St. Pat's Dash

The kids and I just completed our very first race together: the St. Pat's Dash in Seattle! We got up at 6am and faced high-30 temperatures for our 9 a.m. race start time.

From their comfy and cozy spot in the double jogger, the kids enjoyed the view while I tried to run through a sea of nearly 17,000 green-covered people. Some of my favorite costumes were the group of people dressed as green eggs and spam, the alien from Sesame Street (yeppp, yep, yep, yep, uh-huh, uh-huh!), leprechauns galore, a large rainbow banner, and a woman wearing nude colored skin suit withh shamrock pasties.

Although we wouldn't win any costume awards, we were also a little festive.

The jogger made running with 60+ pounds of children a total breeze! The hardest part was trying to pass people. This jogger is the hummer of strollers! I know for sure I scraped the back of one man's ankle (he jumped in front of me so it's totally his fault!). I also may have run over another girl's toes although I'm convinced she was limping BEFORE then. 

I ran with my friend who encouraged me to sign up and we chatted the whole time. Although our chatting was a clear sign that we weren't running hard enough, it was amazing to mix my three favorite things: time with the kids, girl talk, and running. The 4 mile race went by so quickly that I was shocked when I saw the finish line. And although we didn't finish the course in my goal time (8 minute miles), the run was so much fun that I didn't even give it a second thought.

Daddy was waiting at the finish line to snap the obligatory victory shots.

Then the whole gang of us celebrated by going out to brunch. Amazingly, the men who had just been spectators put away three times as much brunch as the race participants. Cheerleading must be a lot of work (or we didn't run hard enough). The boys were so well behaved (for boys) during brunch. Ryan ate pancakes and scrambled eggs and Jacob was mostly quiet and still while we enjoyed our own food.

I'm already trying to decide which race we will run next. I think I'm going to start planning one per month. I love you double jogger!!