I ran Chicago's Shamrock Shuffle on Sunday! It was my first race of 2017 and my first real race since 2013. I technically ran a 5K in September, but I'm not counting that because I hadn't run in forever and my mom literally asked me if I wanted to go the night before. Yeah. I ran that one prrretty slowly haha.
The morning of the Shuffle, I left my apartment at 7:00 am and slowly jogged to Grant Park. Sunday's weather was partly cloudy and in the high 40's. Perfect for a race day, if you ask me! Once at Grant Park, I jogged around a bit more and found Maggie and John. We went to the bathroom, put stuff at gear check, etc. You know, all those last minute pre-race things.
Maggie and I soon headed off to our corral (C) and waited for the race to start. About 10 minutes later than scheduled, the race started. I have a bad habit of going out too fast in races and tried to prevent myself from doing so during this one. However, I lost Maggie from the start.
Maggie and I soon headed off to our corral (C) and waited for the race to start. About 10 minutes later than scheduled, the race started. I have a bad habit of going out too fast in races and tried to prevent myself from doing so during this one. However, I lost Maggie from the start.
Mile 1 felt surprisingly easy. I wanted it to feel that way since there were 4 miles to go. I paced myself based on something comfortable that I could talk through, but relied on my phone's GPS too. That turned out being quite the mistake. When I hit the first mile, according to my phone, I was running an 8:15 pace (yay), but I soon realized the marker for Mile 1 was nowhere to be seen. Finally it came into sight, and by the time I ran past it, my phone said I'd been running for 8:55 seconds already (oof).
I attributed part of the slow first mile to the crowded starting line. I knew I didn't want to make up all that time in one mile, but kept going at a similar, slightly faster pace. Mile 2 felt good as well, I had a small cup of water right before the Mile 2 marker, and still had time to make up.
During Miles 3 and 4 I was able to make up for a bit more time and felt good. My pace got a bit faster, but the final mile came. It was so hard. I felt pretty nauseous and a surprise hill didn't help. Making it through the finish line felt good though!
My final time was 43:27 (or 8:44 min/mile). I'd been hoping for 42:15 (or 8:30 min/mile), but with this being my first race in 4 years that I've trained for, I can't complain much. It's nice to know where I am and what I have to work on to get better. Basically this amounts to racing more, way more strength training, and continuing to increase my weekly mileage.
I attributed part of the slow first mile to the crowded starting line. I knew I didn't want to make up all that time in one mile, but kept going at a similar, slightly faster pace. Mile 2 felt good as well, I had a small cup of water right before the Mile 2 marker, and still had time to make up.
During Miles 3 and 4 I was able to make up for a bit more time and felt good. My pace got a bit faster, but the final mile came. It was so hard. I felt pretty nauseous and a surprise hill didn't help. Making it through the finish line felt good though!
My final time was 43:27 (or 8:44 min/mile). I'd been hoping for 42:15 (or 8:30 min/mile), but with this being my first race in 4 years that I've trained for, I can't complain much. It's nice to know where I am and what I have to work on to get better. Basically this amounts to racing more, way more strength training, and continuing to increase my weekly mileage.
After the race, I found Maggie (who killed it and ran slightly faster than 42 minutes!!), Joe, and John. We got post-race beers and then went to the NRC tent where I ran into a couple people I run with on the regular. One of my usual pacers ran it at a 6:32 min/mile. :O
We then grabbed our stuff and headed off to stuff our faces at Wishbone. Also I picked up my wallet from a restaurant I'd been at on Friday night, but yeah... that's another story for another day.
We then grabbed our stuff and headed off to stuff our faces at Wishbone. Also I picked up my wallet from a restaurant I'd been at on Friday night, but yeah... that's another story for another day. 
0 comments:
Post a Comment