Check out my new name

PinkAsphaltMama. Get it? *P*ink *A*sphalt *M*ama. PAM! Ha ha ha ha ha. I heart pink, I heart asphalt (runnin' and ridin') and I am one ____ mama (insert awesome adjective here). LOL.... ANYWAY -- time is just a'tickin down to the Monument Ave 10K. The SPCA Dog Jog 5K was this past weekend, and although it wasn't a PR, it wasn't only a handful of seconds away from my PR. Hmmmm... that PR was set on New Year's Day after partying the night before with chocolate martinis at the Cavalier. Maybe that needs to be a new race strategy - go out partying & dancing and drinking beforehand. That takes the place of a pre-race warmup, since you don't get enough sleep to get all stiffened up. Of course, maybe it was that "back to the barn" mentality of knowing that the faster I ran the sooner we got back to the all-you-could-eat breakfast buffet back at the hotel. So many factors in that one!

So, here's the race strategy (drum roll please) - FOLLOW SHANNON! Yep! I am one of the few and the privileged to have my own personal pacer for the 10K. I feel like one of those greyhounds at the racetrack chasing that fuzzy rabbit tail around the track. But, what I'm learning is that at this stage of my race career, I start out fast and then just kinda keep slowin' down and slowin' down. I don't have a cruise control in my brain yet, so Shannon is my cruise control. As long as she doesn't start talking to me about legless people in wheelchairs or squished puppies in the road, I'll be good.

Just check out the inspirational email Emily & I got (WARNING: tissue alert! tissue alert!):

Pam and Emily -I noticed both of you had a little hesitation when we offered to race with you Saturday. Some comments were " don't want to slow you down". "you need to run your own races sometimes", etc... We offer because that is what we love. Shannon and I have raced and will race when we want, but we are in a different place and there are PLENTY of races on the calendar. We run with you and support you because we love you and it is a passion for us.I would get more out of Saturday finishing with one of my peeps on their PR than racing and beating my own PR. Please understand that we offer because we WANT to, not out of obligation and trust me, you both inspire us immensely.

So, I believe Shannon is running Pam and Emily, you got Speedy Dee-Va.
Let's rock it out girls! We love you!

*sniff* *sniff*

The good news (ha ha again) is that the forecast is for actual RAIN Saturday for the race. I'm kinda glad about it as it will keep all the lightweights at home and cut down on the crowd. Of course, with 30,000 peeps registered, keeping 10% of them away because of the rain would not make a big difference, but I'll hold on to every psychological advantage I can, thank you very much.

ShanDee did very well at Atlanta, though they said that it was the HILLIEST race they'd ever run. Thinking about the fact that Shannon has run the Marshall marathon in West-by-God-Virginia for goodness sake, that'd HAVE to be a hilly race! Here they are before the race at Shannon's parents house. Now, just gotta find them a Hostess Apple Pie to celebrate with, but I'll let THEM explain that one! Two thousand, seven hundred WHAT?????