Shamrock Rocked!

Today was the big day.  The Portland 32nd annual Shamrock Run.  To say this is an event in my little burg is an understatement.  There were 21,500 participants in the various events today.  They had to stagger the starts so that everyone had a clear stretch of pavement to get sorted out on before the first turn.  I gathered up with the 9-10 minute mile group and settled in for about a bit of a wait.  The horn sounded and the 5-6's took off, then they moved the 6-7's up, then the 7-8's then 8-9's, then us.  All told it was easily 7 minutes after the horn that we were allowed onto the track.  So my official time is "horn to finish" but they do use chips, so we also got our net-times, which is pad to pad for each runner.

I started off towards the front of the group by dint of my just kind of not moving to the back of the line when we were gathering up.  I dodged and wove my way through slower runners, faster runners, people asking about the kilt, and the general throngs of people that comprise that many people participating in an event.  My official, "gun time" was 37:03, my actual "net time" was 29:20.  So my estimation of how long we were waiting is just about accurate.  It was a little cold at the start, the weather people getting it wrong again, so it was about 6 degrees colder than the predicted 40, but I went with the event shirt (short sleeved and my kilt.  I, hopefully will have photos from this one soon, although there wasn't the same level of photo ops as during the Jingle Bell Run.  I need to get a photographer to come out to a race so I can get some good shots, maybe in May. 

So, today's run counts as my first run towards my training for the two 10K's.  Tomorrow I will hit the Y bright and early and get in some serious stretching and some weights.  Nothing fancy, nothing over the top, just toning weights and reps.  I am thinking that since Mondays will become a light run day as well, that I may have to look at the whole program and figure out which day(s) will be for rest and which will be for weights.  There is a limit to what I can do given my work schedule, but that will be part of the process of this blog, figuring what works and what doesn't.  So far, I am very happy with both my efforts and my results.  Now, I want to redouble my input and hopefully get that back.  I am holding at about 190 in weight, and I ran an 5K today without having to walk at any point during the race.  Three months ago, that was not possible, and I was 205 easy.  I look forward to the challenge I have given myself, and look forward to the seeing the results.