The Green Theme

Okay, I always thought the first day of a new season was on the 21st of whatever month it fell, not on the 20th. So, you can guess I had to hear that today is the first day of Spring multiple times before it really sank in. My daily someecards calendar helped a smidge:

What did not help at all was the morning weather! Shoot, not just the morning! Now! The forecast! The weekend! There's all kinds of wintery talk!! I even just moved a heap-load of firewood inside to use on March 20!! It's that cold and windy!

(It was so cold and windy that at the end of the my run, where I was going smack-dab-straight into the wind, I know I had that picturesque, pained-but-determined look on my face while the wind cut through the very wet runner's nose issue I had going on. You know the one ... where there's so much leaking, but if you deal with it by wiping it off in the cold, you then also take part of your face off.)

While that's a mighty sad story, the run must (and, obviously did) go on! Today was the first of two midweek 5-milers on the Half training schedule. It's a mixed bag of emotions on those days feeling anything from not necessarily excited about going that far mid-week to knowing there's only one more 5-miler before the big show. That part is exciting!

But, is it as exciting as finding that plastic fish I've always wanted?

Okay, that was random and totally a joke. Yes, it's odd to see such a thing, but, really, I've not been looking for it.

I'm actually about to spring on you -- no pun intended -- the unintentional and very surprising theme of the day. Drum roll ... Green! And, why is that? Oh, I don't know ... could it be because Kermit sings about it in that not-easy-being-green song when he says, "Green's the color of Spring" (which is very fitting for this first day of the season)?

OR, could it be because I couldn't find my awesome striped, purple gloves that totally go with my running jacket and had to use my seasonal green ones?

They don't go, but I do like 'em. And, in
case you're wondering, Elly's loving the
hug even though she seems to be saying,
"Stop choking me with the poo bag; is
that the thanks I get for not using it?!"

OR, could it be that Elly swapped out her St. Pat's fashion for Easter which is also mostly green?

"I'm fashionable, yes, but my butt's cold,
so hurry this up. For real."

OR ... wait for it ... is it because I spied with my little eye my biggest score yet:

Totally. Not. Kidding.

Did I mention it was windy as all get out today? I couldn't believe the very chance of this blowing across my path out of nowhere and landing before wafting into the street (where it would have gone in front of cars ... requiring a quick decision from me involving some common sense often deemed questionable when it comes to even picking up a random penny ...). There was no one else around on foot. Yes, I stopped and looked! So, I carried on trying to not think too much about it because I was actually very bummed for the person who lost it. But, I was also pretty stoked that it will translate into between 240 and 300 pounds of food at the Food Bank!!! Thinking about that was pretty overwhelming, actually!!

It was also overwhelming trying to block out the sounds of the blowing leaves because every time I heard the scuttle, I'd look almost expecting to find more paper money ... not that I didn't keep my eyes peeled! I felt a little more grounded, if you will, when I later found the coins. The normalcy of it was very welcomed! I'm keeping the 20 separate in the running cash count because it's such an anomoly. I definitely like the money count of pennies -- and other change -- at a time! But, I will like giving it all over at Thanksgiving no matter what tally it was under!

Aaaaand, there's Wednesday! That was a mighty suprising 5 miles! We're back at it for 3 tomorrow! I'll see you then!