Shamrocking - Day 1

This weekend was Shamrock Marathon Weekend in Virginia Beach.  J&A Racing put on another great weekend consisting of a full marathon, a half marathon, an 8K, the Final Mile, and the Leprechaun Dash.

My little people ran the Leprechaun Dash and the Final Mile. Thankfully, Russ's friends lent us a parking pass for their apartment complex so we didn't have to worry about the CRAZY parking at the Oceanfront.  We parked quickly and easily and then He crossed the finish line, refused to take his medal, and we headed back to meet the school for the Shamrock Final Mile.

Finally, after 2 months of training, it was time to start.  Both boys went to the start with 25.2 miles on their calendars.  This would indeed be their final mile of the children's marathon!  They worked so hard to get their miles in.  We lined up in the gray corral with a million other kids and counted down to the start.  Our "PR" for the mile was about 15 minutes, which was at the Myrtle Beach Neon Night 5K.  (Unfortunately, when your mommy is a distance runner, you don't train a mile at a time.)  I didn't know what to expect when we crossed the starting line.  The boys started running and we made it about 1/4 mile before they needed to walk.  We walked for a minute or so and started running again.  We turned the corner onto the Boardwalk and they could see the finish line and started to get excited!  They were running and we were talking and laughing and smiling for the photographers!  We crossed the finish line in 12:24!  A 3 minute PR!  That's awesome for a mile.  They got their medals and we headed to find some lunch before we went on the rest of our adventures.

I am SO proud of my little runners!  They were so excited to race.  I hope that they will still go out and run a mile or so with me every so often.  They don't have another race for a while, so we will see!  Either way, we will be Shamrocking again next year!

Shamrocking - Day 2 - Anthem Half Marathon

Photo Credit to Lisa McIvor

Sunday morning brought an early wake up call.  Luckily I had a great parking spot (thanks to Russ's amazingly generous friends!) so I didn't have to worry about where I was going to park.  I was still 10 blocks from the start, but I was only a couple of blocks from the finish.  Bonus - it was FREE!

I worried about my outfit for the whole 30 minute drive.  I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, a short sleeved shirt over top, capris, tall Shamrockin' socks, and my green Sparkle Light skirt.  The temperature said 50 degrees and I was rethinking the long sleeved shirt.  I made a game time decision to keep the long sleeved shirt, ate my banana before I got out of the car, and then made my way to the start.

Walking those 10 blocks is always and adventure on Shamrock morning. There are 2 ways to get there.  If you walk right up Pacific Avenue, you will get to the start.  However, gear check is on Atlantic.  I don't ever check a bag, so I didn't need the detour.  As usual, I made a friend on the walk.  I also ran into (like literally...who would have thought I would find her) an old friend from high school and college who I follow on Facebook, but I haven't seen in years.  We did the whole, "See you at the race" thing on Facebook, but who would have thought it would actually happen!  I needed to get to the very front of the corrals at 6:30 for a Half Fanatics picture followed by an MRTT picture, but the porta potties were line-free.  You know the rule - if porta potty is a choice, you always take it.  No line + toilet paper is as close to running heaven as you can get.

After that, I made it to the meeting spot and found my people.  We took one of the pictures (yay Moms Run This Town) and my two friends and I headed way back to corral 9 for the start.  We tried to hit the porta potties again (another rule - go early and often), but the lines were too long.  We got into our corrals and waited for our start.

Before we actually get into the race, I need to tell you that I just was NOT feeling it.  I didn't have my usual pre-race dinner and I was irritated about that.  My usual bagel had mold on it and I was irritated about that.  My knee was twinge-y and my tape wouldn't stick and I was irritated about that.  I wasn't feeling it and I had no idea how this race would go.

I had two of my MRTT running mommas who were hoping for the same-ish goals for the race.  We ran Crawlin' Crab together in October and they are great running company!  We took off and headed north on Pacific Avenue.  We started our 2:1 run/walk intervals pretty quickly...about a half mile in.  Our pace was decent, but we made a silent agreement pretty early on that we were going to  have fun.  We had a time in the backs of our minds, but we had FUN in the front.

You may remember from last year's Shamrock post that our spectators are the best!  You may also remember that I really don't like beer.   This year, however, it didn't matter.  We were going to maximize the fun and that meant beer stops.  I took a cup, thanked the givers, and gagged it down.  (No, really...gagged it.  I don't think I finished the cup...party foul, I know.)  There were 3 stops on the way up to Shore Drive....we hit all 3!

