I added a circle to help you in the Where's Mac game... the winner is lined up right behind the devil. yep.

Yesterday I lined up to run the St. Patty's Day Dash in Seattle. This race has a huge turn out, one of the biggest in the country we were told between 'bring back our Sonics' cheers at the starting line.

I was going into the race relaxed but ready to get into some pain. My instructions, verbatim, were: go out hard but controlled for the first two, then come back like they're running out of Guinness. Luckily when you hit the 2 mile mark it's all downhill. Or not so lucky for me, I think a couple of hills would have brought the first and second women back to me to a bit.

I was in fourth until 1.5 miles, having a small conversation with myself about where I should be. I decided I should stop being a pansy and place top 3, so I gunned it past third. Making sure to look suuuuper relaxed like, whatever, I can go even faster. Tricks aren't just for kids.

I watched first and second battle ahead of me (one dressed in a tutu and one dressed in buns and crop top). I thought I'll let them battle and start my gain. I made two tactical errors. I didn't look at the course and assumed the finish would be at the start. Which lead to error two, not laying it out soon enough. I'm not sure I could have caught them, but I should have closed the gap a bit more. And in general I need to pretend I can win any race I line up at, why not?

I had fun racing the entire time. Even the last painful 800. I felt smooth and strong and ready to make moves. And as the woman across the line took my name down, I saw PRIZE MONEY!! Whaaaat? I had no idea.

Of course it was burning a hole in my pocket even though I had yet to receive it in the mail. I've been dreaming of upgrading my DSLR. I've had the same Craigslist-bought Nikon D40 for five years. Yesterday night, after a great dinner of corned beef and cabbage with the in-laws in Tacoma, we stopped off at Target where the Nikon D3100 was marked down $100 and I brought that baby home.


I couldn't sleep so I roamed around the apartment trying out all the settings, reading the manual and dreaming up all the adventures we'd go on. Sadly, I had no where to go last night so here's some photos of my living room!  Stunning.