Another Crappy Run

I'll add myself to the list of those having crappy long-runs this past week.

Today was not pretty as I set off to run all by myself at Lake Boy Part, (yes, I'm including the outline again...because it entertains so many of us...hee...hee...hee) which has an almost 6 mile trail. I figured I'd run out and back twice...which would give me close to 12 miles. Now running by myself is almost never a good thing for me, but not for the reasons you might expect...mostly running by myself is a bad thing because I am a HUGE procrastinator. I can put off running FOR. EV. ER.

Here's the deal. If I tell one of the herd that I'll be at her house to pick her up to run at 6:45am then, by golly, I'll be there.

BUT...If I'm left to my own, I'll have a leisurely cup of coffee and eventually start running about 8:30, which is what I did this morning...

Note to self, an 11 mile run will take Alice more than 2 hours...which means I'll still be running at 10:30am if I start at 8:30...and it's still Indian Summer Hot here.

So...here are my ugly stats for the morning

11:10 miles
2:24:10
12:58 min mile
4.63 pace

eeeewwwww

It didn't start off that way though...it was a beautiful morning from about 8:30 to 9:30...coooool and foggy. Even though I ran hard yesterday, but maybe because I didn't run all week, I felt great when I started and that carried through for about the first 6 miles. Look! My stats for the first out and back are downright impressive (for me)

5:53 miles
59:23
10:42 min mile
5.6 pace

Obviously, I did a fair amount of walking on the second out and back, but my somewhat lame excuse is that the sun came out and I just lost the zone. But I was determined to get the maximum miles in, so I walked/ran for about 2 miles (more walking than running I must say, in the interest of full disclosure) ...got to the fence and ran back the last 2.5 miles. I was glad I was able to start running again, but disappointed that I walked for as much as I did.

But....I did it, and its done. I was talking to Walter about it when I got home and we agreed that this is what happens when I don't get my mid-week runs in...so I'm going to have to get my shiz out of bed in the AM and take laps 'round the hilly-hood or on the dread at least twice this week (Tuesday and Thursday sound good to me...maybe a Friday run)

I think I have one more long run in me before SF. I can't believe I'm being so cavalier about a 1/2 marathon. A year ago I would have been FREAKING OUT!

Gear Update
Nike+ sensor still not working...GAH!!! I'll have to take the silly thing back. I hear all of ya about the church of Garmin, and I'd be there, but it's not in the budget this month...maybe a nice Christmas/Hanukkah (we celebrate Christmukkah 'round here) gift for mama?

POC (piece of crap...is that a blog acronym yet? It should be) little rubber nose bridge thingy

Then...this morning, the rubber nose-thing-y on my sunglasses came off. This is the second time it's happened. I guess I have a super-sweaty nose-bridge or something, and I just sweat the adhesive off the plastic and rubber. With the last glasses (a pair of RayBans), I couldn't find the little rubber piece, so those glasses are history 'cuz Costco (which takes EVERYTHING BACK) doesn't take sunglasses back after 30 days...GAH!!! Luckily, today, the little rubber thingy came off in my hand, so I still have it and I guess I'll superglue it back on...

Finally, I'll post this last photo just 'cuz I like it. I took it this morning as I was leaving for my run and Turbo and Walter decided to go out into the world and play some tennis... My active boys...
Have a great week everyone! I'm posting this so late on a Sunday because I spent the day prepping for the week. The good news is that perhaps I'll have a more sane week than last week was!

Why?

It's been one of THOSE weeks.

Which is becoming a tiring mantra on my behalf. Suffice it to say that I ran ONE TIME this week...and that would be this morning. 4 miles on Dread - 40 minutes. I figured if I was going to run only one time, I'd better run hard...actually cranked it up to the level 8 speed interval, which goes from 5.6 - 7 mph (10:30 to about an 8:30 mile) for 35 minutes.

I'm waiting to hear from the herd if anyone is interested in joining me in a long run (10-12) miles tomorrow morning. If not, I think I'll run twice around Coronado. That'd be about 12 miles.

That's my running report for the week. I will have more to report after tomorrow's long run.

So, here are three other random Saturday afternoon rants and whines:

• Why do I waste my money on running gadgets that do not work? Do any of you have a Nike+ sensor? I bought one a few weeks back and it sucks. I think I need to return it because after working for about ONE WEEK, my Nano now CANNOT locate the sensor. I'm starting to really dislike the pleasant female voice that suggests that I walk around to locate the sen-sor. I've been to both the Nike+ and Apple websites and it seems like lots of people have this problem. GAH! I haaaaaaate returning things.

