Spoiler alert! I’m
happy to report the Shamrock Shuffle went really well. But let me start from
the beginning.
I usually run 4-5 miles every Friday morning at about
5:30/5:45 with a group of women who all live within a few blocks of our start
corner. Last Friday I was going to be the only one around and I was pretty sure
that I wouldn’t maintain the motivation to get my ass out of bed and on the
streets without a running buddy. I
briefly considered hitting the gym and running on a treadmill but that’s even
less inspiring and was less likely to actually happen. So I put social media to work. I tweeted that I was looking for someone to
run 5 slow miles early Friday morning near Lincoln Squareand tagged it with #runchi so that my fellow Fleet Feet runners would see
it. I got a response almost immediately
and had a new running buddy for Friday morning – sweet! I love it when things
like that work out well! Sara met me for a lovely run with the added bonus that we had lots to talk about to make the time pass quickly. That run put me at 17 miles for the week (along with a
swim workout, two weights workouts, and a yoga class - not too shabby). And made
me worry less about spending the entirety of Saturday at the Shamrock expo and
missing my regularly scheduled long run.
So the expo. I ‘volunteered’
(in quotes because I was compensated with a nice gift certificate, a new pair
of Brooks shoes and a Brooks half zip) at the Fleet Feet booth to help promote
and sign people up for their Women’s Half-Marathon & 5K in June. My shift
was from 8:30 am until 6pm. I had
some sort of magical idea that we might be sitting behind a table, but we were
on our feet all day approaching people to ask them about the races (the booth
also promoted the Soldier Field 10-Miler and the Big 10 10K). It was hard work,
but most of the people we talked to were enthusiastic about the races and some
were even happy to have a chance to sign up on the iPads we all had –
especially since we had $10 iTunes or Chipotle gift cards to give out. The expo
was HUGE this year. For once I managed
to not buy a bunch of crap that I don’t need. I did take a few laps around to
look at all the booths – lots of shoe companies (I stopped at Newton and told
them how much I love them), running stores, running accessories like headbands
and race belts, charities trying to get marathon runners to raise funds for
them, and of course other races. I did stop by the Ragnar booth to visit
with the Ambassador Co-ordinator and to discuss the booth we’re going to have
at the Lakefront 10-Miler later this month. Altogether I really enjoyed working the Fleet
Feet booth – I got a chance to work with a bunch of runners that I only knew
through Facebook/Twitter and get to know them better. I’d absolutely work other
expos for Fleet Feet although maybe not
for a full 9 hour shift – the last hour or two my back was aching, my legs were
sore and it was harder to work up a full enthusiasm as I approached harried
strangers who were trying to get their packets. Luckily all the race workers
helped keep a smile on my face and it was pretty easy to promote a well-run race
that I rtruly love. After the expo I
hurried home and went out for a nice Italian dinner with my husband and came
home and went right to bed with the hopes of recharging my tired legs.
Race day my alarm went off at 6am as planned and I got up to
check the temperature outside. It was cooler than I expected oo I wore a
dri-fit t-shirt (one of the commemorative Nike race shirts) with an emerald
green Icebreaker half-zip over it and a pair of capris (RoadRunner house-brand –
the best around as far as I’m concerned), and pulled on my Newton shoes. I was
still kind of full from dinner so I didn’t want anything to eat - just a small glass of water to hydrate. I puttered around and checked my e-mail and took
care of bathroom business (always a relief) and packed my gear bag ($20, ID,
L-card, iPod/headphones) and pinned on my bib. I walked to the L and met my
friend Kendall. We rode down to the Harrison stop and walked to the CARA
compound so I could check my gear (Kendall was going all minimalist and didn’t
need to check anything). We were running a little late and had to squeeze into
the first wave corrals and fight the crowds to move up to the C corral where we
were both assigned. I knew Kendall was going to have a great race so I told her
to just go when she got the chance – not to wait for me – and that was the last
I saw of her when our wave started at 8:45. I started out feeling pretty good –
especially considering that I’d been on my feet for all of the previous
day. I always forget that even as a
pretty flat city Chicago has a few ‘hills’ in their bridges and that you have
to run on the metal bridge grids (or compete for space on the carpet that is put
down for the race) which is a little unnerving. My first mile went great (8:29) and so was
mile 2 (8:46) and then I started to get a little worried that I was going to
blow out my calf muscle so I consciously slowed down a little and mile 3 came
in at 9:02. Mile 4 was 8:59 and the last .9 was at an 8:55 pace. I have to say
that I paced myself really well - especially since my Garmin was completely
useless with the tall buildings blocking my signal for much of the race and I
couldn’t rely on the info it was giving me. I wasn’t completely gassed going up the hill
on Roosevelt and I had enough left in me for a decent sprint to the finish line.
I finished just under 44 minutes and I was really happy with that for my first
race back post-injury. It’s less than 2 minutes off my best time from 2 years
ago when I was several lbs. lighter and didn’t have any injuries to contend
with. I’ll take mostly sub-9 minute miles any day. I skipped the post-race
party and hit brunch with my husband and a friend and enjoyed a celebratory
Bloody Mary to replace the sodium I lost through sweating. I was surpirsed to read later that the course had to be altered because some guy was threatening to jump off a bridge over the river along the course. Kudos to the race organizers for making the changes so seamlessly that I didn't even notice anything was different (although I'm not one for poring over course maps before races).
Totals for last week were 22 miles – back to being able to
bank a few miles which I need to replace the deficits from February and March.
This week I’m going to try to hit the speedwork session at the Fleet Feet fun
run, put in 6-miles at Chicks Night, 5 on Friday morning and then a slow 10 on
Saturday morning for a total of around 25-27 depending on the speedwork
miles. I’ll be back tomorrow for a
speedwork review – I’m sure I’ll hate it but I know it’s good for me.
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