Sunday was the Shamrock Run - 15K. I was supposed to wake up at 4am (my alarm was set for that time) but found myself wide awake at 3:15. I was so nervous for my race. I stayed in bed playing Candy Crush quietly on my phone as to not wake my husband. Finally 4am came and I was up getting myself ready. I showered and dressed super fast. I needed to eat my big breakfast and drink all my water by 5am. At 4:30 as I sat watching t.v. (there is nothing on that early in the morning) I sent a text to my running partner to make sure she was awake. She's never been up so early and I was afraid she would sleep through her alarm. However she had nerves too and was up at 4. I picked her up at 5:15 and we were off to Cascade Station Max Station. I decided to park there instead of trying to find a parking spot downtown and dealing with all the craziness of leaving after the event. The expected number of people were 35,000 so parking could be a bit dodgy.
We waited for our Max Train to come while listening to the planes fly overhead. The airport in just down the street a bit so you can pretty much see the people looking through their little windows as the planes come in to land. Okay not really but you get the idea of how close the planes are. They are loud. Needless to say we were awake. We boarded the train and found nice "comfy" seats next to the heater. By the time we got into downtown there was standing room only so we were lucky to have a seat. We got to the Waterfront and the start of the race at 6:55am. The race didn't start until 7:40 so we had some time to kill. We decided the best thing was to hit the port-a-potty. Scary as it was still dark and couldn't see in there! Hand sanitizer was used a lot! It was also freezing by the water and they didn't have any heating stations. So that was a bummer as we came in what we were running in since bag check was going to be crazy with 35,000 people about.
Our loading time came and we all gathered in our pace spots like cattle in a cattle chute. Since there were over 9,000 people running the 15K they released us in waves. It took forever to get to the starting line. Once I crossed that line I felt great. No more nerves. We had to run for a little over a mile to the turnaround to follow our course. Well I could see all the people who have already turned around - gobs of them! I was beginning to wonder how many people were behind me and if I was going to end up being last in this race. When I finally made it to the turnaround spot I saw that there were still thousands behind me - giving me hope that I would not be last! :)
The run was pretty smooth, I kept a faster pace than normal but felt great. I fueled and drank my water w/Nuun and it kept my energy up. The Irish musicians were great and the crowds (although few) were loud and supportive. Mile 3 came and the hills started. I knew about the hills in fact I work at the hospital at the top of the hill and we were going to run right past my building. Yep yep, we ran past it (and walked too). When mile marker 6 came I was glad to see her. I knew at that point it was all downhill. I picked up my pace on the down hill as I wanted to keep my overall average pace at around 12:30. Yes I am slow but hey I am running, better than sitting on my behind on the couch.
I finished in 1:59 with an average pace of 12:39. Now that was my Garmin watch telling me. My official race time was 2:06 and a pace of 13:35 but that was because my running partner had to stop and use the restroom, something I frowned upon but when you've gotta go you gotta go. So I will take what my Garmin said since that was my actual running and didn't include the potty break.
I felt great! I finished in less time than I had set my goal for. I wish I would have been able to run the hills more but hey I did what I could. Most people walked some of the hills so I don't feel bad at all. I am proud that I finished and finished feeling strong!
Now onto training and my next race is April 21st - a half marathon!
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