Fun In San Francisco

Hello everyone!
Last Saturday I did my last long run for the Baltimore Half Marathon, which is coming up in a couple of weeks.

Sunday Ron and I flew to San Francisco for a week. I went for a "work" Oracle Conference, and since Ron wasn't working he decided to come with me. We had a great time! Ate at too many nice places and hung out at some fun places.
The hotel was fab!!! We stayed at the newly built InterContinental San Francisco. It was hard to leave the room. We had a corner room, so basically 2 walls of the room was ceiling to floor windows with awesome views of the city. It's probably the best hotel I've ever stayed in. (It's a tie with the Hyatt hotel in Kauai. :-)
Wednesday night was an appreciation party for the approx. 45,000 people who attended the conference. That was a blast! It was a carnival on Treasure Island, full of free carnival games, Ferris wheel and lots of other rides. Also, several concerts, which included UB40, Elvis Costello, Alan Jackson, Seal. Ron and I decided to hang around and drink some complimentary wine and listen to Seal. Of course, Ron found the boiled shrimp and had his share of that and cotton candy! Sounds like a great combination, doesn't it?
Oh, and a surprise speaker at the sessions at the conference was Michael Phelps! That was fun.

We arrived home last night and went straight to bed. We slept 10 hours last night. The plan was to get up and go for a run since I haven't done anything in a week. That didn't happen! Before I knew it, it was time to meet some friends at SouthPark Mall for a fun appearance by Clinton Kelly, with 'What Not To Wear'. I ask Ron to call while I was working in SanFran, and see if he could get me tickets for the show. He was able to get 4 tickets, so Katherine, Stanage, and myself went to the show. Gina was going to go, but called me on the way to the show and couldn't make it because she didn't feel well. It was a good afternoon with the girls. I don't see Stanage or Katherine much anymore, so it was so nice seeing them and catching up! Great "girls day".

Charlotte had another celebrity in town, Curtis Stone from "Take Home Chef", but I had no tickets for that event. :-( Too bad, I would have enjoyed that show was well!

She Swims, She Rides, She Runs, SheROX

It's been a fun, but very busy weekend!

Friday morning Gina and Melinda was gracious enough to run 11miles with me before work, so Saturday could be a rest day. So we met at the Uptown Y at 5am sharp and started running so we could get it in before work. Baltimore is coming up very soon and I don't feel very prepared.

We all had a very busy day at work, and was pretty much done by about 2-3pm that afternoon and wanted a nap!

Saturday was a fun day. I met my TRI friend Lesley and we went to Huntersville, Latta Park to checkout the lake/swim and ride the bike course. Then on to Pilates with Gina.

After Pilates, Leslie met Gina and I and we went to lunch, and then to Inside/Out Sports to pick up Leslie and my race packet. We got our t-shirt that we wanted that says "She Swims, She Rides, She Runs, SheRox". That's the whole reason to complete this TRI is for the t-shirt!

Since Ron(golfing) and DavidI(work) are out of town, Gina and I decided to play Saturday afternoon. We went to Chick-fli-a and had a snack while we waited on the movie to start. We decided to go see Mamma Mia. We laughed and laughed. What a great, fun movie~

Sunday, I got up early at 3:30am because Leslie was picking me up at 4am to head out for the SheRox TRI. It was a great TRI. Great t-shirt, great food, great music...and they even give you a braclet when you finish the TRI!

Ron came home from his golf trip last this afternoon. We have been couch potatoes all afternoon!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GINA!!!!

"Dash for Divas" Sprint TRI

TRI weekend : We thought Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hanna, who stop us from doing the TRI this weekend at White Lake, which is about 2 1/2 -3 hours East. The race officials changed the race from Saturday to Sunday in hopes it would continue. So we headed down Saturday after lunch, instead of Friday morning. The weather was great! The water was perfect temp, but a bit warmer than I like it at the start. This TRI was a smaller "beginners TRI" race than that Lake Norman TRI that I completed a couple of weeks ago. It was nice being there with all girls and attempting the same goal. A lot of encouraging words from girls. Again, I struggled with the swim, which was less than 1/2 the length of the Lake Norman, but again I got through it! They had a "Luau" Saturday night and played the Kona IRONMAN on a big screen. I must say, that was the saddest event for a luau, I've ever seen in my life! It was pitiful!! But watching the Ironman was inspirational. Here's a few of girls from the "TRIITFORLIFE" group. A couple I just met this weekend!

While I was doing my thing, Ron was doing his :-) He went to some "Auto Fair" at Charlotte Motor speedway. I'm sure he had fun as well. As Forrest Gump would say, "that's all I'm going to say about that". :-)

Off to my weekly Sunday afternoon cycle ride!

