Monday's are not my favorite.

I don't know what it is about Monday's but they're definitely my least favorite day of the week. This morning was my yearly mammogram & ultrasounds. Everything was fine which is a relief. A lot of people are totally freaked out by the whole mammogram process. I don't think it's a big deal. I'd rather have the mammogram than deal with dental stuff. Today was harder than normal. If you've never had one you have to hold your breath when they take the pics. I woke up yesterday with a really stuffed up head so breathing is a little difficult to begin with. 

I was ran the Mardi Gras Mambo 15K Saturday morning so we had dinner at Monjuni's Friday night. Love, love, love pasta! It was delicious. 

Saturday I was up bright & early. The race started at 8:00 & it was downtown which is only about 15 minutes from home but there's the whole parking thing. I ended up with a parking ticket the last time I was downtown for a race. I wanted to avoid that. After being stopped by a train  & detoured because of road construction I finally got to a parking lot that took credit cards. I had some cash but no small bills & the machines don't give change. Well, there are people milling about the machine but nobody looked to be paying. The machine was taking your money but it wasn't printing the receipt that you're required to leave on your dash. There was a sign that said you could pay by phone on their website. In order to do that you had to have your parking spot number. Well, the parking spot numbers aren't clear enough to read because they're painted on the concrete. Most people were just parking & not paying. I moved on to another lot. I've never used the fancy machines before. This lot was $10 (ridiculous in my opinion but whatever). I actually had a $10 bill so no biggie. Yes, well in order to give the machine your money, you have to know your license plate number. I had to trek back to my car to get that. I took a picture of it so if I need it again I'll have it. Then I couldn't figure out where to put the money. Seriously, I felt like I was on an episode of  I Love Lucy. The parking lot attendant had to come over & help me two different times. I told him I wasn't normally this stupid. He laughed but wasn't very convincing. I think he was thinking "yeh right lady". My question is, if you have to have an attendant to show people how the machine works why not just sit him in a booth & have him take the $10?? I assure you based on all the commotion that was happening with this machine, it would've been faster to just give him my money.

Anyway, I made the race with 15 minutes to spare & then for some reason the start was delayed 10 minutes. I met up with my people & we lined up. I was running the 15K. Allison & Amanda were walking the 10K & Karen was running the 10K. It was her first ever 10K race. 

Normally, all of the races I run are downtown & have a very similar course. This one was different & different than last year because of construction. We still got to run around the lakes which I love but we only had to do the dreaded overpass one time! Yes, it was at mile 8 but at least it was only once.

The weather was great. In the high 40's when it started & sunny which is just about perfect for me.  I finished in 1:36. I was hoping for 1:35 but really thought I would be closer to 1:40 so I was happy. I'd been taking sinus/allergy meds for a couple of days.

Since it was Karen's first 10K I had champagne to celebrate!

She loved it and was so surprised!

Me & Karen while we waited for Allison & Amanda

I LOVE my medal!

The medal hangs on a strand of mardi gras beads. Really cute!

I ran the last 4/10 of a mile at an 8:57 pace. I NEVER run that fast. I was trying to make 1:35. Just missed it.

Allison, Amanda, me & Karen

The only thing I was disappointed in was the fact that there were no cake balls! Every year Brew Ha Ha is a sponsor & has a ton of king cake cake balls after the race. They were a sponsor but there were no cake balls. I was really bummed because I passed up going in there Friday night after dinner to get some because I knew I'd have them Saturday. No bueno. 

After the race I went home & ended up taking a little nap. Imagine that! We went to Mass & then came home for dinner. We go out to eat so much that it's not a big deal for us to go out for Valentine's Day. Dean got us some bacon wrapped filets & shrimp stuffed baked potatoes to cook & we had a bottle of "good" wine.

I think this is one of my all time favorites. 

When I woke up Sunday morning my head was so stuffed up. UGH! It was awful. I did basically nothing but lay on the sofa & read yesterday. I didn't even nap good because Mucinex keeps me awake. Today isn't a whole lot better. I need to move to a better climate.

Toodles!