At about mile 3, we made turn to the longest 6 miles of the run...Shore Drive onto Ft. Story.  Unlike last year, these miles were fun!  We did some family planning together....who needs a new baby in their lives and when.  We talked about our kids and our jobs and our lives.  We laughed a lot.  All of a sudden (no, really), we turned into Ft. Story and the wind started.  We didn't want to fight the wind, so we walked more.  Right before the lighthouses, we made a new friend.  She is a Half Fanatic from Rhode Island....amazing lady.  She hung with us from mile 8 until about mile 10.

Mile 10 brought us out of Ft. Story and back to the party in the North End.  3 beer stops going up means 3 beer stops going back.  Yep, we hit all 3 again!  Here was also where we saw the pink elephant.   Here's the proof:

Michelle said, "Hey, is that a pink elephant?"  We stopped to document it.

We slowed down a bit at the end.  We fought the wind and sore feet, but after the wind tunnel to get back to the Boardwalk, we could see the finish.  Right about mile 13, we passed a girl that had passed us a mile or so before.  I tried to get her moving...she worked too hard earlier in the race to let us pass her now!

 We crossed the finish line together at 3:08:07.  (Funny story - my husband and Michelle's husband were standing beside one another at the finish line.  We tried to tell them to talk to each other and they wouldn't.....Men!)  It was a great day!  Slow running, but a fun time.  Probably one of my favorite race experiences so far!!

After we finished, Lisa and I went with our other MRTT friend, Melissa, to get some lunch.  This was another highlight of the day.

Then we made an appearance in the party tent while we were hanging around to see my BRF finish her first marathon!  We waiting in the cold and wind, fending off finish line spot stalkers and strollers and this obnoxious lady with this sign that kept blowing in our faces.  And then, she came!  We had the loud group beside us cheer her on too!  She did it!  She finished a full marathon!  She's awesome.

Next up - April Fool's Half in Atlantic City on April 6

NC Half Marathon at Lowe's Motor Speedway

This weekend, I got to run in a place where people normally go 200 miles an hour.  (Disclaimer....I did NOT go 200 miles an hour...it may have been close, though.)  We ran the North Carolina Half Marathon at Lowe's Motor Speedway.  (That's Charlotte Motor Speedway for anyone who is like me and didn't have a clue where Lowe's Motor Speedway was.)

My two new-ish running friends and I left first thing Saturday morning to make the 5 hour drive to Charlotte.  We made great time, stopped for a nice lunch, and made it to the Expo at around 3:00.  The Expo was in the garages at the race track.  We parked in the muddy parking lot and went under the tunnel (which was actually under the track) and found the garage.  We went right to packet pick up, got our bibs, shirts, and bags.  It took about 3 minutes for all 3 of us to get through the lines.  Then we looked at the rather small Expo and went to find our hotel.  The Expo was a bit disappointing.  There were 3 vendors and they are at every race I have been to...nothing new and exciting to see or buy.)

Our hotel was a million miles away from the race.  (By a million, I mean about 10 miles or 15 minutes...it was cheaper, so that's where we stayed.)  We checked in and then went back toward the race track to find some dinner.  We ended up at Carrabba's for our pasta dinner, which I had NO complaints about. After dinner, it was still early, so we did some shopping to try and complete my outfit for the next day.

I really wanted to dress the part for this race.  I ordered some socks online that turned out to not be all I had hoped they would be.  I also just wasn't happy with my outfit.  We were at a race track and I wanted some checkered flag stuff.  After a visit to Kohl's and a place called Academy Sports (like a Dick's or Sports Authority), I had assembled an outfit that made me happier - black compression sleeves, a new white shirt with a black rim, and a black and white scrunchy.  With my shorter-than-I-thought checkered flag socks, I was ready for the race!

We made it back to the hotel to try and get to bed early.  We had an early wake-up call made even earlier by Daylight Savings Time.  As we were getting ready for bed, the guy in the room next door started talking on the phone...LOUDLY.  We could hear every word.  I finally fell asleep and was awakened by one of my roommates talking on the phone.  Apparently loud phone call guy ran out of friends and started playing the guitar at 1:00 in the morning.  I couldn't get comfortable after that and the rest of night was rough.

