Gone Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I thought I'd start off with a little business. Correspondence, if you will. Here we go:

Dear Thighs,

I want to thank you. There's not a time in my life -- even when I was little -- that I didn't get how strong you are. I've also known that strength comes with some size making it sometimes difficult to buy pants. But, I've always forgiven you because I've thought it was cool to be so strong.

Hey, thanks for not letting me down yesterday on that run. You carried me well. Actually, "well" is an understatement. I'll rephrase: Thank you for carrying me 21 minutes faster than planned. That made me feel like a stud. Apparently, though, it made you need to burn last night. And, I do mean burn. But, that was understandable.

I further thank you for letting the burn subside by this morning. No ice, no heat, no medication required, just rest. I can feel you, but I don't feel you. And, for that, I thank you for all you've done.

Most appreciative, The Puppy Pacer

Hey, while I'm at the correspondence ...

Dear Weather People,

I'm not the first to say I'd be fired from my job if I were as wrong as often as you. But, am I really at liberty to complain when I used your forecast to my advantage and ran yesterday so as to rest today?

I don't know what to do with you.

Sincerely, Enjoying Rest Day

"I'm enjoying it, too, mommy. You didn't
leave me this morning and there are snow
flakes drifting ... how weird cool is that?!"

And, a direct hello to you!! Thanks for checking in on this St. Patrick's Day! I'm actually glad to have had this morning free so as to make a fun breakfast complete with the St. Pat's theme! It has nothing to do with running, but running doesn't rule my life, so let's have some different fun today!

For breakfast:

I got a brainstorm yesterday and decided to make shamrock
shaped pancakes! Wahoo!!

These were a hit and a blast to make!

The soyrizo discolored the green eggs, but that was okay. It
was a super fun way to start the drizzly day!

For lunch, we went to McDonald's because the fam needed their Shamrock Shakes. By "fam," I mean the other three members. I think they're gross (the shakes, not the fam).

So sweet! (both the fam and the shakes!)

I had one of McD's yummy salads, and we all had some fries. We have some friends who went to Ireland last year who reported there were fries with every meal there. So, see? It seems we knew how to add genuine culture to our lunch! We're amazing.

And, then there's dinner. Before the rundown, let me just note that the traditional St. Pat's Day dinner is disgusting dating back to when I had to eat it as a kid. It = Corned Beef. As a kid, I put as much mustard on it as I could tolerate so as to drown its flavor and choke it down. As an adult, I get to decide that I will not have any of it. But, my weirdo family loves it, so I will smell up the kitchen every March 17 just for them.

Corned beef and beer: Two clear give-aways that this is Aaron's
plate, not mine.

There's mine ... double the artichoke, double the fun! (It's also
double the big-time fiber which means double the morning
time allotment to ensure, um, being ready to run. Just. Sayin'.)

Oh, artichoke, how I love you ...

I even splurged for the hollandaise, and its turnout was
perfection! Of course, it also had to be green.

PC#3 is putting together a science experiment using potatoes,
so we used the leftovers for some mash-on-the-side.

For years, the traditional dessert has been green M&Ms ...

The green drink is a bit trickier -- we put
green food color in Diet Sierra Mist which
worked great for color, but the food color
seems to zap the fizz from it. Note to self
for next year: Don't do that.

That's a happy part-Irish dude, isn't it?
(The one in the beer mug hat, not the one
in the underwear.)

Of course, we had a clean-up helper. She was very busy with her licker (which is much different from having liquor) but graced me with a quick pic:

"We're not running, mommy. I can look all you need."

I love having a reason to rally around some kind of theme and fun with it, and St. Patrick's Day is no exception! It was a nice day to take a breather before getting back to the streets tomorrow! At least, I hope it's back to the streets; the rain is lingering! Either way, the run must go on as I have only two more long runs before the big day!! YOW-ZA!! We're so close to the home stretch! Have a great start to your week, and I'll see you after the morning run!