LSAT Score, Peachtree 10K and Fireworks

Updated LSAT news:

I knew that on Thursday the potential existed for me to get my LSAT score via email. Needless to say, my day was filled with emotional eating (yes, everything in sight) and nervous energy (yes, at times I was downright obnoxious). I had given Jeff my email information so that he could check it for me throughout the day and I would not be obsessed with checking my personal email at work. As you know from prior blogs, I did not have warm and fuzzy feelings about my test, even though I had done well on timed, practice tests. Let's face it, I've been out of school for 17 years and haven't taken a standardized test in a long time. Even my PHR exam was knowledge-based, so in my mind, it isn't a fair comparison. Thankfully, I had a busy day at work and tried to keep my mind occupied and refocused as much as possible. I had decided that if Jeff didn't call me by early afternoon, I would go ahead and work through lunch and leave at 3:30 so that we could get an early start for Atlanta. I have to be honest and admit that every time my telephone rang, I held my breath. But, by 3:30, no call had come, so I finished up my work and headed home. As I was almost to our Exit, my cell phone rang - it was Jeff and the email was in! My heart began to thump and my palms were sweating. I don't even remember the rest of the drive home. It had to be hard for Jeff actually sitting here with the email up on his computer, knowing he couldn't open it until I walked through the door. In I came, almost at a run and my wonderful husband met me in the kitchen. A hug, kiss and I love you no matter what, we both hurried upstairs and sat down at the computer. I took a deep breath and clicked the email. An error message popped up telling me I had to refresh the screen. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? SERIOUSLY? Okay, take two, refresh... waiting, waiting... Now! I clicked on it again and up it came .... I scrolled to midway down and saw my score - 155. CRAP!!! I had hoped to do much, much better and had done better on the majority of my practices. To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. I'm sure my disappointment showed. So, I thought the best thing would be to pack my stuff and get out of the house, and that's exactly what we did. I did a lot of comtemplation on the 2 hour trip down. I have to decide if I want to retest and risk doing worse. Right now, I'm just taking it as It Is What It Is. After all, God knows what He's called me to do and He will work it all out.

After a stop at Olive Garden for dinner, we got to the Courtyard Marriott in Buckhead and settled in for the evening, knowing that we would have an early morning.

Peachtree Road Race 10K:

5:30 came really early, as my sleep was not as solid as I would have liked. Jeff and I both got ready, having laid out our clothes the night before. We left the hotel shortly after 6:30 am, for our short walk to the start line. Activity was everywhere and in each direction you could look, there were runners and walkers of every age, size, shape and color. I guess with 55,000 participants there is nothing less to expect. Although I had a bib number to line up in the third wave, Jeff and I wanted to run this one together, for fun and the experience. We both knew that this race would yield neither of us a PR and we lined up with Jeff's bib number in the fifth wave. The organization of this race was top notch and the best that I have seen yet. All of the volunteers were friendly and helpful with corral assignments. We were stopped several times to have our pictures taken - for a moment I thought we made a wrong turn and were at Six Flags where teenagers make extra money by hounding the patrons and asking over and over again to take their pictures. At 6:30 am, I am certainly not ready for my close up. There were helicopters above the starting area and the announcer made the wait enjoyable, sharing information and playing good music. Our wave would go off at 8:10 am, 40 minutes after the initial wave. Shortly before that time, our sign was changed from "Stop" to "Walk" (I had earlier mistaken this sign to mean this is where the walkers line up!) and off we went toward the start line - it was time for the walk of the lemmings and hopefully it would not lead us off the cliff. This race is so full of people, even though it goes off in separate waves, that space is at a premium. There were bands along the way, playing every type of music imaginable. I was truly enjoying the experience. It was a time of firsts for me - my first Peachtree, my first run in truly hot and humid conditions, and the first time I've run with my own water (Jeff and I grabbed a bottle on the way to the start and had no place to ditch it). At Mile 2 1/2, in front of Cathedral of St. Philip, there was a sprayer with a sign on top - Holy Water and I couldn't resist, I ran full force through it and shortly past that was a priest also sprinkling Holy Water on the runners and blessing them. Yep - I double-dipped and ran close by him too. Somewhere after Mile 3, I cut beside one runner and pivoted, feeling a twinge in my knee briefly. The hills were not considerably hard, despite the rumors we had heard. At Mile 4, I started to struggle a bit, partly due to the heat and partly due to the sensory overload and slight clausrophobia that plagues me when I get "boxed in". I had to make several walk breaks and my sweet, loving husband walked right along beside me. I know that it's hard for him to do that and appreciate it more than he'll ever know (love you, babe!). We finished the race on a slight uphill (or so I'm told because I honestly didn't realize that it did) in 1:13. Certainly not a PR, or even close, for either of us. But a fun, exciting race that I'd certainly do again. After the race, we made the decision to go ahead and catch the MARTA (another first for me) and head back to the hotel. After a quick shower, we made a stop at Sweet Tomatoes for lunch and drove home.

4th of July Celebration:

Jeff and I have come to love the Symphony on 4th of July and it is sort our tradition. This year, it moved to Heritage Park in Simpsonville and we weren't sure what kind of a crowd the change may bring. We got there about an hour before the scheduled start and the amphitheater was already half filled. This was certainly a much different crowd than in years past. Many, many more families with small children and teens. We were surrounded by little rugrats whose parents thought it was cute to let them run free and wild - cute for them, maybe, but annoying as hell for the rest of us! The symphony played great, as usual and ended with the traditional 1812 Overture, complete with 12 live cannons being fired. The fireworks were good and I was ready to get home at the end of a long day. Unfortunely, we were caught in the bottlenecked, cluster of unorganized parking. Where were our trusty NewSpring parking volunteers when we need them? Word of advice - if someone gives you a vest and a flag and it is your job to direct traffic ... simply standing there like a deer in the headlights waving your flag in the air at no one in particular does not help the situation; you actually have to give some direction.