• Why am I the only person in my house who feels temperature? This afternoon, after navigating the crowds at Costco, I come home to find Turbo and Walter, planted in front of the tube watching college f-ball...no problem with that, but the thermostat says the house is 85º AND the air-conditioner is blowing, meaning that it is probably hotter than 85º in most parts of the house. AND neither one of them seem to notice that the house if just eff-ing HOT... GAAAHHH!!!!

• Why (speaking of Costco) do I manage to lose my receipt about 1/2 the time between the cashier and the door-guy who has to check my receipt? GAAAHHHHH!!!!

OK...that's it for now. I think it's gotta be close to Lemon Drop time :-)

When you run in the city...a lot of police go by...

Mik, Betty, Elsie and I (a small portion of the herd) ran around Balboa Park this morning. Running is SO much better with friends, that's for certain. Here's the proposed route I mapped out ahead of time. I thought it offered options for those who wanted to run 10 miles and for those who wanted to run less.

It probably won't surprise anyone to learn that none of us did this route, and in fact after the first couple of miles, we all sort of went different routes. Mik ran around the park. Elsie and Betty ran to the end of the park and back.

First item of note
Betty ran in a BRIGHT YELLOW CROSSING GUARD MESH VEST, which made it really easy to spot her...something to consider for the next race. I wonder if there was any chaffing?

I ran out of the park, down Third Avenue, and then up 6th (the dreaded hill from the AFC 1/2)... Here's my actual route.

Second item of note

It was a BREEEEEEZZZEEE to run up 6th Avenue in the 5th mile...waaaaaay easier than it was in August in the 11th mile. I FLEWWWWWW up it. I wanted to run 6th mid-run because I thought it would somewhat mimic the hills in SF for the Nike 1/2 in October.

Here's the elevation for what I ran this morning

Here's the estimated elevation for the Nike 1/2

So...I'm continuing to get my hill training in. That's a good thing. I'm feeling pretty confident about the hills now.

The bad thing is that I didn't run as far as I'd hoped. After not getting a long run in last weekend, I wanted to go at least 10 miles, maybe 11 or 12, but after getting bored and changing my route, and running into a dead-end, I got a little wigged out because I'd been running for awhile on my own, without a cell phone or ID.

Third item of note:
Robinson Street dead ends at Florida Canyon...note to self...do not go that way again.

Fourth item of note:
In the center-city area of San Diego, there are an amazingly large number of police driving the streets. I noticed this after I realized that I was running solo and that I had neither ID or my cell phone on me (stupid...I know, I know...)...and because I am a nervous Nellie about such things, I started to FREAK-OUT a little bit about it. You know...the crazy thoughts...what if I fall and twist my ankle? Why is that old BUS parked in Balboa Park? What if, what if, what if... Honestly, FREAKING-OUT about personal safety is not a great running motivator. So, to mitigate the non-motivating effects of the freak-out, I started counting how many Black-and-Whites were patrolling the streets (I counted five...and I was at mile 5 when I started counting. I figured if I got hurt, I could always flag down a SDPD cop to come to my assistance...which is still a stupid personal safety strategy, but it made me feel better and kept me running.

I solemnly promise and swear to run with my cell phone on me if I run by myself from now on.

Finished the run with no other notable events to report...although I had a fabulous conversation with my gluteous maximus muscle (is that redundant) for about the last 1/2 mile or so...apparently, glut didn't so much appreciate all the downhills this morning and decided to cramp up for awhile. My line of reasoning, as it often is, is that we have to keep running so that we can stop.

Our mantra? Mi-mo-sa! Mi-mo-sa!

Here are my stats.

Total Distance: 9.25 mi.
Time: 1:46:23
Pace: 11:30
Speed: 5.21 (mi/hr)

The BEST part of the morning came afterward as I finally got my chance to see Elsie's remodeled house. It looks absolutely wonderful! She is so creative and a fine decorator...and she made us a yummy breakfast of pancakes, fresh fruit and (of course) MIMOSAS! She even let us (or perhaps she insisted, I'm not sure now) take showers after we finished running. Maybe she didn't want to lose that brand-new, fresh-paint, smell yet.

She's gonna hate me for this...but here's our lovely hostess.

