On March 16, I ran the Shamrockin’ Run 8k race for the second time. I didn’t write about last year’s race, apparently, but what I remember of it is that a) I ran almost the whole thing, except one short port-a-potty break and b) I ran with Heather. I had to look up my time, and it was 58:47. Since it’s almost 5 miles, that’s a tiny bit faster than 12 minute miles. Hmmm.

Coming on the race this year, I had one goal, and that was to run the whole thing without any breaks at all. And to finish in under 55 minutes.

I was excited about this year’s race because not only was Heather going to run again, but also a bunch of other friends. Fun, right? Well, some friends ended up going out of town, and then the weather forecast was terrible so they ended up pushing the race back and hour, so Heather couldn’t make it. So it was just me and Maggie.

It was a little drizzly when we went to pick up our numbers, but in spite of dire forecasts, it only sprinkled a few times throughout the race. I wish more races were overcast and sprinkly.

There’s not much to say about the race except that I started off at a comfortable pace (which ended up being almost exactly 11 minutes/mile) and basically kept at it for the next 4.97 miles. Not to say it was easy. At the end, it took some real willpower to not stop. It wasn’t as cool as I’d hoped, and I was getting overheated.

When I’m running and I want to stop, I try to evaluate why I want to stop. Legs felt fine. Lungs felt fine. But I was just hot. Ugh.

I didn’t have a watch on me, I just had my phone tracking my time, so I didn’t really know what my time near the end was looking like. I certainly wasn’t going to waste energy pulling my phone out of my pack and looking at it, so I just had to hope that my pace was still on track. Since I started my tracking app a minute or so before the start of the race, it wasn’t going to be totally accurate anyway.

So I gave it my all in the last 100 yards or so (though at this stage I was so focused on not stopping that I barely even noticed the 610 Stompers dancing at the finish line) and went to find Maggie, who finished a few minutes before me.

Checked my results on my phone (ain’t technology great?) and I finished in…

 

54:58! Just made it in under the wire! Woo hoo!

Next year…52 minutes?