Smithfield Shamrock Shuffle 5K Race Report

This morning, my sister in law, Karen, and I drove up to Smithfield, UT to do the local Shamrock Shuffle race. This was your typical fun run, with lots of families and matching green t-shirts. The race started a little late because there were more people running than expected. We started on 600 South and ran up to 500 East. This was all uphill and by the time I got to the top, my legs were burning. Karen started walking, but I knew that if I stopped running, it would be tricky to get started again, so I ran up the turn and started feeling better since it was a slight downhill. I started to pass a few people and was feeling good. I got to Mile 1 and realized that I somehow hadn't started my stopwatch, so I don't know my splits. I also didn't realize I had passed Mile 1 until someone behind me shouted out "Woo hoo, we've passed mile 1." I started cruising along at mile 2 and started picking off people, which is always a good feeling. I passed mile 2 and looked at my watch and it looked like I had been running for around 18 minutes or so. Then, I turned right to head back to the rec center and realized I was running straight into the wind. The road was flat, so I was feeling good. A woman I had passed started running up on me, but I decided not to let her pass. I picked off a couple of more people and then turned left back towards the rec center and picked up speed. I passed a little boy right before the finishing chute and finished at 28:28. Apparently, I had picked up enough speed that I was running at my "puke" pace. I walked for a minute or so and then headed back out on the course to find Karen. She was about 1/2 mile back, so I ran back to her and then ran her into the finish.

At the finish line, they gave us these super fun "Kiss Me I'm Irish" necklaces. That will definitely be going with my other medals. We went inside and enjoyed a banana and a green roll. We hung out for the drawings and I ended up winning a super cool helicopter kite. I will be leaving it here in UT for John and Grandpa to play with. It was definitely a great 5K and I'm totally looking forward to my next race in 3 weeks!

So, what did I learn about myself this race... Well, I decided that I didn't want to get passed during the last mile and I pushed myself through the wind and pain in order to make that happen. I also thought alot about the 1/2 IM that I'm doing in August and realized that I need to get used to feeling pain and running when it's tough. This was a good intro/reminder of that. I also remembered how much I dig the hills and how much I love racing! I haven't raced since January and I realize that I'll be racing every few weeks for the next several months. That is definitely something I'm looking forward to. While today wasn't a PR, it was a fun race and a refreshing way to start off the day!