Shamrock Run

Ok, here's my race recap from the Shamrock Run on Sunday.

We woke up at 5:30am in order to be downtown and catch the MAX at 7:15. When we woke Kason up he said, "But mommy it's still dark outside! We have to sleep." haha

We were on time for once in our life, probably because I was so excited. We got to the convention center super early so we had time to feed the kids and I could nurse Kegan. We hopped on the train (first time using public transit, yay for environmentally friendly!) and headed into town. The kids thought the train ride was the best part of the day. The train was packed with runners in fun costumes.

When we got into town we joined the hoards of other runners and families making their way to waterfront park. They had the majority of the streets downtown closed to traffic and waterfront park was gated off to give the runners a safe place to congregate. There was a huge volunteer force doing the bag check, water stations and road blocks and they were all so friendly.

We got to the corral area about an hour before my race so were were there in time to watch the 15K runners start. The released them (and us) in a wave start to avoid as much congestion on the course as they could but with 35000 people it's pretty much inevitable. They had music playing on the loud speakers and a few local high school choirs entertaining everyone.

Here's a panorama of waterfront park right before the start of the 15K

15K runners and the 6-7 minute pace sign...fast

Once the 15K runners cleared the start line it was the 8K's turn to line up. Scott and the kids and our friend Justin were right at the beginning of the start line so I had to walk quite a ways to the back of the pack. They had pace signs set up and I decided to go with the "over 10" group (yeah, slow...lol). It was a NIGHTMARE trying to weave through people and I totally got claustrophobic a few times. I finally jumped the fence and walked in the open part of the street so I didn't have to feel like a salmon swimming upstream.

Me in my pace area

My pace sign..womp lol

When the horn blew signaling the start of the 8K race I didn't cross the start line for a good 10 or 15 minutes after that but the crowd was electric and the energy was great so I totally didn't mind waiting. Once we finally started moving I was able to wind my way over to the fence and give the kids a high five as I was passing under the start line.

There was really never a point in the race where the crowds thinned out, there were SO many people!

Looking ahead to the start line, waaaaayyyyy up there

Looking back towards the "end" of the 8K participants

Miles 1 and 2 I felt great. I rested Friday and Saturday and that really helped. The majority of the course was flat which is something i'm NOT used to at all. I was running so fast! I decided not to wear my heart rate monitor so i'm not sure what zone I was in but it was nice just running and not worrying about "the gadgets".

They had plenty of potties along the course and 2 water stations during the course of our race. I didn't stop at the first because the line of people was ridiculous.

I was passing people left and right which was a huge motivator. That's definitely part of the reason I did so well. I did pick out a group of tutus that I decided I was going to follow. I stayed with them the entire time and passed them at the finish line :)

They also had high school bands along the course playing for the runners and groups of cheer squads. A nice little  pick me up when you get in that "how much further" zone.

The mile 4 water station was pretty dead so I decided to run through and grab a cup. Note to self: practice drinking out of a cup while running...

I was feeling really great until mile 4, the last mile was uphill...not cool. But I ran the whole thing. All these hills in my normal routes really are helping. The last 1/2 mile or so was downhill and I cruised that easily. I was able to catch my breath and let my legs rest a bit which was awesome.

Throughout this race, physically, I felt pretty good. I had some calf fatigue but I'm still getting used to running in my "minimal" shoes so that's to be expected. I dressed reasonably warm with Under Armour cold gear leggings, 2 shirts and arm warmers. The only piece of clothing I ended up shedding were my arm warmers.

The weather was AMAZING for this race, which in the PacNW is a miracle this time of year. It was chilly at the start, around 40, and my toes and hands were frozen but once we got moving the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. Funny because all the weather forecasts said showers and clouds...I did wish when we made the turn around that I had worn my (new) sunglasses that I had bought at the expo. Those would have been nice for the blinding ball of light (I think they call it the sun?) I was looking directly into.

My only complaint about this race was the finish line. What a cluster. I was cruising down the downhill, feeling awesome, getting ready to sprint my finish when BAM, traffic jam. Literally. The runners were completely bottle necked at the finish. I had to stop a good 100yds from the finish and just stand there, total buzzkill. By the time I crossed the finish I had been standing for 4 or 5 minutes. Once we crossed the timing mats we had to take our race chips off our shoes and throw them in buckets but the buckets were pretty much immediately after the finish. So people are stopping and pulling off their tags and just creating a huge mess. It was disappointing.

I had a voucher for free chowder and beer but the lines were absolutely ridonkulous so we decided to forego the crowds and head out for breakfast instead.

We decided to head out of downtown to avoid the thousands of people stopping at the restaurants and went to Northeast Portland to a little breakfast place called Milo's. I had the most amazing chocolate/peanut butter waffle ever in the history of waffles. Great post race breakfast!

My "official" time was 53:56 and I was ranked 4000-something. I believe they said there were 10000 people running the 8K so a little over middle of the pack :)

My splits were:
Mile 1: 10:43
Mile 2: 10:22
Mile 3: 10:06 (5K PR! 31:11)
Mile 4: 10:22
Mile 5: 10:44

My Garmin had tracked a total of 5.05 miles, a little over the race distance of 4.97 miles and my watch time was 52:48. I beat my previous 8K time by 5 minutes!

I had a great time and felt the love from all the country (California, Pennsylvania, Cape Cod...)!

My next race is in a month and I'm hoping to run this 10K in under an hour.

The boys and I waiting in the corral area

Quinn was not amused, too early for her

Kegan and Mommy

Mile 4, feeling a bit tired here if you can't tell

Pretty much the only hill on the course and it wasn't that steep but it was long, enough to make you work hard. A good view of the all the runners.