The alarms started going off at 5:00 and we got up and got ready to leave the hotel at 6am.  We had hoped to take a back road to get the race track, but I couldn't remember it in the dark and the GPS kept takings us to the interstate.  Fortunately, the traffic that we had feared was nonexistent.  We parked in the same lot as the day before and walked the same walk to the garages.  We made a pit stop (haha...pit stop...did you see what I did there??) at some real bathrooms on the way.  They were lit and warm, with flushing toilets and running water....but no toilet paper.  We warmed up the garages until about 7:00 and then headed out to try and make it to the Half Fanatics group picture at 7:15.  We needed another potty stop and the porta potty line was SO long, we missed the picture.  Oh well...if the porta potty is a choice, you always choose it!

This was where the awesome started.  We walked out onto Pit Row at Charlotte Motor Speedway and walked over to the starting line.  We corralled up (I picked a point behind the 12 minute pacer and in front of the 13 minute pacer....right where I hoped I would be) and waited.  There was no starting gun on the race track...we got the green flag when it was time to start.  Pretty cool.   The first mile and a half of the race took us all the way around the track.  We stayed on the apron, so we didn't have to negotiate the banked turns.  The we zigzagged through the middle of the track and out through the tunnel we came in to start.  At that point, I was too warm for the jacket I wore, so I made a detour and dropped it off at my car.  The course then took us around the outside of the speedway, over a pedestrian bridge to the other side of the complex, down a random and unnecessary hill and back up it. (Random aside - the race photographers chose the top of this hill for a photo op.  The photographers felt the need to tell us that we were halfway there.  WRONG!  5.75 miles is NOT halfway and it is just wrong to say so.)  Right before this hill and terrible math, I met a new running friend.  She is also a Half Fanatic.  She ran my intervals with me for a few miles to test them out.  She got me to mile 6 when I was starting to get tired and cranky.  I really appreciated her for that!  

After we got up the hill, we ran around the dirt track and then headed to the drag strip.  This might have been the coolest part (and...amazingly, the fastest part) of the race for me.  We ran down the drag strip and then back up.  From there, we looped and zigged and circled and zagged around the campground and then back over to the main speedway.  Remember that pedestrian bridge??  Well, they picked a different one for the trip back.  It was pretty much straight up.  Thankfully, there was a drum line at the top.  Also thankfully, what goes up comes back down.  Then we kept going around the outside of the speedway and headed back inside a couple of miles later.  Just before we went back in, I met another new friend.  I was tired by then (mile 10-ish) and she was walking on tired legs.  (She had run a 39 mile challenge the weekend before...I didn't really have an excuse.)  I walked with her for 2 miles or so.  We chatted and I appreciated her for those two miles.  We didn't break any speed records, but I enjoyed that time with her.

After we went back into the track, we had about a mile and a half before we did the final lap to the finish.  I stayed with my new friend until we came across a girl who looked like she was hurting.  It was her first half and she was hurting.  I gave her some biofreeze and we chatted a little.  After a bit, I ran a little more.  Then I came across a girl who was stretching at mile 12.  Who stretches at mile 12?  Well...she had a sprained ankle, so she did.  I talked to her for the last mile.  Another lady joined us as we came closer to the finish line.    My fast running friends were at the finish waiting for me.  I crossed the finish line and ran around in a circle.  It was my burnout in Victory Lane. Here's what I got.  It's huge and it's awesome and it lights up!  I love it. 

But now for the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:

The Good

• The medal.  Let's just start with the most important thing.  It's just awesome.  
• The course.  We ran on a NASCAR race track.  It was awesome.
• The people.  I like talking to people.  The people talked back.  
• Course support.  It was pretty good.  There were a good number of people that followed their runners.  They cheered for everyone.
• The weather.  Thank you Mother Nature.
• My burn out at the end.  It was awesome.

The Bad:

• The Expo.  It was pretty bad.  
• The course.  It was hilly.  I hate hills.

The Ugly:

• It hurt.  It was slow.  There were some long miles.

Still Shamrocking On....

We are still plugging away at the 25 miles that we need to get done in preparation for the Shamrock Final Mile on March 15.  My Jeffrey has to have surgery on Friday and will not be able to run for a week or so.  He's also a few miles behind because he chose not to come one day and he stopped to drink a LOT of water at Run/Walk club last week.  So, since it was nice today, after homework, I told the big boys to get on their shoes.

Jacob didn't want to go.  He wanted to sit on the sofa.  I wasn't going to fight him, so I went for a run with Jeffrey all by himself.  It was really nice to spend some time all alone with him.  He talked to me for 2 miles.  It was wonderful.  Because of that run, he's just about caught up!