Mercedes Recap

 I started Sunday morning by trying to answer the age old question, "How many shades of pink can you wear in one outfit?" I came up with three.  I also answered a few questions from American Express. Namely, no, I didn't spend $1300 yesterday on plane tickets and psychic readings. Wonder if the psychic picked up on the stolen credit card?

The weather Saturday had me really nervous. It was cold, but worse, it was incredibly windy. Knock you over freezing cold wind. And I knew I wasn't lucky enough for tail winds.

It turned out cold - but not windy. With three layers, it was cold at the start, but perfect once we got moving. This was the largest Mercedes I've done.- 50 runners under the cap. It makes me happy to see a local race grow- especially since it's so well run. I made an effort to start out slow this year. It's hard to find the balance of pulling back my pace and also taking advantage of  the excitement of race day.

As soon as we started, I had to pee. Again. I held off until mile 3, so I could sneak in the real bathroom at Railroad Park, rather than waiting in line for a porta potty. I am still angry about the pee break.

 My Garmin wasn't reading the distance correctly, and I'm too dumb to do pace/time/distance math while running (or ever, let's not kid ourselves) so I just went by feeling, and  I just happened to feel good Sunday. I got a knee band, and it helped immensely. Racing is really just luck of the draw.

 I was expecting to hit a wall since my last 8 runs left me cursing running, half marathons and running half marathons- but everything fell into place and it was my fastest half yet. I think I was just so. ready. for. a. break. MS reminded me that morning that we knew the course like the back of our hand, and that was definitely an advantage. I knew when to push and when to hold back.

I wasn't going to let the guy in the race day shirt beat me.

Lean back, lean back....what is this??

 My legs started cramping the second I crossed the finish. Luckily, there's plenty of beer at the after party. In case you hadn't picked up, well organized = good beer supply. I'm not hard to please.

Matt's sister ran her first half this year. She did great!! How does one look so good after running 13.1? If I figure it out, I'll let you know.

  Our fourth Mercedes together. Maybe someday MS will buy me a Mercedes to celebrate. I'm not holding my breath.

 But I was ready to hold a cold mimosa. Someday, I will move above the Andre. Sunday wasn't that day.

 We took Namath down to help us cheer on the marathoners. Too bad all he wanted to do was jump in the race and steal discarded bananas. Not at all embarrassing. Someone should teach him manners, and it probably should be me. Sounds exhausting.

 Mimosas.

 Pinterest.

 And an afternoon of House Hunters,  themed around women complaining that "this condo doesn't have granite!"

 In the spirit of knowing when to hold back, we're taking it very easy this week. Nutella, creamy pastas and the heating pad. These are a few of my favorite things.