Shamrock 1/2 Marathon-Saratoga Springs

This was yet another race I participated in to try and stay on target with my goal in 2012 of signing up and running at least one race every month. There aren't a whole lot of options in March for races close to home and so when I saw this one only about 20 minutes away I decided to sign up for it. Plus, I thought it would be fun to run way out in the hills and that it would also have more of a small-town feeling to it. The problem came though when a fellow blogger talked about the elevation change and so I looked it up and then became a little bit nervous. I'm not a seasoned enough runner to check these things out ahead of time.  Too late though since I was already signed up.

So, St. Patrick's Day dawned bright and early at 6:00 am for me with a restless night's sleep. I got up and got ready and had my cold banana out of the fridge with a little peanut butter smeared on it. (pretty delicious) and left the house about 7:00 am.  Mark and Cooper came along for moral support which I was so happy about.  It really isn't much fun to go to races all by yourself.  We drove out to Saratoga Springs and got there quite a bit early so we drove around the little town and checked out the course before we went to the starting line area.  Oh Boy! Was it ever hilly!  We drove back for me to get stretched out and make a final pit stop.  The race started right on time and I was near the back of the pack.  It was fun to see so many people wearing their bright green shirt. I think I read somewhere that it's taboo to wear your shirt in the race you're running in that day.  But I didn't care, and I'm glad so many others didn't care either.  It really was an awesome sight to see so much green and I wished I had a picture.  I don't know how many people ran this race but I'm guessing around 300. (I found out later it was exactly 189 people and I came in at 139th place.  Not that great, but I'm just glad I wasn't at the end)

A number of times Mark and Cooper found me and honked at me.  That gave me a smile and a boost for getting up some of those tough hills.  My whole plan for this race was to just not be as slow as my very first half marathon, Utah Valley, last Summer which was 2:38:02.  In the last couple of runs last week I tried a new tactic with trying to get a little faster.  As I listened to my ipod when a song got over I would pick up the pace and try to run as fast as I could until the next song started and the singer was singing.  This could be anywhere from 10-30 seconds.  Or if I didn't like the song I would keep running fast until I found one I liked.  Well, it helped because I was able to finish this race in 2:25:14 with HILLS, and WIND. 

I know that sign says 2:21:36 but there was a tiny problem around mile 9.5.  It was so windy that one of the cones was tipped over and a lot of people took a wrong turn.  So it ends up that my garmin watch said I had only run 12.67 miles when I came through the finish line so I continued running on around the back of the school until my watch said I had officially reached 13.1 miles with my final time of 2:25:14.

When I finished my run I headed to the goodie table and enjoyed some chocolate milk, banana and grapes. It was a bit chilly with the wind blowing and so we headed to the car.

 

When we got home I immediately took an ice bath which is never pleasant to do but the effects of less soreness is way worth it.  Happy St. Patty's Day! I haven't decided if this is a race I will want to run next year but I did enjoy the scenery and the super friendly volunteers.