What is Irish and Stays Out All Night?

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Patty O'Furniture

har har har

That was just one of many jokes that was displayed along the 13.1 mile Anthem Shamrock 1/2 Marathon on Sunday morning.  The race was great - perfect weather, lots of fun kelly green outfits, and a flat and scenic course.  I ended up placing somewhere around 2,200 out of 4,500 runners - smack dab in the middle - and this 30 year old mother of two is more than happy with that.

It was the first race that John and I have done together.  He has done a few full marathons (craaaaaazy loony toon) and we were supposed to run the Rock 'n Roll together back in 2005 but he was called up to help with the Hurricane Katrina relief and flew out the morning of the race.  And when I ran the Rock 'n Roll this past Labor day he was deployed.  So this time it was really awesome to see his face at the end of the run (yes, he beat me).

It is the only time after the age of 25 that drinking beer is acceptable at 9:30 AM so we headed over to the party tent to claim our beverages.

Yay for Yeungling!

My close friends got a kick out of the fact that the Shamrock Marathon series was sponsored by Yeungling.  Way back when I turned 21, my first legal beverage was a pint of Yeungling at a bar near Villanova.  You would think that after almost 4 years in Pennsylvania that I would know Yeungling was a proud Pennsylvania beer (not to mention, America's oldest brewery).  But no.  In the age of AOL IM where all conversations were recorded, I told my (now) husband that I had drank some "Japanese beer".  I guess 21 year old me thought Yeungling sounded like it came from an Asian country.  Anyway.  That conversation became his signature on his IM (remember that? I feel like I am really dating myself talking about IM signatures) and the rest is history.  I have still yet to live that down and whenever anyone ever brings Yeungling into the house they make sure to remind me that they brought the beer all the way from Japan.  

Overall, we had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day weekend.  Lots of outings and events for the kids and for the whole family.  Next up: the 2nd annual Run for the Dream in Williamsburg in mid May.  Giddyup!