Shamrock Half Marathon Race Report

If you look at my March racing statistics is similar to a no. 12 seed in the NCAA tournament. Last March, I almost froze to death on a 20 mile run and I also got my current 1/2 Marathon PR. The race could go both ways.Chances are that they are going to crash and burn when going up against the no. 5 seed, but if there is going to be a breakthrough performance, this is where it is going to happen. Despite the overwhelming odds, the 12-seed is not going down without a battle.

This is what I was envisioning my race would be like.

The goal going into the Shamrock Half Marathon was to take on the course and get a new PR. The Shamrock course is not an easy race. It starts with hills, it has hills in the course and ends with hills. I've run the course twice in the course of my coaching and individual training. In perfect conditions, this course is tough. Saturday, however was not perfect conditions.

The Saturday forecast called for a break between storms. A storm came through and ended Friday. Another storm was scheduled to move in Saturday afternoon/evening with the winds picking up. The temperatures were dropping faster than a Jimmer shot from behind the 3-point line .

This is more what it felt like.

The race started behind a middle school and ran for 100 yards onto the road. This 100 yards was a delight. The wind was calm, the temperature not too bad. Then the race began. At this point, the wind was at 30 mph coming from the South East. Which meant that for 4 miles the wind was to my back, but for 9 it was either right in front or coming from the side.

At times I kept wondering if I was even running. By the finish, I was spent, but surprisingly my finish was 1:47:51...only 5 minutes off a PR. My average pace was 8:13 which is only 3 seconds off my goal pace for the upcoming marathon.