Hope you all had a great weekend!!

Our Anniversary

Today is our 23rd wedding anniversary. We actually celebrated last night with dinner & jazz at a nice restaurant downtown Charlotte called "Blue". It was fabulous! Here's what we had & I snapped a few pics also.

Appetizers: "Jumbo Diver Scallops wrapped in Prosciutto & over a fava bean puree & lemon marmalade". Ron picked the best appetizer. I ordered "A pastry Crisp Moroccan Chicken Briouat w/Aprioct & Cashews. It's chicken breast & veggies w/fresh ginger & spicy sweet charmoula dipping sauce."

We both had a "poached pear & baby arugula salad w/candied walnuts & gorgonzola dolce." That was very tasty!

For the main course Ron ordered the best. He ordered beef tenderloin. Pan seared & topped w/gorgonzola dolce & onion marmalade w/pancetta & spring pea risotto. YUMMY.

I got Mediterranean Sea bass w/fresh herbs, artichokes(don't like) & pear tomatoes served w/lemon & spinach orzo.

For dessert, we ordered "Cake di Chocolate w/ a warm molten center & vanilla bean ice cream. It was soooooo good, but by then I was so stuffed I could only eat a few bites~

If you noticed a martini in the picture, it was called the "Mediterranean Blue Martini" It was sooo yummy too!!!

Ron cut some yellow roses from our rose bush also. I have them on my end table...they smell so good!!!

My Community Contribution

I mentioned in an earlier post I was also busy with extra work events along with my REAL job. I was task with coordinating a Community work event for my "skip manager". (my manager's manager)

I found a Habitat for Humanity home that we all participated in working at the site last Friday, Aug. 22. I scheduled the event, ordered t-shirts for everyone, shopped for snacks & drinks, provided lunch. It came off without a hitch. So I said to myself, "whew, that's my turn for a while." Nope, I've been ask to coordinate all of the events going forward since I done such a swell job. Oh well. The good thing is that I don't actually have to do everything, just make sure someone else does.

Here'a a couple of pics. One, I'm kinda making fun of my manager while he's talking with his hands on his hips. I have no idea what he's talking about. The other I'm attempting to lift a 40 pound bag of shingles! Actually, I didn't do much work. I spent all my time with the camera in my hand. Besides, it was the day before my Lake TRI. I already told everyone I was going to be the Supervisor!!! haha

Happy Birthday to Ron

Gosh, it's been so long since I've blogged. It's been crazy busy with training, TRIs, birthdays, anniversary, and extra work events/responsibilities, that I haven't told you that we had another birthday in the family! (Our family celebrates a birthday almost every month except Sept/Oct.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ron!~ Ron's birthday was Aug. 20th.

(Ron and I kept our birthdays pretty low key this year.)

Brittany did make her dad a birthday cake!

Pam's First Lake TRI - I finished!

On 8/22, I finished my first "Lake TRI"! YooHoo
No other goals right now except to work on my swim times.
I finished my first half marathon in preparation of my first marathon at age 39.
I completed by first marathon at 40. Completed another goal to complete a TRI at 45, which was a couple of mini TRIs last year, in the pool. And completed my goal to complete a "Lake TRI" at age 46. Yep, I'm getting old. I guess it's all downhill from here!! lol

The swim was what I expected. Hated it!!! I finished the swim in about 27mins, which is not respectable by no means. I would like to swim it in 20mins or less & that's not really asking for too much.

When I came out of that lake and jumped on my bike I was sooooooo happy!!!! I was finally in my element! Especially since I was one of the last getting out of the lake. I LOVE to cycle. I guess because I'm better at cycling than anything else. My running has taken a back seat. :-(

I didn't practice any "bricks" (coming off the bike & run), so it was a little painful coming off the bike and trying to run~

I get such negative thoughts when I'm in the lake. For example: I think I'll raise my hand and get the boat to come get me. Really, I thought about doing that twice. But after completing 3 practice swims, I know my friends and coworkers would have given me a bunch of grief, so that's the only reason I stuck it out!

I was happy with my results. Even with the horrible swim I came in 4th in my category. I signed up as "Women Master Novice", which basically means 'old new triathlete"! But the other side to that story.....I think there were only 8 of us in the category...hahahahahaha

Anyway, I've got another MINI/SMALL TRI in a couple of weeks at White Lake, so that'll be FUN. Only half the swim/bike/run!! Hawaii Luau that evening! I wonder if I'll feel like I'm really in Hawaii........NOT~ :-)

Anyway, To my friends: THANK YOU for your support during my "swim trainings". I was so nervous getting in that lake and I appreciate all the encouraging words!