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Shamrock Shuffle

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Location:

Rantoul,IL,

Member Since:

May 12, 2008

Gender:

Female

Goal Type:

Marathon Finish

Running Accomplishments:

1/2 marathon  1:43:09--Illinois Marathon, April 2013

10K: 46:50--Safe Kids Run in Crystal Lake Park, April 2010

5K: 22:07--Jingle Bell Run, December 2009

Short-Term Running Goals:

Do another marathon AFTER GOOD TRAINING

 

1/2 marathon in 1:41 or under

 

Break Burt's 5K PR by 1 second

 

10K in 46:00 or under

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Keep encouraging my family in their development of a healthy lifestyle

 

God willing, I will run until the end.

Personal:

I run with God. I use my running time to contemplate, to pray and to listen for His call. I'm married to a non-runner, but a supportive one, and we have four children.

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to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Iso Lifetime Miles: 133.20
Race: Shamrock Shuffle (5 Miles) 00:37:54
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
3.005.008.00

I stayed at my friend Colleen's sister Mo's place the night before the race and we just hung out.  She has a parking spot in the lot right by the start line, so we drove over and came out of the lot and were right by the finish.

I was the only one running in the first wave, so Colleen and I warmed up about 1.5 miles and then after coordinating where we were going to meet afterward, I headed over to my corral.  I probably warmed up a little too early, but no big deal.  It was about 30 degrees, but at least it wasn't raining like the forecast had been warning all week.  The national anthem was sung (pretty badly if you ask me) and then the race started.  It took about 3 minutes before I got to the line.

My first three miles were pretty slow.  I just started and wasn't really too concerned about how fast I was going.  There were a lot of people running (36,000 or so) and there was a lot of weaving, really throughout the whole race, but most in the first mile.

The rest of the race was unremarkable.  I just tried to keep a steady pace, anticipate the turns, and pass the people in front of me.

My garmin was pretty useless.  Not sure why, but it says I ran 5.4 (and I doubt I was weaving that much) and says that my avg. pace was 7:01.  Obviously not.  According to the results page, my splits were 7:48, 7:51, 7:44, 7:18, 7:14.  I wish that I had been able to get moving in those first 3 miles.  I don't know if it was me or the crowd, really.

Then I cooled down 1.5, waited for Colleen and Mo to finish, and called my brother.  It took me a while to find him and his wife, but we finally found each other and we took the el home.  I'm actually kind of disappointed.  I could have done better, but I'll blame the crowd.  My nemesis finished in 35:30 or so--maybe he won't be my target for the 1/2.  Or maybe I will just chalk this up to having a so-so race and redouble my efforts for my next race.

Omni 8 #3 Miles: 8.00
Comments
From Burt on Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 18:12:52 from 98.177.220.145

Wow. Big race! Good job and good luck on the next one.

From Carolyn in Colorado on Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 18:16:21 from 24.8.167.243

I think those are good miles, but running in a crowd is definitely difficult. It sounds like you had a nice time with friends in any case. Here's to next time!

From april27 on Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 20:54:01 from 99.188.251.180

that is a big crowd!

Jeremy ran his in 40:40..you guys are speedsters!

From seeaprilrun on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 09:36:09 from 68.103.242.46

36,000! That is a massive crowd--I have no experience with that kind of crowding--but it would definitely cause a lot of ducking and weaving, which will certainly add distance to your race! Way to rock steady and finish with your last mile the fastest of all! You'll get that nemesis next time...

From Tracy on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 09:53:11 from 67.175.121.130

Okay, after looking at the results:

There were 36,000 people signed up.

Only about 26,000 people finished.

So I guess 10,000 people wimped out because of the weather?

But I still finished in the top 10% and I was 78th in my age group. Not terribly impressive, I know, but I'm still pretty happy with that.

From SlowJoe on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 13:09:29 from 131.59.200.80

I would blame the crowd too (I blame everything but me for my sub-par race)but it still looks like a good run, especially at the end. You could still take out your nemesis in the half; it looks like you are putting in some good miles.

From Tracy on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 14:49:09 from 67.175.121.130

Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement. A day later and I am going to just go ahead and blame it on the crowd! I'm going to sign up for a smaller 10K that takes place in the next few weeks and redeem myself for this lackluster performance.

And I'm also going to go ahead and admit that I'm getting a competitive spirit--otherwise why would I care so much about not doing that great?

From CookieLegs on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 16:51:43 from 155.101.152.105

That is a huge number of runners! It's really hard passing people when it is that crowded, and I would think it would make it hard to get settled into the quick pace you wanted. I agree that a smaller 10K sounds like a good plan - I bet your speed comes back with a venegance!! (And I'm still betting on you when you next meet up with mister nemesis!!)

From Michelle on Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 10:15:05 from 71.218.114.99

What a huge race! Speed is pretty subjective because I saw your time and was impressed, sorry it wasn't a good run for you. I still think you ran in a good time!

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