Race Recap - Semper Gratus Shamrock Shuffle 5K 2017

My half marathon plan (Higdon Novice 2) calls for a 5K next weekend, but since I'll be doing the Philadelphia Hot Chocolate 15K the weekend after that, it seemed like a good idea to move up the 5K and with the St. Patrick's Day holiday, there were a few local races to choose from. So after a less-than-ideal night of sleep (and tossing and turning - honestly it felt mostly like tossing and turning) I got up this morning to go run the Semper Gratus Shamrock Shuffle 5K with Mike.

I'd picked out my gear the night before, hoping to strike a good balance between being warm enough and being, well, green enough. Layered a tank and a pair of arm sleeves under my SCRR tech shirt, accessorized with my green Saucony Ride 7s and yellow SCRR hat, and topped off my favorite capri tights with tall stripey socks. These are actually for soccer players, I think, which accounts for them being able to fit over my marching band calves, and not destroying my feet, though I'd probably not wear them for anything longer than a 5K.

Breakfast was my normal pre-race Picky Bar (Smooth Caffeinator) and the closest replacement I could find for my beloved Starbucks Iced Coffee + Milk, which appears to be no more. I also had on hand a banana, which I was saving for about a half hour before the race. The good news is that I felt significantly perkier after the caffeine, but maybe not quite perky enough...

It was about a 45-minute drive through small-town western PA, draped in predictable winter mist, grey skies, and a chill--the temperature was hovering around 37 degrees. There was plenty of parking when we arrived at the fire hall that was hosting the race, so we left our gear in the car and went inside to get our bibs and race shirts. These tees aren't tech shirts, but they are super soft and snuggly, and I love that the logo is on the sleeve--super cute, and they fit great, too!

After dropping our stuff off at the car we geared up and joined the 100ish people hanging out in the fire hall waiting for the race to start. I really liked this setup; they had bathrooms available and while the hall wasn't toasty warm, it was better than subjecting ourselves to the light drizzle that had started coming down outside. I noticed my phone had no reception (still not uncommon in more rural areas around here), and I decided there was no reason to carry it if I couldn't get a pace off of it, so I ate my banana and hit the restroom (and snapped a quick mirror selfie), then we went out for a short warmup before the race started, dropping my phone off back at the car on the way.

Everyone gathered back in the hall before the race to listen to the race organizer talk about the cause the race was benefiting, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and a mom also spoke briefly about her son, who has lymphoma. Then, since this is the first running of this race, we gathered under the start/finish line arch for a quick photo, and then took off!

A few notes about the course: I had scouted out the route earlier this week thanks to a map provided by the RD, and it looked moderately difficult but manageable. It was a closed loop around the residential part of town and had a drop of <100 feet in the first mile, a gain of ~200 feet in the second, and a loss of a bit over 100 for the last mile.

I haven't raced a 5K in a while - my last maximum effort at this distance was the PERSAD Donut Dash last September, which was a mostly flat course and where I was about 5 pounds lighter than I am right now; I finished it in 30:22. My all-time PR is 29:55 which I ran last August (crossing around 30:13 clock) at about 12 pounds lighter than today on a rolling course where I felt surprisingly competent on the gentle hills and enjoyed passing people on them.

Since then I've completed Higdon HM Novice 1, run a 10-miler, and am partway through my second HM training plan. So in the back of my head I knew there was at least a chance to PR, if things went my way. I was disappointed to not have my phone for pacing info, but I figured at least I knew the general layout of the course and where to give big effort and where to hold back. So I lined up pretty close to the front (there weren't a ton of participants and many were walking anyway) and figured I'd try to stick to someone who looked strong for as long as I could and see what happened.

Things thinned out pretty quickly; I could see Mike way out in front with his extremely orange shirt in a sea of green, but I managed to hang on to the back of the pack of some folks who were slower but still moving along at a decent speed. Usually I end up running by myself - apparently I have a bit of an odd pace - so I considered that a positive sign. I'd planned on practicing running the tangents since I knew the race was certified and it's a good habit to be in, and the first mile went pretty smoothly. I'm pretty sure there were mile markers out there but I was so focused on running that I was going off my general memory of the course and the fact that I knew mile 2 was going to be a lot less easy to negotiate.

Which turned out to be the understatement of the year. The RD had warned us before the race that we were going to get our butts kicked by some hills, and now it was time to find out if he was over-exaggerating or not. I was warm enough that I ended up stuffing my gloves into the waistband of my tights, and was overall pleased that I had apparently got the exact right amount of clothing on otherwise. The first part of mile 2 was fine, but then we turned a corner to see a fairly steep hill. I knew it was coming, so nothing to do other than tuck my head down and keep moving. I definitely slowed dramatically and was puffing a bit more than usual at the top, but it wasn't too bad.

