Tipperary Hill, Year 3

Friday night I was laying on the couch, listening to the wind, and watching the snow whirling around outside, and I figured, better get my old running shoes out because tomorrow's race might be a bit messy!

This was my third year running the Tipperary Hill Shamrock run.  It's a lot of fun, four miles of up and down, up and down. And up and down for good measure.  It was pretty chilly and snowy race morning, I rode over with Jeanine and Norine, whose husband dropped us off at the start.  We planned on going to the Irish bars in the neighborhood post race, we went back and forth a bit over what time we wanted him to pick us up, but settled on three o'clock, we figured any later would be asking for trouble.  We didn't bring our phones with us, which was a bummer because I wanted to take pictures, but I didn't want it banging around in my sports bra (hello, why can't my running pants have pockets??)

We met up with a couple of friends, as well as Mike's Aunt and Uncle, who were also running.  By the time we lined up at the start, my toes were pretty cold.  My only goal was to finish in under 40 minutes, I really just wanted to run and feel good while enjoying the atmosphere.

There were 3,500 people running, I expected it to be crowded, last year I had to weave around until I found an open spot. Walkers are a part of the race as well, but I didn't come across many of them. It was a pretty uneventful run, I had no problems with the inclines, but I knew I lost time as I went downhill. I slowed way down, I just can't plow downhill, I'm convinced I'll tumble forward and wipe out.  My time was 39:41, a minute and a half longer than last year, but I felt good, so I was happy.

Then we marched down to Coleman's Irish Pub for post race beers, and all of a sudden it was 2:30 (time flies when you're having fun) and decided to stay until four. We trudged over to Nibsy's, and all of a sudden it was 3:45, we ordered one more pitcher, and sucked it down by 4:00.

Harp is yummy.

After I got home I Ate All The Things. Mike made a corned beef on the grill so we had Reubens and roasted butternut squash, and oddly enough, butternut squash sushi from Wegman's, that sounds weird but suited me just fine.  Mike built a fire, which will most likely be the last one for this winter.  I watched Finding Nemo with Eliza, you should have seen her face when I told her the voice of Dory was Ellen.

Pretty good day, huh?