And it ended with a BLAST!

Hey there! So, it’s Monday after a nice long holiday weekend. How’s it going for you? I’m pretty tired, not sure if it’s from all the celebrating or from the 10 mile run I did yesterday.

So, that 10 mile run. Remember the last time I ran 10 miles?  Even though I titled that post “Perfect 10″ I would say yesterday’s run was much better. The number one reason it was better was because I didn’t get horrible blisters on my feet! I’d say it was nice that it wasn’t hot out but it could have been a little warmer for my liking. I ran into the wind for 5 miles and was relieved when I turned around with the wind at my back for the last 5 miles. John ran with me for the first 3 miles but then a chest cold he has been battling really started to bother him and he turned back. I will say one thing though, 10 is definitely not my new 8. When I trained for my last half marathon I really started to enjoy running 8 miles. It seemed challenging enough but didn’t wipe me out for the whole day. 10 miles wipes me out big time! I was so tired yesterday! All the mega workouts I’ve been doing lately probably didn’t help. I know I didn’t have fresh legs. Perhaps I’ll try running 10 miles after a rest day!

Even though I was pretty tired yesterday I summoned up enough energy to have a BLAST with our friends the Gardner’s. They stopped by late yesterday afternoon on their way home to the St. Paul. We headed out to dinner at Kate’s Pizza Amore.

Gotta love the ambience and the company.

We decided to order 4 individual pizzas and share them plus 2 appetizers.

Grilled Bruschetta: tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella on grilled flatbread.

Gorgonzola Calzone: chorizo, olives, mushrooms, and gorgonzola stuffed into a calzone.

My choice for pizza, the Seafood Romanesco: sun dried tomato pesto, spinach, shrimp, clams, scallops, mushrooms, olive blend, pine nuts, and feta cheese. Definitely my favorite!

Brian chose the Jambalaya which had creamy jambalaya sauce, chicken, andouille sausage, shrimp, tomato, red onion, green pepper and a little Creole kick! Very spicy and I liked it!

Shannon picked the California Kick which had spicy hummus, spinach, mushrooms, red pepper, artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, feta cheese, and roasted garlic. Very unique and delicious!

Gardner had the Margherita:extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh roasted garlic, basil pesto, a light sprinkle of blend of cheeses plus he added pepperoni.

It was such a good meal! Just what I needed after that long run! After eating we drove down to the park to see the AMAZING Rotary Lights display!

Pictures don’t do it justice! Santa was there, they had a live nativity and even a live choir singing! For some reason I usually don’t get down to see the lights until after Christmas and by then all the extra stuff is gone. It was nice to see it in all it’s glory!

We returned home for our traditional boys against the girls Euchre game. The girls were up for the first 2 out of 3 games but then the boys wanted to play best 4 out of 7. We lost steam and the game! Oh well. I think it’s more fun to watch Brian and Gardner get all agitated when they lose and then all pumped up when they win!

The Gardner’s left early this morning and since I did my weekly cleaning before they came I had time to put up some Christmas decorations. We aren’t doing a tree this year because we’ll be leaving for Florida so soon after the New Year. I just didn’t want to worry about taking it down before we left. I hung some lighted garland, put up our nativity, and even did some outdoor decorations (it’s suppose to get really cold and snowy later this week so I wanted to get that done!). I promise I’ll post pictures soon but this post is getting long enough!

Hope you have a great start to your week!