Shamrock 15k race recap

I definitely have to say I was surprised at my performance at this race. I went into it with no expectations, although I did have a race plan provided by my coach. Given my slow recovery from the IT injury and slow pace on any distance run, I was just hoping to average at least a 10:30 minute mile.

The first part of the run is mostly downhill. My plan called for aerobic pace for the first three miles. Check! Around mile 4, there is a steep ascent as you start heading out of the Cuyahoga Valley and from there it is rolling hilly with an upward trend. Second three miles, I was allowed to go higher in heart rate, but was supposed to recover on the downs. They weren't long enough though, so I never made it back to aerobic again. The last three miles, I was allowed to let go and see what I could do. My HR was in zone 4 the entire way for this part, but I felt pretty good. We started passing people and that was cool, especially the ones who had passed us early on.

My hamstring did get tight towards the end, but my IT band was fine. I wore my orthotics too and other than a hot spot on my left foot, I got no blisters. My finish time was 1:28:11 (a 9:28 per mile pace) with an average HR of 169 (high zone 3). I felt tired afterwards, but still good.

My pals, Carie and Sam J. joined me for this race. Although they are faster, they stuck with me the whole time citing they were there just to support me. How cool is that?! Poor Sam had some major knee pain in the last few miles, but she stuck it out and finished with us. Here are some pictures I took of them before the race. Aren't they pretty?





After the race ended, we ran into Charlie from the CTC. He ran an amazing race at his goal pace. Great job Charlie!

I looked up the results later that day and believe it or not, no one finished over a 10-minute mile pace (unlike previous years). I was dead last in my age group, but fairly close in time to the three women above me.

Who cares though?! I had a successful race at a pace I didn't think possible anymore that was relatively pain free with good friends on a beautiful, sunny day. Ah, good times!

On an unrelated note, that night, I decided to buy a gently used set of Zipp 404 wheels from a CTC member. He'd only ridden 74 miles on them and was asking a deeply discounted price for not only the wheels (which retail for $1300), but also for the tires and some spare tubes. I'll post some wheel porn later! I'm totally psyched! I got them today and they are very sleek/cool!