My memory of the exact elevation profile was a bit hazy at that point, but things leveled out and I got back to a reasonable pace until I made the next turn, only to be faced with a hill just as steep and twice as long as the one we just came up! This was when I saw people starting to walk, and also when I changed my priority from PR to just get to the finish with a respectable time. I was definitely doing a sort of granny shuffle myself, but managed to get to the top of the thing without succumbing to the walk. Again, there was relief as we hit a flat stretch, and growing dismay as the next turn revealed a short but extremely steep hill to conquer just as we were getting our momentum back.

I heard the volunteers perched at the top telling the runners in front of me that it was the last big hill, that everything was downhill after that. I've always preferred short, steep inclines to long ones that drag it out, so I pushed up and over and finally was able to catch my breath as I came down the other side, wondering how much time I'd lost. The only tracking I had with me was my fitbit, and peering at it through my shirt I thought it said we were around 21 minutes. I wasn't up for doing running math, so once my breathing was back to normal (or as close as it was going to get - my sides definitely were threatening to stitch) I focused on using gravity to my advantage and getting my pace back up again.

It looked so innocent and manageable here.

There was one last little hill to climb that I had noticed was part of the route on our way in, but after the mess that was mile 2, this was basically nothing, and we rolled through a couple twists and turns as we negotiated the final mile. The lady nearest to me was pretty close to having nothing left to give but we chatted a little and waved to some of the neighbors who were blasting Irish music from their porch as we entered the final turn. Unless I've totally blown it, I usually have something left for a modest kick and once I was into the final brief straightaway my legs responded nicely and I took off for the finish line.

Somewhere along the way the drizzle/mist had stopped and so I was able to see the clock clearly enough to make out 30:XX. Almost, but not quite what I was hoping for. I spotted the photographer and got my hands up in the air as I sped across the finish line, knowing that I wasn't far enough back from the start to have a PR, but well aware that I had come so close on a course that was significantly more challenging.

After squatting in the parking lot for a few seconds to catch my breath and make sure I wasn't going to have a reversal of fortune, Mike and I headed inside to check our times. The timing group that worked this race offers essentially instant results, so instead of waiting around for someone to print out the list of finishers and elbow your way to the front of the crowd that immediately gathers around it, you can go right over to a laptop and plug in your bib number and get your result. Which is how I found out that I finished 29th overall, 13th female, and 3rd in my age group!

We perused the snacks on offer, but there wasn't anything too tempting so I grabbed a bottle of water and made a quick trip out to the car to grab my coat and phone, which was the point at which I realized that my phone had data after all. Doh! I told you I wasn't awake enough when we got there... the reason I didn't have any reception earlier was because we were in a giant cinder block building! So I spent a few minutes sulking that I could have had all the Strava data for my effort but now had to guess at my splits (9:00/11:30/9:30 or similar, most likely), but pretty quickly the warm glow of a runner's high had headed off any potential bad mood.

Mike did even better than I did, taking 2nd in his age group and 8th overall with a final time of 23:56 - not quite a PR for him either, but both of us are basically happy to call this one a win considering the crazy elevation situation! In fact, in checking out the stats afterwards I found out that, had I been a guy, I would have WON the men's division for my age range--apparently those guys all stayed home and napped off green beer hangovers. ;)

The art for the certificates was colored by the little boy whose mom spoke before the race - very cool & unique!

We stuck around for the awards ceremony and chatted with a fellow runner in the Masters category a bit, and then turned to our next priority: lunch!

The "downtown" part of Leechburg is just across the river from where we ran, so Mike drove us over while I pulled up Google Maps to see if anything looked enticing. The best-reviewed place was Pappy's, which looked right up our alley, and I'm delighted to say that absolutely everything there, from the service to the food and the prices, was absolutely excellent. Our server spotted our race bibs and asked how it went, and later stopped by to talk about the two times she ran the Pittsburgh Half - which happens to be our goal race for this spring!

Everything here was super fresh and delicious - no filler in that crabcake!

Everything was so good, I couldn't resist trying this lemon cake which was also completely to die for.

I continued feeling warm and fuzzy for the rest of the afternoon, and while my legs feel a little beat up right now, I have a couple days away from running (back in the gym Sun/Mon) to let them recuperate. Overall, this was a really fantastic race despite the rain and cold and HILLS, and I am so super happy with my results. It's incredibly rewarding to see that the hours you're putting in are paying off, even for something as simple as a 5K.

Based on how this race went, I think my strategy for Philly in two weeks is going to be to take it easy for the first 5K, running it at my 'B goal' pace for the half (11:30). My legs tend to be sluggish for the first few miles (I can't sprint on command for the life of me) but after they're good and warmed up they often surprise me with what they're able to pull off. Since I'm doing the 15K on what's supposed to be a normal long run weekend of 9 miles, and there's a 10K in the plan a couple weeks later that I'm going to skip, I'm going to take the remaining 10K in the Hot Chocolate race and see what I can do.

In the meantime, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. Looking forward to doing a flatter 5K sometime after the half and hopefully finally getting that new PR!