Happy St Patrick’s Day, dear readers. I’m wearing a green shirt and clover earrings. Oh, wait, let me take a quick selfie to show you.

You’re welcome.

Saturday I ran the 5 mile race downtown for St Patrick’s Day. It’s officially called the St Patrick’s Day Parade Run.

I originally wasn’t planning to run it, but my friend April wanted somebody else to do it and I realized it did fit into my schedule, so I figured, WHY NOT…and though I had a very rough start to the morning (I’d slept very poorly due to some and lingering effects from the cold) I’m very glad I went.

We took the Metrolink downtown from April’s house and it was very convenient. For April, that is, and for me it wasn’t convenient but it was cheaper.

The weather was phenomenal—it was cool at the start but by the end was simply gorgeous. I’m glad I wore shorts! Anyway, April and I stayed together the whole race and had some good girl chats while trying to run more than I wanted to (I was feeling pretty lousy at the beginning of the race, but I started feeling better, and by the end I felt VERY strong and capable).  It’s a fun race, over 10,000 people running, mostly wearing green, and the crowd support it great too. I highly recommend this race, honestly.

After the race we stopped for a photo op in front of Busch Stadium with one of the STL250 Birthday Cakes.

Anyway, I had a few more pictures to share but they keep showing up upside down, and when I rotate them they get distorted…so…whatever. It is hard enough getting photos from my phone to my computer using Windows 8 and then getting them in blog posts…*sigh*

Our time wasn’t anything to write home about (1:09:38), but April was a great friend to stay with me, and I am improving, slowly but surely. I finally have confidence in my abilities again, and know that I WILL reach my physical goals 🙂 I also realized I’m happier right now that I’ve been in a long time, and that I do actually deserve this sort of happiness, and that I am so happy to be surrounded by people who feel the same way—people who love and respect me, and want the best for me.

I know I’m vague-blogging, and I apologize for that (all will be explained to an extent someday, I’m sure), but suffice it to say, this race made me feel strong, and I am happy that running and working out is making me realize I’m stronger than I thought I was.