2014 Shamrock Shuffle 8k Recap

This recap post has been almost a year and a half in the making.  For those who somehow don't know my story with this race, in December of 2012, while recapping my first-ever year of running, I set a goal to run the 2013 Shamrock Shuffle 8k in under an hour.  I had just run my first 8k in 1:02:48, so that seemed pretty doable.  Fast forward a few months to the week before the 2013 Shuffle, when I declared that I was ready to run a great race that weekend.  Naturally, that very night I got the most raging case of food poisoning ever (I think this is just a lesson to not say things like that on April Fool's Day, or perhaps to eat somewhere where the cooks wash their hands, who knows).  I was sick for that entire week and spent most of the 2013 Shuffle, my big goal race, just trying not to puke or pass out from dehydration.  I mean sure, I did still get a PR, but I missed the hour mark by 1:30.  So for this year's Shuffle?  I meant business.  Not only did I finally meet that hour time goal, I crushed it.

Bob needs sunglasses and/or more coffee

Race morning started nice and early with Melanie and Maggie meeting at our apartment so we could all ride downtown together.  The temps were in the low-30's and the sun was shining.  So basically, my perfect running weather.

Ladies of the WRCE

We parked in one of the underground lots at Grant Park and walked maybe 10 minutes over to Red Gear Check to meet Mo, since Bob and I had picked up her packet at the expo on Friday (I guess she was busy getting ready to run a marathon or something).  We all pinned on our bibs, including our Wurst Running Club Ever team bibs!  Our little running club is starting to get real now.  A friend who volunteered as an EMT at the finish line told me he heard our club announced at one point too, which is pretty sweet.

2013 / 2014 - totally unintentional deja vu

At about 8:10 Melanie and I said goodbye to our Wave 1 friends and headed off to our corral.  Last year we were in corral J, which is apparently where all of the first-time runners get placed, so we were happy to move up to corral F this year.  I should say that, originally, Melanie was put in J, but it was really easy to switch her to F with me at the Expo.  This way we got an earlier start (8:55 versus 9:15) and a less congested race.  Last year it felt like we were doing a ton of weaving during the first mile.  This year, not so much.  So that was a really good change.

Obligatory pre-race selfie

At just after 9:00, we were off!  I was a little nervous about how my calf would behave, since it had been pretty sore during my previous few runs.  But I had taken 4 days off from running and done plenty of stretching, icing, foam-rolling and epsom salt baths, which seemed to have done the trick.  Of course, having 4 days without any cardio also made it feel like I was working really hard.  But every time I checked my HR, I was at around 150-155, which is within my normal range for running.

The first 3 miles flew by - we were averaging an 11:10 pace, which is awesome!  We knew we were more than on track for that hour goal.  I started fading a bit at about 3.5 miles in, so I knew that I couldn't keep up that pace.  Our post-5k pace slowed to 11:54, but we were still going fast enough to PR and meet our goal. We hit mile 4 at about 45:00.  Even knowing that we had 15:00 to do the last mile, I kept on pushing.  The cool thing about that last mile is that it flies by.  We went from the mile marker to Michigan Ave pretty quickly, and that entire area is filled with spectators cheering you on.  The last thing we had to do was conquer Mount Roosevelt.  I was nervous about running a steep (well, by Chicago standards) hill with my calf, but it felt fine so I kept on moving.  Which is to say, chasing Melanie.  Mo's cousin Jill found us on the hill, which was a good energy boost.  The finish chute seemed to last forever, but once we were close and I realized that we were going to beat the hour time goal and PR by nearly 5 minutes, I just about lost it. You guys, meeting your goals is pretty awesome.  Like, every time I have a bad run or feel down about my training, I need to remember how amazing and exhilarating it feels when all of that hard work actually pays off.

WE DID IT!!!!

Our official finish time was 56:49, so 4:41 faster than last year's 1:01:30!  I know I'm probably not going to PR at every race I run this year, but the fact that the last two have been such huge PRs is really, really encouraging.

(l-r): Lynton, Eric, Pete, Bob, Maggie, me, Melanie, Mo, Mo's cousin Jill, Jennifer, Jill's friend Carrie
(photo from Jennifer)

Once we finished we found Bob and headed over to the post-party to get our beers and meet up with the rest of the WRCE before heading back to the north side for a brunch buffet (which is just as awesome for a bunch of hungry runners as it sounds).  It was a pretty fun day, and I'll be looking forward to next year's Shuffle.