Disclaimer: I emailed Elsie as soon as I got home and asked her to send me the photos she took with her camera, but as of the moment I hit "Publish Post" she had not yet responded...so all I had was the one photo I took with my camera...

But don't all the fruit, pancakes, and mimosas look FABULOUS?

Fifth item of note: When you take photos for the blog...send them to me IMMEDIATELY!!!

It was a great morning run. The weather has cooled considerably, so that also made the run enjoyable (what sort of madness is this? I run route-less? I call running enjoyable?). It'll definitely get me through the week!

Other running items of note
Yesterday morning, when the kids were at their call-backs for Oliver, Walter and I looked lovingly at each other and noted that the kids were gone and we had nothing planned...so...

We went for a run together (what were YOU thinking???)

This was actually a pretty big deal because Walter has had knee issues for about the last year. At one point we thought he had a torn meniscus. He's had an MRI and it turns out that the cartilage that holds his knee joint together is pretty much destroyed. For awhile, he could barely walk, let alone run. But he's making a comeback. He's not much of a runner, but he loves basketball, so he occasionally runs with me...mostly so that he can continue to run up and down the courts.

It was nice running with the hubby...although I don't know if he enjoyed it as much as I did :-))

Non-running item of note:
The cast list for Oliver was posted this morning. DramaGirl's audition number was 59 and Turbo's was 16. Here are the some of the results:

Actually, there are about 80 kids in the cast. I just didn't capture it all in one screen shot...just the important part! So thanks to everyone who wish the kiddos good luck. All your good wishes paid off.

Since both are in the play, maybe Walter and I will have more time to run together when they are at rehearsals...wouldn't that be nice... I'm sure Walter is looking forward to THAT...

Have a great week everyone. If the last two weeks were any indication of my life this semester, you probably won't be reading anything from me until Thursday or Friday.

Randomness at the end of a random week...

I've really got nothing to say tonight other than it's been a heck of a week. Settling into this new job-thing is taking some time. It'll be OK, but for now, it's taking much more time than expected. As previously reported, it's having a SERIOUS effect on my running effort. I got on Dread three times this week, but no outdoor running since last Friday's jaunt around the neighborhood.

On the home-front, Walter is a financial analyst, so you can only imagine what THAT'S been like this week.

DramaGirl and Turbo both auditioned for a local Junior Theatre production this week and BOTH GOT CALL-BACKS. (Hooray! Last year Turbo auditioned and didn't get selected to be in the play, which made it much less fun for the entire family).

Keep your fingers crossed that both of them get in this year.

So, that's what I've been doing this week...workin', watching kids practice for auditions, taking them to auditions, workin', frettin' 'bout the market, workin' some more, watching late night Fake News Shows in order to maintain sanity, which is when I learned about Fruit Infused Beer.

I mean really, who thought this was a good idea?

Seriously...fruit flavored beer?

I mean SERIOUSLY?

I really need to run some more...

Neighborhood Run Day

GAH...I had to get that whiny crap off the front page of my blog STAT ... YUK...

I really have nothing to complain about... AT ALL. I know that

That being said, hug a teacher today. Especially if they teach K-12. They are among the hardest working people in the world...and by Friday, all teachers deserve a hug. Especially if they have parent/teacher conferences tomorrow...you know who you are. Hugs to all of you.

Today was a beautiful running day...overcast and cool. It's still pretty humid ...which is odd for east San Diego County (think desert-like dryness). Today's weather report at noon was 72º, 66% relative humidity (you come here looking for So. Cal weather reports, don't you????).

I'm often envious of those who can just walk out their front door and have a nice neighborhood to run in. I mean, I live in a nice neighborhood, and I COULD RUN HERE occasionally. But I tend not to run in my neighborhood because we live in a semi-rural area (meaning, no sidewalks) AND we live on a hill (although, other than the beach, ALL of San Diego is like that).

But, there's something that is sort of silly about getting in my car and driving to a park to run by myself...especially with the cost of gas and all...but even if gas were cheap, something about it strikes me as sort of odd. I mean its one thing to drive somewhere to run meet up with friends to run, but it seems a little wasteful to drive to run...am I alone in that? Maybe it's just me.

But I didn't really want to run on the treadmill today. I was craving outdoors. And like I said...almost perfect running weather. So today, I did something I rarely do. I stepped out of my front door and ran the neighborhood.

So...here you have it...the grand tour of my neighborhood run...taaaaa daaaaaa....

Here's the start of my runway...see, no sidewalks...luckily not much traffic either...other than the occasional asshat who thinks this is the freeway. Grrrrr.

