So I have been running around comparing the Shamrock Run to New Year's Eve, and I stand by that analogy. It's a little like amateur night. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing new runners, and I love helping my clients who want to learn to run get better at it. I love to encourage them to try events, too. It's just that this one is so big and hectic and left some things to be desired. I think it will be a long time before I run this one again, if ever.
My impressions:
Nothing can be done about the rain and wind. I've run a Shamrock now 6 of the 9 years I've been here, and 5 of them were miserably cold, wet, and windy. I knew it when I signed up, so I won't complain about that.
This was the first year they offered a half marathon. It's always been 5k, 8k, and 15k to my knowledge. I guess the rising popularity of 13.1 drove them to add the distance. And certainly Portland's largest race day (not including H2C, which isn't technically PDX) could accommodate another distance. They were right - every distance sold out. I don't fault them that. My beef is with the course. I've always done the 15k when I've run it before, which is a little boring at the start, but brings you up Terwilliger Hill (the highlight of the race) right at just the right time. You're warm, but not tired. Unfortunately, when they created the course for the half marathon, they just tacked an extra 3.8 miles on to the boring, industrial big going out Naito and back. By the time we got to Terwilliger, we were 6.5 miles into it.
Another disadvangage of the half: they started the 15k runners at 7:45, and the half at 7:50, so there were a lot of walkers to pass. (Glad you're out there, walkers! Seriously! But all the lateral work to pass groups of four walking abreast gets old fast when you're on mile 12).
Ultimately that worked to my advantage, I suppose, because I knew not to blow my energy on the out-and-back. I kept a nice, steady 7:45 for the most part, and allowed myself to slow to 9:10 going up the hill. People were passing me like crazy on the flat, which made me nervous, but I passed many of them on the way back down. The last 3-4 miles after cresting Terwilliger at the chart house (and the bagpipe players), I picked up to about 7:15-7:20. I ended up with a 1:46:22. Not a PR by a long shot, but good enough for 5th in my age group (out of 125).
Okay, enough bellyaching.
This week, 20-miler number two for my Newport training cycle. Week after that, running Wildwood trail end-to-end with some of the folks from the sports center. It will be my longest distance to date. I am excited!
So far things are going well for this training cycle. My first Sunday long run coincided with the Hagg Lake 25k. I did okay, but it did feel a little humbling. I certainly didn't deserve to do any better than I did, though. First of all, I let the date creep up on me, so I only did 2 long trail runs (12-12/5 miles each) leading up to the race. Not exactly the best way to prepare for a 15.5 mile trail race. Secondly, I started to get sick the day before the race. Those are the excuses. When all was said and done, I came in third in my age group (6th in Masters), and had a nice brisk trail run to kick off my training cycle. It's a really great race. I'm sure I'll want to try again next year with a little better prep work.
I'd been looking forward to trying out some of the new tools at my disposal as a Hammer Nutrition Athlete Ambassador. Actually, the tools have been available all along, but I'm starting to learn more about exactly what all their products can do. I found myself in possession of Endurolytes and Anti-Fatigue Caps, which are supposed to reduce muscle cramping and prolong endurance, respectively. I brought them to the Hagg Lake race, but forgot to put them on my person, so they sat in the car, doing me no good. Last week I had a 15-miler up and over Cornell Road. I packed my supplements in the little tube provided, and popped it into my pocket. I felt them there at about 50 minutes, about 10 minutes till it was time to take them, but by the time I got to 60 minutes, they had fallen out. No dice. This week, I ran my first "long" long run, across the St. John's Bridge and through North Portland, and I went old-school, packing my supplements in a ziplock in my pocket. I am always dubious about the causality of especially hard or especially easy, but this run went very well. My target pace was 9:08, so I was enjoying the permission to go nice and slow, but I ended up pulling off an 8:40 pace. It's a flat course, so I'm cool with that. Next week is my first 20-miler (I do 5), so I'm pretty excited about it. It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend, so maybe I'll talk Sean into riding the bike next to me. That's always fun.
