St. Patty's Day 5K

Well I ran/walked my first 5K on St. Patrick's Day. My friend Amy convinced me to do it and I was a little nervous. I have not been running or doing anything to prepare for it. I was going to start running the weeks leading up to it but I had a severe allergic reaction on my hip to a medicine from the doctor (story for another post). So I wasn't able to run or workout. We decided to push the boys. I was happy because if I was walking I didn't look like such a wimp. I really hadn't planned on running very much because I am soooo out of shape.

Since it was St. Patricks day we had to run in something green and the boys needed something too. We found these bright green workout shirts and the boys these little St. Patty's day shirts at Old Navy. They were perfect!

Yes Amy and I were wearing the same Lulu Lemon jacket....and no we didn't plan it!

Well the morning came and it was freezing and really windy! We bundled up and we were ready to go. Luckily Cooper had green rain boots and a green jacket to wear. It said it was supposed to be rainy all morning so I was quite nervous. But it didn't rain at all. Luckily!

Brad and my dad came to support. It was really sweet of them! They drove to the middle of the route so they could cheer us on. It was hilarious. They would get out and take pictures like it was this serious race. Super embarrassing but it is nice having the pictures and knowing they cared enough about me to make fools of themselves :)

Between the wind, having to stop to adjust the boys hats and gloves, give them snacks, Amy's hurt foot (her doctor had told her not to run for 2 weeks but we still did), and the heavy jogging strollers our time wasn't great by any means. But it was quicker then I had thought we would do. My official time was 39:16:9 and I took 14th place in my age group and 160th overall. Definitely not amazing but I wanted to document it!

It is nice saying I have completed a 5k. I am wanting to completely run one in April. Then we are going to do the Race for the Cure in May. Brad said he would do this one with me so we will probably walk it.

Here we are about to cross the finish line.....watch Cooper as we pass!

St. Patrick's Day Dud

Well I decided that since this year I wasn't in school or working that I was going to be festive and make fun green foods for St. Patrick's Day. Rather than just making a recipe green I looked for some green recipes. The first one I found was for a yummy shamrock sugar cookie. This is the only recipe that turned out for me. It was super easy. Click here for the recipe. I could have taken more time and made it look better but I made them the night before after I got home from Young Womens and I was kind of in a hurry.


The next recipe I attempted was a shamrock milkshake cupcake. I am usually really good at making cupcakes and having them look good. But I must have just been having an off day. The recipe was a process. For some reason I couldn't find my cupcake papers, so had to use some left over ones from the shower I threw but they are crappy ones and don't hold well. So the cupcakes themselves didn't look great. Then the frosting was a whole other story. I made it exactly like it said. But it was not firming up. It called for 1 1/2-2 cups of powdered sugar (keep adding until it gets to a piping consistency). Well it never got to that point. After adding 4 cups of powdered sugar I was in a bad mood and done! After a couple hours of sitting the frosting finally set up but I had already thrown frosting on the cupcakes in frustration. So the cupcakes tasted really good even if they didn't look good. Well at least to me, some friends that came over, and my mom. Brad informed me that they tasted like toothpaste. I guess he doesn't like mint :( Here is the recipe.

This is how they were supposed to look.
Mine weren't even picture worthy.

The final recipe I decided was a creamy broccoli soup. I am not even going to share the recipe to this one because it wasn't good. It tasted too much like potato and the consistency was gross. It was a perfect blended delight for baby food though :)Luckily we grilled steaks, zucchini, asparagus, and sauteed mushrooms. So that part of dinner tasted good.

Hopefully I have better luck with the other holidays that I try to be festive with. Brad isn't big on the whole festive thing (other than Christmas) so it is going to have to be my thing if I want to make holidays fun for my kids. Hopefully I can convince him to get more into things next year.

Hopefully everyone else had a fantastic St. Patrick's Day!