Race Report: Shamrock Shuffle

Now that I'm in my 2nd year of running I've finally had my first repeat race.  I managed to trim nearly 2 minutes off of last year's time, but it was still a disappointing day for me running wise.  I enjoyed everything else though,  The Shuffle is such a fun event with so many runners and great support from the spectators.

So I went to the Expo for the Shuffle twice this year.  I first went on Friday night and met up with my friend Jennifer after she got off work and wandered over to the expo.  Picking up packets was pretty easy, but of course they send you entirely to the other side of the expo hall to pick up shirts.  Not that this is such a bad thing since I love looking at all the exhibits anyways.  I wound up at the Mizuno booth talking to Ryan who was also at the RRS Meetup this past Tuesday.  I realized this week that my Wave Inspire 9s are really racking up the mileage and will need replacing very shortly.  It was just convenient that they were running a sale at the expo.  Unfortunately they were out of my size.  Ryan had me try on some Wave Elixirs which felt pretty nice and fast, but I need a distance trainer right now, not a race shoe.  I told him I was coming back on Saturday and he said he'd make sure they had my size in stock.  On Saturday I went for the meet up with Maggie and Kelly.  I was a little early at the Bean so I just chilled and people watched while waiting for the girls who were delayed by a drawbridge.  Since it was just the 3 of us and Kelly is running a little less these days, we decided to walk over to the Expo after taking the obligatory reflection photos of course.

Back at the expo I followed the girls around as they seemed to know people here and there.  We also met up with Maggie's former co-worker Megan who I found out lives in my neighborhood.  She plans on running a half later this year and was asking about running groups.  I'm not in any myself yet, but I volunteered to run with her sometime if she wanted.  I went back to the Mizuno booth and got my Mizuno Wave Inspire 9s.  I also got a sweet Mizuno pint glass since beer and running go hand in hand right?

After the expo I went home and took a nap.  I spent most of the day relaxing and watching TV.  Maybe I should of been a little more active, but I wanted to be fresh for the race.

Well come race morning I felt a little off.  I figured it was race morning jitters and I'd shake it off.  It never really happened.  I met up with a couple friends and we were outside of the corrals by around 7:30 waiting for some other friends to arrive.  Around 8am we checked our bags and headed to our corrals.  While in the corrals I bent over to tie my shoe and knew then that my right hamstring wasn't going to cooperate today.

The race finally started and we were off.  I was able to get my first mile in at the pace I wanted but it felt like an uphill fight.  My lungs were willing today, but the legs were not.  Between my hamstring acting up and the first ever 15 miler I foolishly ran last Sunday I just didn't have a peak performance in me today.  Oh well, its an off day and a lesson learned.  It also means I will keep an oddity on my PR sheet... My PR pace for an 8K is 8:12 while my PR pace for a 10K is 7:42.  I know 8K races are a bit rare and I've only run 3 now, but yeah that just seems goofy to me.

After the race I waited around for my friends and had my post race beer.  I actually spotted Maggie once again and got a quick hello again as we both went off to meet friends.  After everyone in the group finished we headed off to brunch.  After brunch I took a nap and went out for another nice and slow 5 mile run.  I needed 10 miles today and hoped the slow run would help promote blood flow for the hamstring.  Luckily I don't have any "speed" races until Race to Wrigley next month.  I'm running the Muddy Monk Double Down on Saturday, but will just enjoy my time on the trails, doing it in the woods so to speak and hopefully not aggravating the hammy.