Shamrock Shuffle

This morning was the Shamrock Shuffle which is a very large race ran in the loop in downtown Chicago. Today brought some interesting twists as we got the typical early spring Chicago snowfall.

I got up early this morning and it didn't look to bad outside so I wasn't that worried about the weather. By eight o'clock I had already heard from four others, one was out for sure and a couple of others debating on taking a pass. I didn't think it would be that bad so I packed up and headed for the city, once I got close I started to have second thoughts. They were getting dumped on from the lake effect snow and the streets were covered in an inch of slush. Great, this should be fun.

Last year I skipped my first race due to the weather, the Chicago Half Marathon as it was pouring down rain and I was kicking myself the rest of the day. I swore that I would not skip another one if I was signed up and the race wasn't cancelled. So I was in no matter what.

Here is the excerpt from the press release from the race organizers:
" While 30,000 runners registered for the popular race only 13,714 elected to brave the elements. With the vast majority of registrants hailing from the Chicagoland area they were familiar with the conditions Mother Nature can deliver during springtime in Chicago."

I went into the race with low expectations as the roads were crap and not sure how yesterdays workouts would affect my legs. I left the watch in the car and just decided to wing it and take on how I felt.

Overall it wasn't that bad of a run and I finished in a time of 36:24 so was happy with that time. This was an overall place of 888 out of 13,714 so in the top 7%, not bad for me.

Came home and Landon and I headed down to Potbellys so mom could head out with grandma and grandpa to go shopping. We grabbed a couple of sandwiches, a cookie and a strawberry smoothie and followed that up with a nice two hour nap. Man I needed that nap!

I got my 45 minute ride in after our nap and looking forward to relaxing the rest of the evening. Only a swim tomorrow, by myself as the masters class is cancelled but should be a pretty easy training day.