Happy St. Patrick's Day...

Monday, March 17, 2014

St. Patrick’s Day.  There was a time when this was such an important day in my life and that of my family.  My mom was half Irish, and she took that heritage pretty seriously.  We’d celebrate St. Pat’s with all our food and beverage dyed green.  I could never understand why the milk didn’t taste better – I figured it should be rich and sweet, like chocolate milk.  The first time Holly joined us for a St. Pat’s dinner, she later admitted that the green mashed potatoes and green milk gagged her.

Then came the years at the Cleveland Athletic Club and a thousand drunken members and their guests filling the facility to bursting.  We’d feed them all day long with our brunch and dinner buffets, preparing 500 pounds of corned beef and providing an endless supply of beer and alcohol.  I don’t imagine many of the participants had any recollection of the day.

It’s calmer now.  My sister called and suggested I come over for a traditional St. Patrick dinner.  She’d made corned beef and a concoction of turnips, cabbage, carrots and potatoes as a side, which I enjoyed, but only for a day. 

I put in another run on the trails before eating.  They still have some lingering ice and snow and where it’s melted I found lots of mud.  I had to tread carefully crossing Clear Creek on certain portions of the trail, but was able to run the same course I’d done in 40 minutes a week ago in 37 minutes.  Nothing to do with my conditioning, mind you, but only because it was a little easier to run.

Tomorrow’s forecast is sunny and fifty.  I’m hoping to get on the bike for an outdoor ride and hoping that I will soon be driving only part of the trip to Warren; planning to park the car halfway and then ride the remaining distance.

Run duration: 37 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories Burned: 625.