Here's the first downhill (yes, I moved the camera a little...
's not that curvy...nor do hills photograph well)

I really should write a letter to the mayor about the streets needing repair

The park at the bottom of the hill has a drinking fountain...dare I risk it?
I wonder if any dogs have used it recently?

I guess not...

An example of one of the smaller hills. This is a pretty tame example, but it photographed well. Most of the hills are short like this, but are steeper inclines (followed by short, but steep declines)...and for those of you taking notes, yes, Friday is trash day.

The elevation report...yeah, see that last up...that ends at my driveway.

My stats for the morning (sloooooowwwww...but there were hills, and I stopped to take photos...).

3.1 miles
40.08 minutes
12.:55 pace

So there you have it... My neighborhood run.

You may have noticed that I'm trying to clean up the look of my blog...I think I had too many things running down the single sidebar. I wish that Blogger had a three column (or two sidebar) template...and that it had a template that with tabs at the top of the page. I had to do some pretty serious (for me) html formatting to get that to happen. I'm not sure I could do it again. I also wish that the Blogger drafting window offered a strikethrough text option... I could go on and on...

In any event, I added a new tab at the top of the page that has my running stats, upcoming races, and other running links so that these appear on a separate page, rather than in the sidebar. I also added the super cool "follow me" feature that is new to Blogger...so go ahead and stalk me all you want. You all know I'm stalking you :-)

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to add Twitter updates to the sidebar. I don't see a gadget for that.

Yes it's true ...I don't have time for teaching, planning, running, being a good mom, but I apparently have loads of time to attend to this...

GAH...

I Remember Teaching...

Several years ago, I stopped teaching full time. I didn't stop working full time, but I stopped teaching full time.

I found other ways to work a "full time" without actually teaching full time. I became a curriculum specialist. I became a literacy coach. I became a professional developer. I looked for ways to teach only part-time and do other things to make sure I was working full time.

All of which was satisfying. None of which was as much work as teaching is.

I'm not a slacker. Really, I'm not.

But here's the deal.

Teaching full time is exhausting. It has the potential to consume every waking hour.

Not all teachers are like this. We all know that.

But I am...Teaching can consume me.

So now I'm teaching again...full time...only this time it's at a community college...and we're three weeks into the semester and I'm remembering some things about teaching full time and what it takes out of me and I remember that being at a community college, it's not even one single-fucking-iota what it felt like to teach in k-12 full time. This I know...

But still...I'm remembering....

• I'm remembering what it feels like to never be caught up with all the grading I need to do.

• I'm remembering what it feels like to never be completely, perfectly, planned for all my classes, no matter how much time I spend planning and preparing (and I have lots more time to plan than I used to. Still, it's never enough.)

• I'm remembering what it feels like to know that no matter what I do, there are some students who I will not reach, because they are not at a place in their lives that they can learn from me, or from anyone for that matter. Their lives are, simply, impossible. And there's really not much I can do about it.

• I'm remembering what it feels like to not be able to control this aspect of teaching.
  

• I'm remembering what it feels like to want to do everything I can to get those students to learn anyway.
  

• I'm remembering what it feels like to be completely exhausted from trying to teach all of the students in front of me, whether they want to learn or not.

• I'm remembering what it feels like to know that I'm probably forgetting to turn in some paperwork or form to the front office, and that tomorrow, I'll get an email reminder that I forgot.

• I'm remembering that I HATE that.
  

• I'm remembering what it feels like to say that I don't have time to run because I have to teach, or I have to get ready to teach, or I have to grade some papers, or that I have a meeting to go to, or because I've done all of those things all day, I really should spend some time with my family, and not spend time running.

• I'm remembering what it feels like to be too tired from teaching at the end of the day to run.

But here's the deal...I love teaching...

• I love helping someone who just moments ago, didn't understand some concept, understand it now.

• I love helping someone who wants to communicate what they think about an important idea, find the words to communicate it.

• I love helping someone discover that they can do something that they previously thought they could not.

How do I find the balance?

It's Thursday night. I've run once this week....again. Yesterday morning, I ran for the first time since Sunday. I eeked out 25 minutes on the treadmill and was almost late to my first class because of it...

I'll run tomorrow, because I'm lucky and I don't have classes on Fridays and I'll have time to run.

And then I'll run on Saturday and Sunday...finally. One of those days will be a long run...

