March 14, 2010 is not Saint Patrick’s day, but not all that many people can go run a race on a Wednesday… unless they make it a National Holiday or something so everyone gets the day off! Hey, I ‘ll vote for that. Anyway, the race was held on Sunday, the weather was damp and cool but not all that bad. Some mist in the air but actual rain held off so everyone stayed pretty dry. Only one or two trash bag raincoats were spotted… mine stayed in the car.
Sponsored by Conor O’Neills bar downtown, the race goes right past it several times.
The race did not go as planned… you know I wanted to get under about 16 minutes… yeah… right. Really I was aiming for about 26 plus a few seconds since my previous best is 26:32. I started pretty well at the end of the pack and did not realize it would be so hard or take so long to clear the crowd. A lesson learned. They also had two lanes merging into one at the starting mats, so that backed things up, and then the walkers also merged from the cross street at the same time. A bit of chaos for awhile. Overall though, no excuses. Even once I cleared traffic I did not get back on pace. Just plain old sluggish lately. Definately a lack of miles, and have not done any speed stuff since last summer. Hey I am not that great, but I think even for us mid-packers it makes a difference. Starting to get miles back up this week with warm weather I can run out the front door without having to drive somewhere… makes it easier. Plus the route here has more hills than Geddes Park where I do most of the winter runs.
Some stats for the race:
a) 5K, or 3.1 miles.
b) ran at a 9:28 pace (29:24 total time)
c) finished 612 out of 1597 overall, so finished in the top 39% of all runners.
d) finished 8 out of 16 in my age group. So about 50% finished ahead of me…. and 50% behind me.
e) had a great time, which was the real race goal!
This was the third time I have run the Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5K in downtown Ann Arbor. It is hosted by Running Fit stores and sponsored by Connor O’Neills bar.
Until the final Leprechaun is caught for his gold,
George