15k Portland Shamrock Run 2013 – It was Fun!

Did the 9+ mile Portland Shamrock Run for the first time this morning. What a fun event! I worked a 9 hour shift at the Restaurant yesterday, so as soon as I got home we (DH and I) packed up the car and left for Portland.  We stopped to see friends (Steve and Sue) who we haven’t had a chance to visit with in forever.  We walked from their house over to Orenco Station Grill for Dinner.  I was famished but wanted to eat healthy and not go overboard.  One thing I didn’t want was stomach issues during the night or before the race.  I ordered the Cajun chicken and asked that they grill rather than fry it.  Yay me!  They were very accommodating and it wasn’t a problem.  The chicken was delish and cooked to perfection.  It was served with mashed potatoes (yes, I did have a little of those) and brocollini which I just love.  I did have a glass of Riesling with my dinner which was also fabulous.  I recently got a $25 off certificate from Restaurant.com to Orenco Grill and had it with me so that made the meal even better. I actually got the certificate for FREE (as well as one other $25 certificate) when I booked a rental car through Hotwire.  DH had the New York Steak and a few beers, so with the wine, drinks, meals and tip we still got out of there for $44… not bad!   

The start and finish was at Waterfront Park and we got there early as I still needed to pick up my packet.   It was cold but my garbage sack helped!

I really didn’t get a sense of how many people were there because I wasn’t crowded out on the course or in the park.  I heard the announcer say 9,000 runners for my 15k event.  Wowsa.   Later DH heard that there were 9,000 for the 8k run, and 12,500 for the 5k.  There was also a fun run for kids and I have no idea how many for that…  also all the observers.  That is a LOT of people.

The weather was actually not bad.  No wind to speak of which was good as it was cold.  The sun did come out once we got started and no rain!  I wore my running gloves as well as my head band so that really helped. .. My hands were still freezing until mile 3.....oh and I must mention my green sparkle skirt of course!   

The course was very hilly. I thought the Pasadena course I did last month was hilly… but this course had an uphill climb that lastest for several miles and one hill was over 2 miles!  The course took us to the top of Marquim Hill,  past OHSU, Vets Hospital and the Chart House Restaurant.  That hill is steep going up in a car!  I didn’t have a problem with the hill but it did slow me down.  I am a slow runner anyway and am used to getting passed… a lot.  I passed quite a few walkers on the hill so gotta admit that made me smile.After conquering the hill, the reward was a steep descent… then basically it was flat until the finish.

 I haven’t seen my official time yet but my Nike Run program told me 1:56:52.  It will be interesting to see how that compares with the official time.  When I ran the Pasadena Half last month my Nike Run time was exact to the second.

This was a fun event.  The downside?  I didn’t get my finishers medal.. boo hoo.  They ran out and said everyone with a time over 1:50 will have their medal mailed to them.  I was a bit bummed by that as it is always fun to get a finishers photo with the medal.  This year’s medal is a beer opener!

After all that exercise, I thought it would be fun to have a splurge meal.  DH and I went to Shari’s Restaurant and I had a Strawberry Belgian Waffle.  OMG Good!  Definitely  was a fun finish to the morning. Hope you had a sweet St Patty’s Day!

Pasadena Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon - Feb 2013 Completed!

 

Yesterday was the Half Marathon that I have been training for the last 4 months. Yowsa… it was hard! I’m not sure what I expected but I thought I would potentially do a bit better than the HM I ran last Spring in Portland OR. Wrong Wrong Wrong. This one was tougher with lots of hills and ups and downs. It took me to my limits. 
 

