{No, this is not a post about eco-friendly things or sustainability}

Greetings friends. How were your weekends? How was Monday?

My weekend was filled to the brim with fun activities, and while I was jealous of all the people who were racing—I have to say that this was a weekend for the books. St. Patrick’s Day, particularly, was highly enjoyable—mostly due to the effort put forth by my boyfriend who, while not Irish, is a big fan of any day devoted to beer and shenanigans.

We were traditional, we were green, we were festive. Allow me to share with you our dedication to this holiday…

In keeping with his new found affection for making pancakes, BF made the decision that Saturday’s batch would celebrate St. Patty’s as well. Unfortunately, the idea only came to him with two pancakes left to make. Thought that counts though!

I had to sneak some form of health into at least one part of the day 😉

No pinching for us! This was also taken in a bar at 4 pm. We take these holidays seriously…also, BF’s shirt is highly entertaining, if you can read it.

Another St. Patty’s treat for the day…

My sister and her boyfriend Grayson stopped by on their way to California for Spring Break to celebrate some green-filled festivities. It was wonderful to see them both, and I’m excited to see them AGAIN this Thursday for more adventures. More on that later. Thanks for coming, guys!

So I’ve never done the whole “corned beef and cabbage” thing for St. Patty’s Day (in fact I never even had heard of it), but BF has and decided to introduce me to the tradition. It was also the first time we got to use our new crock pot, which obviously was an exciting endeavor. And, you can’t eat a traditional Irish meal without…

Survey says? Good choice Irish peeps! I’m not a huge red meat person, but this stuff was definitely good, and even the cabbage was to my liking. BF was quite proud of his work with this meal, and rightfully so!

Needless to say, St. Patty’s Day was a win in this household. Any holiday revolving around beer I can really get behind.

Also, because this post is already super picture-happy, this is how I spent my Friday night:

When it comes to celebrating a birthday, no one does lavish quite like my lovely friend Kawika. Which is why he hosted a wine tasting in a super swanky hotel room in an even swankier downtown Seattle hotel. There were reds, there were whites, there was prosecco, and there was cake. A High School Musical 3 cake. Good times were had by all, although I think it would be hard to find someone who wouldn’t enjoy themselves in such a situation.

So, as you can see, a fun weekend indeed. However, there was one glaring absence from Saturday and Sunday: running.

If you’ve read this blog for more than just this post, you know that my weekend reports are normally overwhelmed with long-run talk. Many of you are probably happy for this new change of pace, and I don’t blame you. The fact is: bad knee=no long run. In fact, no running in general—because this bursitis took over my abilities to train, and condemned my activities to spinning and swimming. Both of which felt fantastic on my inflamed knee, and they are very bonafied cross-training activities.

However, when you are supposed to be peaking in training mileage and can’t run more than a few paces without knee pain, this set-back becomes more than discouraging. Which is why, yesterday, I went to see an orthopedic doc for some answers and solutions.

Truly, I was terrified for this appointment. I was going to post yesterday, but I was too afraid that talking about the upcoming doc visit would only heighten my nerves—so I held off until I had some answers. X-rays, lots of talking(by me), and a cortisone injection later—I am feeling an enormous amount of relief.

This appointment went just about as good as I could have hoped for. X-rays showed that nothing is wrong with my knee besides this bursitis/tendonitis—which was my biggest fear. A lot of the time, bursitis is caused by another injury such as a tendon or ligament tear—which would have sidelined me much longer. Luckily, this was not the case—and the doctor only had to yell at me about stretching more. Noted doc, no problem-o. And when he said, “I see no reason why I shouldn’t give you a cortisone injection to speed up the healing process,” I had to hide my excitement—because this is what I was secretly hoping for.

So, with this fancy medicine deflating the crap out of my knee and a little more rest time—I should be good to run (hopefully!) on Friday. So very relieved, and while I’m still wary, I’m feeling positive that I’ll be able to keep training aggressively until taper time.

Also, when I rolled up my pants to show Doc my knee, he took one look at my calves and said, “Wow, you are a runner, huh?”

I blushed.

So, generally, I’m feeling positive. I know I wasn’t totally expressive about my anxiety about this minor injury, but I was feeling very apprehensive for the fate of my Eugene Marathon dreams (ask BF, he will always vouch for my freak-out modes).  The meds and the clear x-rays definitely lifted a weight off my shoulders, and I’m feeling ready to take on the rest of training. The time off also really made me anxious and excited to run, which is always refreshing.

Happy first day of spring! Race season has definitely started, and I’d like to offer a big congrats to everyone who’s either preparing, tapering, or recovering—you are a rock star!

And now…because who isn’t tired of hearing(reading) me talk…how was your St. Patrick’s Day? Weekend? Are you currently training for a spring race?