Kiss me I'm Irish!

Today, Atticus ran his first race. He actually slept through most of it. We donned our green this morning and headed to Corktown for the 26th Annual St. Patty's Day Race. With a noon start, we surely thought we'd make it without a hitch. Not so as Tigers stadium and the current ballpark in which the Tigers play (Comerica Park) are not one and the same. After running from Comerica Park to Old Tigers Stadium, we'd tacked on an extra mile to our race. Suffice it to say some were less pleased about this than others.

The race turned out to be quite a fun event after finding the actual starting line. This from John who last ran an organized race well over over 20 years ago. John paved the way for the jogger running as our blocker as people veered in front of us like they'd had their finish line beers prior to starting. The 4 mile race wound its way through the heart of downtown Detroit around Campus Martius and then back to Corktown where streams of parade onlookers cheered--heads adorned with shamrock deely-boppers and green beers in hand. Atticus was oblivious to just about all of it. It was all over in a matter of 33 minutes (not including the untimed frantic warm-up mile to the start). Slow by John's standards, respectable by mine.

After the race, we meandered back to the car and encountered some Wayne County mounties with their trusty steeds. Atticus who says "nay-nay-nay" any time you suggest the word "horsey" was entirely uninterested in the live animals before him. Perhaps now that he can climb atop his trusty steed at home (a rocking horse from Grandma and Grandpa Reyher) he doesn't need the real thing.

We entertained ourselves the rest of the afternoon by going to our home away from home, the Detroit Institute of Arts, where Atticus loves to run through the galleries yelling loudly trying to touch art while the guards aren't looking. After that, we met up with Big Momma for some Indian food on Nine Mile and then walked down to AJ's for the 50-hour Danny Boy marathon.

More on that later...