This was my first Rock n Roll event. They hold them at lots of places around the Country and are very good organizers. I was impressed with the set-up. They require you to attend the Health / Fitness Expo to pick up your packet personally. The Expo is held the two days prior to the event so we had to be in town the day before. I typically will do my packet pick up the morning of so I don’t have to take extra time off work, so this was a switch for me. Since we were on vacation and had the time, I really enjoyed the expo and seeing all of the vendors and the gadgets. I ended up buying a new pair of Brooks running shoes… something I have wanted for a long time. I am going to retire my Nike “Livestrong” shoes. They will be a back-up pair for me after this event. Every time I put them on I think of Lance Armstrong and I feel sort of embarrassed to wear them. They have a lot of miles on them so I’m really not wasting … 

 
 

The Pasadena course is gorgeous. We start and finish at the Rose Bowl so that in itself was cool. I got to the start point about an hour early so I could figure out what I was doing. At 6:30am in the morning the sun still wasn’t up so it was nippy out. Fortunately I decided to wear a jacket and planned to use the gear check before the race. Lots of people were using those space blankets for wraps which I thought was pretty smart. The gear check was sponsored by UPS and they had UPS trucks all parked in a line with drivers in uniform at the rear of the truck to take your gear. I checked my gear, put on my sunglasses and went to my corral to wait for the start at 7:30am. The photographers were milling around and I had my photo taken several times .. I’m sure because I was wearing my purple sparkle skirt lol. The start was really smooth with each corral being released a few minutes apart. 

 
I carried my iPhone with me and used my Nike running App to track my time and distance. Time wise the Nike app was spot on. Distance wise it showed I ran 13.3 instead of 13.1. I’m not sure why that was different but maybe because you weave back and forth on the course around people at times? 

I started out running strong and felt a little emotional at first. Not sure why that happens. I think sometimes I just can’t believe that I’m actually doing something like this. A few short years ago I never would have believed this was a possibility and here I am doing it today. Got over that feeling quickly as I hit the first hill and my left hip which has been asserting itself lately gave me some twinges. It will be interesting to see if my new Brooks solve that issue. Usually my hip will start giving me a problem when my shoes need to be changed. Almost from the get go I noticed I wasn’t keeping pace with what I had planned. Nothing I could really do about that other than try my best. Even though I have a goal in mind, I have told myself that just doing the run and finishing it is a reward in itself. I will never be a fast runner and for me it is important that I enjoy the journey so I don’t just give up and quit. I am going to try and work on some speed drills in the coming months and see if that will improve my speed…. Can’t hurt. I also read that running fast naturally helps improve your form and I’m sure I need some improvement in that department as well. I read an article on Active.com that suggests you start drills with 10 seconds running as fast as possible followed by 20 second jog and repeating for 200 meters. Build on this over time increasing your sprint time and distance. That sounds doable. 

Back to the race… As I was approaching mile 4, I saw the fast runners coming returning. It was really something to see. They were about finished when I was at mile 4 lol… Later looking at the results the winners came in at 1:12 – they sustained 6 min miles.. wowsa. I can’t even imagine! 

The flattest and most fun part of the course was running on Colorado Boulevard. This is the route you see on the televised Pasadena Rose Parade. The streets are wide and the downtown area is charming. As I got to about mile 9 I started to fatigue. During my training runs this is usually when I will eat a fig newton or something. The volunteers were handing out jellies and skittles so I took a few of those. I didn’t want to have stomach issues, but I did fine. By mile 12 I was going pretty slow but knew that the end was coming shortly. I did cross the finish line with a smile on my face! They gave me a medal and handed me a bottle of water. As I walked through the finishers “village” they gave out chocolate milk and jamba juice. I took both and they were heavenly. 

The downside to this tough event is that I’m now really questioning whether or not a full marathon is something that is realistic for me to do. I still have over 6 months to get ready for the full, but I doubt that I could double the mileage that I did yesterday without a lot of pain. I’m going to keep up with my training and decide in a few months. My next event is the Shamrock 15k in Portland on St Patricks Day. A 15k is a little over 9 miles so shouldn’t be a problem. The finishers medal for that event is a souvenir bottle opener! 

Thanks for stopping by and reading my re-cap. Even though it was tough it was fun and I encourage any of you that are running to participate in an event. It keeps you training and motivated… and I love collecting those medals!