And I wonder, will running mostly on weekends be enough to stay in shape and to continue being a runner? I wonder....

It was only about 3 years ago, that I started running and taking care of myself. I know that once I stopped teaching full time, I was able to find the time to run.

So, I'm wondering, will teaching cost me running?

That seems a high cost to pay.

Or maybe not...

I'm just remembering.


(Lest you think I've gone completely off my rocker and into the abyss...please know that I COULD HAVE run tonight, but I decided to go to HAPPY HOUR instead and have a few glasses of wine...I do have my SOME of my priorities straight after all...and the third glass of Pinot Noir is probably some of the cause of my melancholy this evening)

13...is a magic number...

Hey Alice...where the heck ya been?

Short answer...DramaGirl turned 13 this week on Tuesday. She has soccer. Turbo plays football. I teach two night classes. The class I team-teach at State started this week (I'm doing the online portion), so I had to get that all set up. A busy week...

Last night, DramaGirl had a slumber party. They looked like they were having a fine time, what with all the pizza, and soda, and chips, and candy (and cake!) that they could possibly consume. I think several of them were up as late as 2am. I heard later this morning, that a couple were up until 4am. This is what they looked like when I left at 7am...They swore they were going to "pull an all-nighter."


This was the "snack table." I told them I was really quite disappointed in their snack consumption.


In any event, I left them all in Walter's care to run this morning. He is a much better morning person than I am. He also makes pancakes, which the girls loved....

So, I got in my weekly long-run at Harbor Island w/Betty. I had time to run only one other day this week so it wasn't pretty, but it's done. Here are the stats...

10.12 - miles

1:58:54 - total time
11:43 - pace

Like I said, it wasn't pretty. All I know is that I'm going to HAVE to get in a couple more mid-week runs every week if I'm going to be ready for the Nike Women's Half in (check countdown widget at right). YIKES.

The training plan that I've been following for 1/2 marathons in the past, never has me running either by time, or by distance, anything more than 11 miles. After the AFC 1/2 I started to wonder about this. It seems like a fine strategy for marathon training (why would anyone run a marathon other than at a marathon?) but for shorter races, I wonder if this is the best course of action for me. At the RnR marathon, when I went past the 1/2 Marathon mark, I felt great! Of course, in the weeks prior to the marathon, I'd been running 13+ miles, every weekend, for several weeks, so 13 was no big deal.

For the AFC 1/2, the farthest I'd run was 11.5 miles...and I was exhausted by then (of course, there was that heat and humidity...but still).

The training plan by Nike for the Nike Women's 1/2 recommends runs of 13 and 14 miles a month before the marathon, so with that in mind, I think for the next two weeks, I'll run 2.5 hours (at least 13 - 14 miles, depending on how fast I'm running that morning), then I'll taper to a 1.5 hour run, three weeks out, 2 hours two weeks out, an hour run one week out. I also want to get one or two good runs in on hills. Starting this week, I'm going to be able to make it to the Tuesday night workouts with the track club, so I believe there'll be some hill workouts there as well.

I should be prepared.

So that's all I got today. Sorry if I bored you silly, but I've got no funny stories to tell. It was a pretty uneventful run this morning.

We did see a washed up, eyes missing, stingray on the running path...that was new...most of the harbor area this morning just STANK...garbage and fish...not new, but smelled worse than normal, probably the humidity...there was tons of garbage from the Midway Aircraft Carrier, which is open to the public and thus has a "snack bar" at the aft (I'm SUCH a boat person you know...I can use nautical terminolgy with the best of them...musta been those two cruises I've been on...yeah, that's it). The amount of trash in the bay, which I'm pretty sure had blown off the Midway, was both surprising and dissapointing. The Midway has been there for awhile, and I've run past it several times. This is the first time I remember noticing the amount of garbage around it...sad.

My first mega-yaght, the Princess Mariana was not longer in port, but my second mega-yaght, Ice, was...not as showy as the Princess, but it'll do.

Have a great week. I've got about 50 blogs to read this afternoon, but I think I need a nap right now...you know, to recover from the slumber party.

My Waterloo

Good and bad yesterday, good and bad...

The Bad
Yesterday morning's long was an awful, icky, horrible run, in a place where Betty and I usually have wonderful, fun, easy runs...East Mission Bay Park where there's a flat path that goes to Crown Point on Mission Bay and back (7-ish miles on the path). I thought I'd run the path, and then a couple of miles farther, through some of the residential area, which would include one small hill, and then back. The bay is a great place to run. Usually, there's usually a cooling breeze and lots of pretty things to see (the bay, the boats, the boys) and interesting people to watch (the tourists).

