Adventures of a Quarter-Lifer: Shamrock Shuffle

I decided at the beginning of the year that this year was going to be the year I did my best running. We're currently training for the Cleveland Half Marathon, and I want to beat my record and get my fastest time ever. I also wanted to get my fastest 5k time ever this year. Last March, we ran the Shamrock Shuffle and I got my best 5k time - 24:36. It's a nice flat, fast course, and the best part is that they serve BEER at the finish line! What's not to love about that?! So early this year, I thought to myself "Hey - maybe I could try to crush my 5k time at this year's Shamrock Shuffle? Then we could celebrate with BEER!". I've been doing speed workouts since January. I get up early in the morning and head to the gym and have been running fast to get ready. I was so excited. This past Saturday was finally Shamrock Shuffle day and I knew I was going to crush it and get a new PR. We even got some friends to join us!

Our friends Ronke, Rachael, & Sabu on their first 5k EVER!

Steve about to run his LAST race as a 29 year old! Here he is looking 29:

Steve has been so encouraging and pushing me to beat my 5k time! Here we are before the race - I was so excited!

All of us before...

After the race!

Please note this huge crowd at the starting line. There were 4500 people running either a 5k or 10k. The start was a MESS! Strollers and dogs were everywhere, and there were walkers right at the starting line. This is every runners pet peeve! That's fine if you're walking, but move to the back and make room for the runners! We started 5-10 min late. I was still hopeful that it'd be a good race, but this was a sign that things were about to get ugly... This race has grown exponentially over the years (probably because of the free BEER!) and they had to change the route of the course to accommodate all the newcomers.

We started the race and all was going ok. Steve took off and his red hat was nothing but a blur in the distance far ahead of me. I started off quick, completing my first mile in 7:08! Definitely a record for me. We to the turn around point, just like last year, and kept following the people in front of me. I clocked my second mile at 7:33 - I was going to crush my PR from last year! I just needed to keep it steady and finish up. I saw the finish line quickly approaching, I mean really quickly approaching. I followed everyone ahead of me as I crossed the finish line. I looked down at my watch prepared to celebrate my fastest 5k EVER, only to find out that we only ran 2.81 miles, not 3.1!! I was completely shocked and ANGRY! I found Steve immediately (in the beer line) and he too came up short for the 3.1 mile race. I've been training for over 2 months and I was .3 miles away from crushing my time! I was totally devastated! So sad and mad and just generally upset! The only thing we can figure out is that the bike guy messed it up. The race winner was following a guy on the bike (standard race procedure). The guy on the bike is supposed to lead the winner along the correct route to the finish line, but someone must have gotten completely confused between last year's race course and this new, slightly different course and took the wrong route! Everyone was complaining and angry (ok not everyone, but everyone who was running an awesome time was pissed! like me!!!). What the heck?! Oh well, Steve told me to shake it off and I began to enjoy the BEER and have fun with our friends!

Here's Steve golfing for cash! He won a scratch off lottery ticket, but didn't win. Darn it.

Despite the massive course screw up, there were tons of vendors, food, games, and did I mention - free BEER?!

Mmmm Qdoba...

After enjoying some beers and snacks, they started announcing the winners of each age group. And wouldn't you know - I WON my age group! Seriously! #1 out of 203 women (ages 20-29!). I finished in 20:53! That was the fastest 2.81 miles I've ever ran - and won! I got a victory sweatshirt as my prize and have been rocking it every day this week: