Shamrock Shuffle

Yesterday was the tenth annual Shamrock Shuffle, a 5K race put on by the Lebanon, New Hampshire Parks and Rec department as a fundraiser of some sort. Ellen participated for the first time this year, and she turned in a fantastic time, finishing in the top ten in her age group (there were six hundred sixteen runners overall). I was duly impressed, all the more so because she hadn't done any dedicated training for this race. Way to go, Ellen!

The NCAA March Madness tournament is in full swing, and I must admit I've had better years (at least I think so; I don't track my results from year to year). I don't pay a ton of attention to non-Ivy League college basketball--although I have a geographic soft spot in my heart for the Big East, too--but it's fun to fill out a bracket and hope I picked the right upsets. So far so good, although I certainly didn't see the Louisville and Pitt results coming.

Also, today is the first official day of spring. Between this and the advent of daylight savings time last weekend, I'm starting to believe that winter might actually end this year. Throw in sunshine, receding snow banks and a tentative return of the birds and things are starting to look up indeed. Now all we need is Opening Day and we'll be all set.

In other news, tomorrow is World Poetry Day. Enjoy it!