My goal was to run for about 90 minutes. Given my times for the last few runs, and that we were running on the path at Mission Bay, I figured I'd be running about 9 to 10 miles.

So, how'd I do? 7.82 miles in 1:36:52 (12:23 pace), which included a potty-stop (coulda used two) and several walking/water breaks... Ewwwwww.

Here's my list of lame excuses...

1. It was humid -- This is a really lame excuse...we ran at 7:30am...62º, 78% humidity... which IS humid, but COME ON...62º? I should have no weather complaints...Gah!
2. I was tired -- I had one of those nights where I woke up every other hour or so, wondering if it was time to get up yet.
3. I had a funky-tummy -- Turbo and DramaGirl spent the night at the cousin's house, so Walter and I went out to dinner at Indigo Grill...really amazing food. We split some ceviche, a grilled romaine appetizer...I mean, who ever thought to grill lettuce? But it was amazingly good...and we split an equally good pork-porterhouse which included some fabulous onion rings, something mashed and some grilled/spicy oranges. Since we split everything, it shouldn't have been too much food, but these are clearly not foods I'm used to eating everyday...oh yeah, I had two glasses of wine...which also goes to explain #2 and which resulted in the need for potty-breaks throughout the run.
   
4. I'd run pretty hard on Sunday -- This too, is really lame because at no time yesterday did my legs feel tired...it was all mental. I thought I was going to have a lousy run due to 2 and 3, so I did.

Ah well...I'm going to take today off from running. I've run four of the last five days...that's a lot for me. A day off will do me good. I think I'll do some yoga and strength conditioning with the WiiFit and the free weights in the garage (since Walter cleaned the garage out last weekend, and now I can get to the weights).

The Good
Got this email from Momma this weekend...

Hey Herd,

How fun would this be???? Mamma Mia is showing a sing-a-long version. I know, how cool!!!!

Wouldn't it be fun to go as a herd and sing our way through? So, if you're game...

Monday matinee at Grossmont Center
1:00 (it's bargain hour too!)

Meet out front at 12:45??????
Who's with me?

Momma

Not a big ABBA fan. But an afternoon with the herd is always fun, so I took DramaGirl and we went to the sing-along. The lyrics to the Abba songs are subtitled, which enabled me to sing along...because really...who knows ALL the words to ABBA songs? I know, "Mamma mia....blah, blah, blah, blah." I always thought that "Dancing Queen" included the lyrics "You can Dance/You can fly..." Did you know that it's "You can jive" which I guess makes more sense, but seriously...JIVE????

Some highlights...

1. The movie crowd consisted of a maybe 100 women and two men. What does that tell you?
2. 20 minutes (I exaggerate NOT) included a preview of HIGH SCHOOL MUSIC 3...Oh JOY!
3. As the subtitles appeared for the first song, D1 (Betty's daughter), noted that she had a Disney movie at home with a bouncing ball that had words too.
   
4. The lyrics to most, if not all, of ABBA's songs are way more perv-y and sexual than I ever knew. "Does your Mother Know" is all about flirting with an underage boy. In the opening song, Amanda Seyfried is singing about finding out who her FATHER is, and is singing the song "Honey, Honey" which includes the line "...and now I know what they mean, you're a love machine," which is a little, shall we say, ODD.
   
5. Daisy and Momma know ALL the lyrics to all the songs...Me? I was reading the whole time.
6. Really? They worked a song called "Super Trouper" into the musical, but couldn't work in "Waterloo?"
7. Betty and I were wonderful back-up singers on "Super Trouper" (Su-u-u-per Trou-u-u-per) and another song were she kept hitting my knee, so that I'd know when to sing "uh huh."
8. In one number Christine Baranski and Julie Walters use vibrators as microphones...not sure how I'm going to explain that one to DramaGirl if she ever asks (I'm praying she doesn't...but if she does, I'm sending her to Momma to explain)
9. DramaGirl told me afterward she was happy to not be sitting next to me during the movie because she could hear us singing and thought it was funny, but embarrassing.
10. Pierce Brosnan really CANNOT sing.
    

It was, however, an awesome way to spend the afternoon. There's a rumor of going again, and I would since now I know some of the lyrics and could really belt-it-out, but I think I'll have a cocktail or two beforehand next time. It'll help me sing...really...