Me and a seven-foot-tall cow :)

Birmingham photos

Me and Kay at the start--It was cooooooold!!

Downtown Birmingham

Prison Escapees, around mile 15


Lamb Chop likes to run, too! Just before mile 9

Scooby Doo, around mile 3