Wednesday, March 15, 2006

St. Patty's Day Dilemma

(Detroit's Corktown neighborhood, March 12, 2006)

St. Patrick's day has always been a significant occassion in my life. Growing up it was a chance to boast to my playground rivals that my name triumphed all others. Other kids shared names with presidents, dignitaries, pop stars and famous athletes, but a saint?.......it doesn't get much higher than that. In a predominate Catholic community, that's one step down from the big guy himself. Needless to say, I always wore my green with pride and celebrated my mixed Irish heritage with green colored cookies and leprechaun pins on my shirt.

Today, this pseudo holiday still plays a big role. I still wear my green. I still hold my head high as a saint presumably does. What has changed is the degree of celebration. Sure, I might still indulge in a green cookie or two on March 17. More likely, however, I'll be washing it down with a Guinness or two, or three, or...... The Guinness might be chased by an Irish Whiskey. While I'm at it, I'll probably have a Bailey's for dessert. St. Patrick's Day is no longer limited to a single day of self-centered bragging; it has become a week long event. I've even picked up a loyal group of fellow celebrants and stretched St. Paddy's love to exotic places like Columbus, Ohio, where the per capita ratio of freckled, red-faced, round bellied Irishmen competes with the likes of downtown Dublin. In fact for the past five years I've been adopted by a good friend's family in a Columbus suburb, appropriately named, Dublin.

"What the hell does all this bloody rambling have to do with running?," you're probably asking in your best Irish accent. Well, I recently sifted through the volumes of information I've received from Team in Training coaches, advisors and mentors regarding the proper means of preparing for this race. There is nothing contained in these documents advising me to drink beer and whiskey until the wee hours of the night, smoke cigars and eat greesy sliders and pizza all weekend. I double checked this information, because these are the activities I habitually engage in to honor my patron saint. I'm not sure exactly how far St. Patrick had to travel to drive all the snakes from the Emerald Isle, but I doubt he did it hung over and with little to no sleep the night before. I've been running my long runs every Saturday morning since I began training. Unfortunately, I've got 16 miles scheduled for March 18. My choices consist of (1) breaking tradition and disappointing a saint; (2) taking on 16 miles and risking a citation for "running under the influence" or (3)rescheduling this run for another date. Tough decision here. Wish me luck.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home