St. Patrick's Day Funning - aka The Week of Green Laundry

I did last week's laundry and noticed that almost everything in it was green. I did St. Patrick's Day runs with two different running clubs, a happy hour on the actual St. Patty's day, and a race the day after. On each occasion I wore one or more green garments. Because the weather was cold, I also had to layer on the green.

Green Run #1 - Tuesday, 3/14/17

The Columbus Westside Running Club hosted its second annual St. Patrick's day run on our regular night. It was the season's first run in daylight, thanks to the time change. But even though it was light out, it was still freezing cold; temperatures were in the low 20s F, and windy. Club members came all decked out in their St. Patty's Day green, and if they didn't have any green, Tracy gave them some sort of green novelty to wear. After a group photo, we were off to do our usual laps around Westgate Park. It was a slow, easy recovery run for me, having just run a marathon three days prior.

CWRC St. Patty's Run - yes, that's snow

After the run some of us headed out to Dirty Frank's West, a popular local hotdog joint (with another location downtown). It's not a place I would have ever considered, as I'm a vegetarian. But at Dirty Frank's you can get any of their creative combos with a veggie dog, and several of the dogs can be made vegan. I had a "Sarva's Tat-cho Dog" which had cheese sauce, jalapeños and, drumroll: tater tots. Yes tater tots on the dog. It was pretty darn good and Dirty Franks also had a selection of local craft brews.

CWRC fearless leader Carl and the crew at Dirty Frank's

I enjoyed getting to socialize with CWRC members, as in the past it's been dark and cold after runs and everyone would go straight home afterward. I call this a very fun and successful Green Run.

Green Run #2 - Thursday, 3/16/17

The next event was not only a St. Patrick's Day run, but also the 200th running of the Short North Running Club. Those were two great reasons to celebrate. This week we met at Zeno's in Victorian Village. I walked in and didn't see very many people wearing green. I had gone a little crazy with my sparkly green skirt and shamrock sunglasses. It wasn't until Brian started handing out green beads that I felt less conspicuous. A couple other people wore green too; I guess the group is just not used to costume runs.

Looking a little out of place until more green-clad runners arrived

This week's run was going to be on the shorter side (about 2.5 miles) and include 4 drink checks at member's houses. It was a fun run that stayed in the Short North, crossing High Street for the first drink check (an Irish Car Bomb), then back over to Victorian Village for the second stop (a black & tan), the third stop (a green Jello shot, which I skipped), and the last stop at Brian's house. Brian did it right, with full cans of Genesee, corned beef sandwiches (of course I abstained), and a fire pit in his back yard. This was good, because it was cold outside and everyone started huddling closer to the fire as the sun went down. When the mini-party at Brian's fizzled out and we were too cold to hang around outdoors, we ran back to the bar for a while.

Drink Check #1: Irish Car Bomb (don't worry, nothing was full-sized)

Drink Check #2: Black & Tan

Revelers at Drink Check #2

Drink Check #4: Genesee and a fire pit

The crew at Drink Check #4

There was a good turnout for this run and it was fun to meet more members. I maintained a pretty decent pace up until the last drink check. My last leg back to the bar was slower, understandably. It was a fun Green Run and I hope the SNRC does some more themed runs.

Green Run #3 - Saturday, 3/18/17

The last Green Run of the week was a race. I met CWRC members Tracy and Sally at the St. Patrick's Day 4 Miler at Kinsale up in Powell. This was an evening race with a big after party in a tent at the golf club. This area was not developed when I used to live in Columbus. It was farmland and empty lots. Now the suburban sprawl has gone quite far north in Powell and I didn't recognize much of anything. The golf club was in a neighborhood full of large, newer houses. I was able to park about a quarter mile down the street and pick up my packet before the race.

The start/finish line 

Ready to go selfie

Tracy, Sally & Sandy pre-race

There was a little drizzle before the race, and it was cold. I wore a short-sleeved shirt over a long-sleeved shirt and this worked out fine for running, but I would need the fleece I brought for afterward. There were a lot of people dressed up in green, with fancy socks, fun hats & headbands, etc. It was a festive atmosphere.

The run started out on the subdivision streets and then crossed over to the golf course where we ran on the golf cart trails. I can't say the scenery was all that special unless you like suburban houses and golf greens on a dreary day (at least it didn't rain during the race). But, like all M3S races, it was very well supported. There were rolling hills on the golf course and I did more walking than I should have. I forgot my Garmin, so I didn't know my pace and my walk breaks were too frequent and too long. My time still wasn't that bad, so I could possibly have PR'd if I'd walked less and been aware of my pace.

Yup, it's a suburban golf course

In the last half mile I ran a little bit with Sally. She was just running, but I was run/walking, so we'd leap-frog each other. The last stretch of the course was back out on the road, uphill, and into the wind. It kind of kicked my butt, but Sally mustered some energy for a really strong finish. I crossed the mat just a little bit after her. And then we chatted while we waited for Tracy to finish. I was starting to freeze so I had to go back to the tent and get my fleece and my jacket. Sally and Tracy met me there shortly afterward and we hung around while drinking our post-race beers. I think the party fizzled out a little early because of the weather. That's too bad, because they had a great selection of beer and there was a food vendor with some options to refuel.

Tracy, Sally & Sandy post-race

Race shirt and medal

I had a good time at Kinsale, but I'm not sure if I'll run this one again. It's a bit of a drive and not that interesting of a course to repeat. But who knows? The Green Run St. Patty's theme was great and so was the party, even if the weather didn't quite cooperate.

So, there's the story of my Green Runs from last week, and now it's pretty evident why I had so much green laundry.