shamrock shuffle race report- 2008.

My first Shamrock Shuffle has come and gone. I spent the better part of 12 weeks training for it, and my training definitely paid off in a faster time than I thought possible!

Matt and I prepared for the race the night before. We laid out all our gear: I wore my blue NikeFit long sleeve layered under my sleeveless black fleece vest, black UA capris, black UA skull cap with a headband beneath and black UA gloves. Matt had on his grey NikeFit long sleeve layered under a green cotton t-shirt and a black jacket, black NikeFit pants and black UA skull cap. I laced our chips onto our shoes. The plan was to wake up Logan, load him in the car still in PJs and be off by 6:45. Well, that didn't happen. We left about 7:00a to drop Logan off at Matt's parents' house. They were watching Logan, feeding him breakfast, and taking him to church!

We dropped Logan off at about 7:30, stopped at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and headed down to the city. I was nervous the entire drive...but I always get super nervous before a race, regardless of the distance. We made it to the race area in record time and parked in the Grant Park garage...and still had an hour to kill before race time. So we were able to take our time getting ready. The weather was cold and windy with a slight drizzle. Thank goodness the rain held off. We walked over to Grant Park and just had a nice time enjoying each other and people watching! There was a small group of people stretching...reminded me of a Richard Simmons workout...it was so funny. Right before we lined up, it started drizzling and I made a comment and a girl asked me if I wanted her extra poncho. No thank you. I'm soaked enough by the end of a race... a layer of plastic would have made it so much worse! Matt had made the decision to run with me. He doesn't run a 8K distance all that often, and since I'm a slower runner than he is, but more accomplished at the 8K distance, he thought it would be a good idea if I set the pace for us. Matt and I were in the open corral, behind the 11 minute pace marker and this was a mistake I made...more on that later.

So we're lined up. 10 minutes to race time...4 minutes to race time...Race time!!! And we're still not moving. It took about 25 minutes AFTER the race had started to move up to the start line. I guess that's the delay in such a huge race! The anticipation of it was crazy...and of course made me even more nervous! But the crowd finally started breaking up, I could see the start line...and we were off!!!

Mile 1- 10:22
The first mile was a TOTAL blur. It went by so fast...all of a sudden, we're turning left off of Columbus and there's the marker for mile 1! Matt spent the entire race at my side or behind me.

Mile 2- 9:39
Shaved almost a minute off that first mile and this is where my mistake of where we lined up became evident. My strategy for a race is that I start off slower and that way I can build my endurance to go faster as I progress through. Hence my decision to start at a pace of 11 minutes/mile. Well...I guess that should be my strategy for a longer distance...because people on the course REALLY started slowing me down. I came up to LOTS of walkers and runners who were going much slower than myself. I felt like I was playing a game of Frogger- weaving in and out of the pack, hopping up the curb to run on the sidewalk...poor Matt. He was having a super hard time keeping up with me...but he did it. He told me people were getting really ticked at me. And I knew it...but lesson learned. I will not start that far back next time!!

Mile 3- 9:14
Still felt fantastic. I could tell I was cruising for the most part, because I kept passing people up. My adrenaline must have been in high gear because I was feeling so great and not winded at all!

Mile 4 to finish- 17:29 (8:52 average)
I missed the mile 4 marker so I didn't press the lap button. Oops. The last mile was rough. I had to go to the bathroom. Bad. TMI- by the time we reached Roosevelt Rd. coming into the last blocks of the race, I'd lost a bit of bladder control. But that was minor compared to the fact that the finish line was visible! That gave me a blast of momentum and Matt and I crossed the finish line together!!! In the excitement of everything, I forgot to press the stop button on my watch, so we looked at Matt's- 46:42!!!! Not official...but a good idea of our finish time...which was well below my goal of 50 minutes! Not bad for my first 8K distance race!

My official results: 46:44
Overall finish: 10131/22575
Sex Place: 3896/12178
Division Place: 779/2442

Matt's official results: 46:44
Overall finish: 10133/22575
Sex Place: 6237/10397
Division Place: 1327/2190

Also, according to the Shamrock Shuffle website, we *may* have qualified for a corral start next year since our time was sub-9:30/mile!! Woo Hoo!

After the race, we stopped for a yummy big breakfast at a cafe in Matt's old neighborhood. THE.BEST.COFFEE.EVER. So good! We picked up Logan and relaxed the rest of the day.
What an awesome experience...till next year!