Shamrock Half Marathon

What better way to celebrate St. Patrick's day than with a race? :) But seriously, one of my favorite weekend trips nowadays is to go out of town to run a race!

My parents drove down from Massachusetts, since they were running the 8k on Saturday and Tristan met us in Richmond. About 3 weeks ago, I had called my mom and dad to make sure they were training for the race. Unfortunately I didn't take my own advice and failed to train yet again. However, I did run a half marathon three weeks ago and managed to go on two runs since then, so I didn't feel too out of shape. I also played tennis last weekend with my brother, which involved a lot of running around. I'm still disappointed in myself because I want to start training better; but I can't seem to find the energy or motivation. (Some of this is due to stressful situations at work and making big life decisions).

We got to Virginia Beach on Friday evening and picked up our packets at the expo. It was my kind of expo! - they had cheap technical running shirts from previous years, free samples, and lots of deals. In my mind, an expo should be about bargains, not paying an arm and a leg for everything. I bought a Shamrock long-sleeved technical race shirt, and a Virginia is for Lovers t-shirt that said "Run passionately". Both were $5.

On Saturday morning, we walked to the starting line, which was a LOT farther than we realized. Our hotel was right next to the expo (at the Convention Center), about 1.5 miles away. We got to the starting area just as the first wave of runners was taking off.  My parents were in Corral 10, so we still made it in plenty of time. Tristan and I decided to run with my mom to keep her company. My mom did run a minute, walk 4 minutes the whole way, so it was a fun 8k. There were a lot of people, and a lot of kids. Tristan wants to bring her little sister Riley next year. It would definitely be a fun first race event!

The next morning, we drove to the start. It was chilly in the beginning, but as the sun came up, it warmed up pretty fast. Tristan is in much better shape than me, so she took off and we each ran our own race. The first 5-6 miles went by pretty quickly for me. There were a lot of runners, but the road was a very wide two-lane road, so people were able to spread out. The course was very flat and shaded by trees on both sides, and the weather was perfect.

Around mile 7, we made a U-turn and started running towards the beach. It got super windy and cold. I had taken my long-sleeve off at mile 3 and considered putting it back on! The wind blowing off the water was very strong; however it only lasted for 1-2 miles, and there were enough people in front of me to act as a shield. At mile 8, I started to feel tired. I knew this was where training more would have really helped me out. I walked through water stops at miles 8, 10, and 11 to get some gatorade. I figured I would keep running until I had to stop and walk.

By mile 11, I felt like I had nothing left. I really wanted to stop and walk. I took a slightly longer walk break through the water stop at mile 11 (which was really mile 11.3) and by then I had less than 2 miles left to go. I wanted to try to run the rest! I slowed my pace slightly so that I could keep running. Lots of people were cheering, which helped keep me going. At mile 12, my dad jumped in and ran the last mile with me. At that point, I knew there was no way I was going to walk. I finished with a respectable time of 2:05. I was happy to be able to run the whole thing (I don't count walking at water stops).

Overall, it was a very fun race! The course is as flat as can be, and the weather was pleasantly cool. I'm disappointed that I didn't train, because I could've gotten a PR on such a fast course! But that's my fault, and it's motivation to train better for the next one. Tristan ran an awesome race and got a PR of 1:54! At the finish area, we got medals, race hats, and a Shamrock towel. We saw the Dolphin medals for people who ran both the 8k and the half marathon, and they looked awesome! Tristan and I want to do that next year (we ran the 8k unofficially this year, so we couldn't get that medal).

Splits from my Garmin:

1	9:09.7
2	9:26.2
3	9:19.5
4	9:13.6
5	9:23.9
6	9:04.2
7	9:13.4
8	9:25.9
9	9:44.5
10	9:48.1
11	9:38.8
12	10:21.6
13	9:36.4
14	1:24.5

 Official time: 2:05:01     Average Pace: 9:33     5 mile split: 46:24