The Luck Of The Irish

This morning I participated in the Portland Shamrock Run.  I went with two close friends and Portland runners showed up in full St. Patty's Day regalia.  Green tutus, argyle socks and kilts were in abundance.  Thankfully the kilt wearing guys had running shorts underneath.  It was very windy :)

Some fun things stand out in my mind, in addition to the kilts,

There was a bagpipe 'band' welcoming us to the start line at 8 am. 

We were passed by the 15K runners who began their race 1/2 hour AFTER our race started.  We were also passed by them AGAIN as we neared the finish line.

I accidentally grabbed a runner's 'front area' but it was totally his fault.  He passed by me so close and  my hands and arms were swinging which resulted in making a direct hit to his crotch region.  I guess those are some of the hazards of races??  He survived but I, on the other hand, was pretty disturbed by the experience.

I was passed by a 4 year old.  I'm not sure what happened.  Suddenly she was just in front of me!  I'm going to stick with the idea that I was just catching up to them because their start time was so long before mine.

We were offered Little Debbie's Chocolate Swiss Rolls and beer mid race from guys in bathrobes.  We politely declined.

We laughed at the man who basically wore nothing except some shorts and green full body paint.

We sympathized with the mom who thought it was a cool idea to bring her toddler, clad in a crocodile outfit, in the rain.  He wasn't exactly thrilled.

I'm pretty sure I did some moves from the film, "Rocky" when I crossed the finish line.

I can't wait to do another one!