April 10, 2011

Smokin Hot Shufflin

Chicago hit a hot streak - just in time for the "Biggest 8K In The World". Yes, we repeatedly heard the announcers boast that the Shamrock Shuffle has more participants than any other 8K race in the world. Bragworthy? Thats questionable. But, the race really is expertly managed and though the crowd was huge, the feeling was not overwhelming as it can often be in large races.

I got there feeling pretty good and experienced immediate iPhone failure. I couldnt get ahold of any of the friends I also knew running (luckily, I was with two of them already and not totally on my own). Waiting for the race to start, the GPS on my phone (for which I need to use Runkeeper) kept wavering in and out.

The crowd waiting was pretty intense. They had 8 different start corrals and made each corral wait to start, one by one. I was in the second to last corral, so I waited ... forever. By the time I started my legs were tired from standing and I was already a bit dehydrated. In addition, since I had breakfast almost 4 hours earlier, I was hungry!!!


I actually felt pretty good during the race, despite the heat. By mile three I was getting a bit tired and feeling pretty thirsty, so I started looking for the water station. It didnt come into play until just before mile four, a little bit later than I really needed it. I was so hot that I chugged a whole gatorade and a whole water. DUMB. I started running. It started sloshing. I started cramping. I started walking. I had to walk a bit to get rid of the cramping and really couldnt push it in my last mile. So, other than a rookie-like mistake, I actually did surprisingly well on my first post-baby race!

I rewarded myself after the race with a banana, some potato chips ... and a beer.


Following that? A Potbelly sandwich and a milkshake. And tonight I had some Chinese food. Essentially, I rewarded myself quite well for my hard work today :)

The official times have been updated, but I am hoping they release the splits (like last year). Here is a little comparison of 2010 and 2011!
2010 2011
Temp 43 74
Minutes to Start 33 42:57
Total Time 56:55 54:41
Average Pace 11:27 11:00
Fastest Mile 10:46

4 comments:

kilax said...

Wow! Good job! You really ran a lot faster than last year! Are you a warm weather runner? I am not, and was feeling so bad that it was so hot yesterday.

Jess said...

A faster time, despite the heat and the longer wait!

Kristina said...

It sounds like we were in the same corral. That second water station came a little late to me, too; I was really wishing I had brought my small water bottle with me. My time was slower than yours (1:05:21) but I was just happy to finish. That last hill on Roosevelt was a doozy, huh?

Unknown said...

Sorry to leave an unrelated comment, but I couldn't find any contact info for you on the blog, and wanted to ask if you'd be interested in a guest post. Please drop me an e-mail.

Thanks!

Aaron