Holy abs batman!

After having such a good run on Wednesday morning (Happy Birthday to you!), I decided for an encore performance with the St Paul runners.  I normally only go over there once a week because it's far to drive and early to get up in the morning.  But this week I started working all my hours in four work days instead of five so getting up earlier was good.  Plus I knew I wouldn't exercise by myself.  (Thank you again for running me up and down the street!)

Before - yes, I do run with a reflective vest.  You should wear one too!

After - notice how my hat has turned to frost?  I noticed, particularly on my ears, too!

Thursday was a long work day but at the end I was all "hello 3-day weekend, how shall I fill my time?" Turns out, Olive Garden with a teenager and then a movie and bottle of wine with Amanda on the torture rack.

Amanda convinced me I needed to sleep on the torture rack so we could get breakfast the next day. (Really, I didn't even have that much wine, I can go home and sleep in a normal bed.) I'm glad I stayed because my coffee cup at the Uptowner was always full and the eggs Benedict rocked.

After that I went to the gym. I decided it was going to be a walking day and listened to an hilarious episode of Car Talk (the one where the lady's AC vents are dispensing dog food). I actually did have to go to work, but it was only for a short time for a retirement party. It was really fun to hear some of my Russian-speaking colleagues tell their stories about moving to this country and a nice time to visit.

Saturday morning I woke up early and got pastries Happy Birthday to you! and headed over to a pilates class at this women's home studio in St Paul. Some of the St Paul runners got there early and took a class with one of our own as a birthday surprise. I was assured that I'd be sore after.

We then headed back to Heather's house for lattes courtesy of her husband (who, coincidentally, had stopped to get pastries at the exact same place I went). Sorry John, we'll coordinate better next time.

Sunday morning I got up and thought, 'oh, yeah, I can feel my abs but it's kind of a pleasant soreness'. Then I tried to put my pants on.

I learned an important lesson about the January gym crazies too. I thought it would be awful and miserable and packed at the gym. I got there around 9am and found the lot about 60% full, waaay fewer cars than what I'd imagined. I hopped right on an elliptical and had a great workout. An hour later, heading back out to my car I realized that the lot was totally full and streets around the gym were filling up fast. Note to self - Sunday at the gym is not awful as long as I arrive by 9am.

Then I headed out to breakfast at Maria's (mmmm, corn pancakes) with a friend and later today I'm going to see The King's Speech.