Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Hey, hey!! A big shout out to my fellow Irishmen out there!

Can't say I drank any green beer today, but I did set a new PR! I ran a quick 5 miles, and I'm not kidding when I say "quick". I still can't believe it. Check these splits:

Mile 1 = 8:52

Mile 2 = 8:39

Mile 3 = 8:36

Mile 4 = 8:41

Mile 5 = 8:23

For a total of 43:17, and an average of 8:39/mile!! HOLLA!!!! This might not be fast for a lot of you, but this is SPEEDY for me. My fastest prior to today was 44:58 in a 5 mile race 3 years ago! KILLED IT, and then ate it for dinner. Ha!

Now that I'm done bragging, let me back up. As I said yesterday, Sunday was my longest run yet of 16 miles. I drove to the eastside to run so that I could run with Jenay:

Love it! Jen met me at my parent's house as I was just returning from the first 6. We then headed out to tackle the last 10 together. We ran a 5 mile loop to my grandparent's house so we could fuel up and use the restroom, etc. This dog is outside my grandparent's house. Let me explain, my grandma and grandpa are both blind. My grandpa has had a seeing eye dog for as long as I can remember, so dogs are a part of his life (but the pictures are still funny, right?!). My grandparents are pretty amazing, they are both blind and raised 16 kids (yes, 16!!). It's pretty cool, actually. My mom is the first girl (9 girls and 7 boys), I'm the first grandkid, and C is the first great-grandkid! Pretty sweet. Here's me and Grandpa on Sunday:

Isn't he cute??? :) Love you, Grandpa!

After our short "visit" Jen and I headed back out for the 5 miles home. I kept telling myself "only 5 miles left, only 4 miles left", etc - it was much easier broken up into smaller segments. Here I am at Mile 15, my first PDR (before finishing the 16, obvi!):

Don't I look excited? You can't really see, but that brown building behind me across the street is my high school alma mater. What up, Eastlake North High??! **fist pump**

We finished those 16 miles pretty strong, and feeling great. What a difference from the 14 I ran the week before. I felt great the rest of the day, too! No stomach issues or anything. I even got up and taught Group Power at 5:30am on Monday! I'm helping out another instructor the next few months while she's out on maternity leave. And never did I think that class would be crowded, but holy cow! That gym's got a ton of die hards, I tell you. Wasn't a bad way to start my week, that's for sure.

This pic isn't from today, but here's the hubby toasting us Irish:

It's no green beer, but this is the best pic I've got. Can't say he DIDN'T enjoy the green beer today. :)

Enjoy the night!