Shamrock Classic 10k

So, I'm just going to throw this out here now... I'm not quite sure I'd consider this recap to have any bit of "luck O' the Irish" from St. Patty's day - maybe because I didn't wear any green. This race was HARD...

The Brandon Shamrock Classic 10k was my 3rd race ever last March (2012). It was my first 10k. I did it two weeks after my very first half marathon and I was in misery and pain the entire thing. To this day, I'm still not sure how I managed to finish with a 56:28. This year, I was more prepared. I knew I would get a PR and in my head I figured it'd be somewhere around a 52 minute time.

Fun, local, smaller event. Flat (very tiny rollers), 2 loop course. This year it was considerably smaller due to two really big half marathons being the same weekend. Lots of beer, small typical post race food, and trophies for AG awards. I also get to see quite a few of my local running group buds (if they weren't in the other two bigger races scheduled that day).

Mentally I was prepared to kick this race's ass.
Physically, two days before the race, my body started fighting off some sort of garbage that Mike has been sick with the past week. I woke up drenched in sweat one night and the day before the race I was having sweats and hot flashes (fever) as well as dealing with some serious "woman issues". I was scheduled to work Saturday night, and was stuck there until midnight. Meghan and I were texting back and forth our fears for race day and how we were feeling since both of us were hunting PR's Sunday morning (her in the half). It was nice to share that wth her! I got home and in bed around 12:45am. Thankfully, I didn't have to wake up until right before 7am to get dressed and to the race since it was very close to home.

I woke up, had a banana, and tried to eat one of Lindsay's Healthy Bites in the car. I took 3 with me, but my stomach was off. I just couldn't go. It wasn't happening. Which of course made me nervous about how I'd feel around mile 6...I went fora quick warm up jog to see if I could get everything going, but with only a couple minutes to start, the lines at the port-o-lets were just too long to even attempt it. Instead, I just drank my cherry limeade (crack) Nuun and hoped for the best. It is only six miles...

Our group of 100 or so runners, lined up at the start and we were off with the sound of an air horn!

Oh my goodness, 0.3 mile in I looked down and knew I was going too fast (averaging a 7:12 pace at this point), but I had already picked my target and was determined to stick with her throughout the race.

By mile 2, my legs were already feeling a bit heavy. Mile 2-3 seems to be my wall until I can start cruising (='side effects' of long distance running?). But I just kept going and kept the pace, hoping my body would burn off the lactic acid.

At almost every mile marker or turn around as there were a couple of out and backs I got to see a familiar face. This was really nice as I seemed to pick up my pace for a few seconds after their words of encouragement. I was still hanging on to my white t-shirted rabbit, but she was still a few feet in front of me. I know that she knew I was there and I knew that we were both in the top 5 women at this point in the race. The 3 in front of us had at least a minute or two on us and unless they bonked, we wouldn't catch them.

As we approached the 5k mark, which was also the starting/finish line, lil white rabbit that I'd been pacing on and I started to do a little back and forth. This was a slight up hill and I am notoriously bad for powering up them at a faster pace. THEN, she did something that I'm still wondering if it was intentional or not. She drove me over to the far side of the uphill curved road so that I'd have to run considerably faster to keep up. Maybe she was annoyed with me hanging on to her, or just using it as a tactic to tire me out so she could secure a distance in front of me for the last half, but instead it just irked the snot out of me and I was determined to not let her "win".
*sigh* Sometimes I wish I wasn't so competetive. I just can't help it.

As we rounded the turn to make our second loop I wasn't quite sure how I was going to hold on to this pace for another 3.1 miles.
Mile 4 flew by, but mile 5-6 felt like they took foreverrrrr. And then my stomach began cramping a lot.

This is the first race that I finally won the battle. I didn't stop running as much as my mind kept telling me that I wanted to walk...
I played the time countdown game with myself... only 20 more minutes of running... only 7-8 more minutes left of this pace...
In one mile I may have beat some sort of unspoken record the amount of times to subconsciously tell yourself to not poop your pants, ignore the cramps, they'll go away...
I was pushing myself so hard that I completely forgot to encourage myself with any of the mantras I know. I was just so ready to finish this race.

As the finish line came into view, the last 0.2 miles of the race, my rabbit began picking up her pace. So did I. In the last 1,000 feet or so, I gunned it and pulled in front.

It was ugly.
It was painful.
But I was so ready to be done.
Obviously....






Gah, the look of pain... not attractive. Anyone else notice just how long white rabbit ran with her hands in the air? She was ecstatic when she finished. I tried to find her after to thank her, but never did find her.

Official Time: 49:05

 
I couldn't believe it when I crossed with a 4 in front of my time. I couldn't feel my face and my stomach was cramping so bad. I curled up in the trunk of my car in pain for a good 5-10 minutes to chill out, but holy smokes, I got that PR. And a trophy. :)



Mike also took 1st in his age group and our friend Jon took third.





Definitely a fun, good morning!



Did you race on St.Patrick's day? Tell me about it.
Do you get competetive when running and pick targets like I do?
When do you feel like you got a good warm up? After 1, 2, or 7 miles?
Show me your ugly race pics!