I hold St. Patrick's Day with the same reverence that most people place on Christmas or their birthday. So when it happened to fall on a Saturday, we started the planning early. Sheryl lined up a sitter, we bought tickets to Smyrna Market Village and my parents even sent us cab fare.
The day started with me getting up at 5 am to squeeze in my last long run (really only 13 miles) before my marathon. At 5 am it was chilly, but comfortable in a long sleeve tech shirt and tights. That's why I was so surprised when we arrived at Ainsley's Soccer game in the middle of winter. It was so cold that they shorten the game due to kids crying because from the cold (I am not exaggerating). I have to hand it to Ains, she didn't complain once except when we talked about possibly skipping the parade due to the weather.
We decided to tough it out and head to downtown for the parade after stocking up on cold weather gear (see picture above). I rolled my eyes at Sheryl when she found some of those chemical hand warmers, little did I know I would be thanking her later. We parked near Peachtreee St. and trotted over to the parade, finding a nice spot in the sun before it started. Ainsley thoroughly enjoyed herself trying to catch beads, even running out to cars to get some. I liked the bag pipes and the Budwiser Clydesdales and of course her favorite was Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers (What exactly do they have to do with St. Pat's day). When there was a lull in the parade we tried to convince Ains that it was over because our sunny spot was now shady and windy. So we crossed the street to leave when Ains noticed that it was still going on and convinced us to stay. Good thing we did, because the beads and other loot picked up and I even got some beads from the Harriers by shouting, "On On" (that's what Harriers yell to let others know they are On the trail of the Hare...it's also their toast). It was getting colder and we even convinced Ains that it was time to leave when I noticed a "26" painted on the ground. Little did I know that we had been standing on the 26th mile of my next marathon.
We finally raced home to prepare for the Adult festivities. After a lot of Logistical discussions and a few beers (which probably lengthened the logistical discussions) we finally got to Smyrna Market Village to find the street closed off, many tents of beer and the smell of corned beef in the air...in a word heaven.
When entering we were giving shamrock tattoos and we were told that there would be a contest later based on placement. I never saw the contest, but we did have a few entrants in our group. We drank beer, listened to the bands and bumped into a bunch of our friends. All in all we had a great time that most of us can't remember the details. I do know by the pictures (somehow I took 77 that day) that we did a bit of dancing. The pictures show a progression from relatively civil to...yep they defiantly need a cab ride home. And cab home we did. We somehow made it home and I think the next day can be summed up best by a shirt we saw that night: "Irish today, Hungover tomorrow." Thank God it was Sunday, otherwise we would have had to call in sick with a case of the Irish Flu.
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