Shamrock Shuffle Race Report
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Peg Coover
Jerry
Mark B
Michele "1L" Keane
mountandog
Jeff F
10 posters
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Shamrock Shuffle Race Report
Jeff F Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:38 am
I typically do not like to run big city short races, but my employer was sponsoring 100 runners for this race and I have plenty of Marriott points so my hotel was not going to cost me anything so I thought what the hell. It would a good test of my training for the half I am going to run at the end of April. This is an 8K race, so just a little under 5 miles. The only 5 mile races I have done have all been on trails so I had no idea what pace/time to expect. Last Saturday I ran a 5 mile tempo run where I held a 7:15-7:20 pace for three miles, so I was guessing a goal of breaking 37:00 (7:26 pace) minutes was a reasonable goal.
I am not going to go into all of the details of the pre-race activities. I woke up to a perfect day with temps in the low 50’s with mostly cloudy skies and no wind. This event had almost 35,000 participants so they use a wave/corral start. Based upon my prior times in other events I was in the first wave, corral B. After running a couple of miles to get warmed up I made it to the corral about 5 minutes before they closed the corral.
After a 15 minute wait we were off. It took about 3 minutes to make it to the start line. I knew based upon running the Chicago marathon that with the tunnel and the tall buildings my Garmin was going to be useless for determining my pace. So I focused on pushing it in the first mile but tried to also stay comfortable. I realized quickly I should have moved closer to the front of the corral because I was passing a lot of runners; after the first mile I continued to pass runners but found it to be not that crowded.
After we ran under Michigan Avenue we hit the first mile marker and my split was 7:10; a little faster than planned but I was very comfortable so I worked to maintain the same level of effort. I am not going to go into great detail about the rest of the race as it was pretty boring. I continued to maintain almost the same pace throughout with the exception of backing off a little in the 4th mile so I could push it for the last mile. I ended up finishing in 35:47 (avg pace of 7:11). It was a very good test of my training. Only in the last mile when I was pushing it a little did I feel a little uncomfortable.
Based upon this time McMillan estimates a 1:40 for a half, so what was once a goal of 1:42-1:43 has now become a possible goal of sub 1:40. I have been struggling with losing the 5 lbs I gained over the holidays, so maybe this will provide the needed incentive to watch what I eat/drink for the next month.
I am not going to go into all of the details of the pre-race activities. I woke up to a perfect day with temps in the low 50’s with mostly cloudy skies and no wind. This event had almost 35,000 participants so they use a wave/corral start. Based upon my prior times in other events I was in the first wave, corral B. After running a couple of miles to get warmed up I made it to the corral about 5 minutes before they closed the corral.
After a 15 minute wait we were off. It took about 3 minutes to make it to the start line. I knew based upon running the Chicago marathon that with the tunnel and the tall buildings my Garmin was going to be useless for determining my pace. So I focused on pushing it in the first mile but tried to also stay comfortable. I realized quickly I should have moved closer to the front of the corral because I was passing a lot of runners; after the first mile I continued to pass runners but found it to be not that crowded.
After we ran under Michigan Avenue we hit the first mile marker and my split was 7:10; a little faster than planned but I was very comfortable so I worked to maintain the same level of effort. I am not going to go into great detail about the rest of the race as it was pretty boring. I continued to maintain almost the same pace throughout with the exception of backing off a little in the 4th mile so I could push it for the last mile. I ended up finishing in 35:47 (avg pace of 7:11). It was a very good test of my training. Only in the last mile when I was pushing it a little did I feel a little uncomfortable.
Based upon this time McMillan estimates a 1:40 for a half, so what was once a goal of 1:42-1:43 has now become a possible goal of sub 1:40. I have been struggling with losing the 5 lbs I gained over the holidays, so maybe this will provide the needed incentive to watch what I eat/drink for the next month.
Jeff F- Poster
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Re: Shamrock Shuffle Race Report
mountandog Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:40 am
1:39:xx has a nice ring to it. Good race.
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Re: Shamrock Shuffle Race Report
Michele "1L" Keane Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:28 pm
Congrats on a nice run!
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Re: Shamrock Shuffle Race Report
Mark B Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:35 pm
Nice race. And a good goal for your half.
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Re: Shamrock Shuffle Race Report
Jerry Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:35 pm
Jeff, I thought you were too conservative when I read your race plan. Time to lose big to win big!
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Re: Shamrock Shuffle Race Report
Peg Coover Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:04 pm
Jeff that is just an outstanding time!!!!!
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John Kilpatrick- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Shamrock Shuffle Race Report
dot520 Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:26 am
Congrats, Jeff! I'm sure trail running is slower than road running, so you are destined for greatness at your half!
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Re: Shamrock Shuffle Race Report
KathyK Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:23 am
Way to go Jeff! That time bodes well for a very nice upcoming half marathon!
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Re: Shamrock Shuffle Race Report
Jack_Scaff Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:23 pm
Jeff F wrote: maybe this will provide the needed incentive to watch what I eat/drink for the next month.
It usually takes me 12 months to lose the holiday weight.
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Re: Shamrock Shuffle Race Report
Jeff F Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:40 pm
Jack_Scaff wrote:Jeff F wrote: maybe this will provide the needed incentive to watch what I eat/drink for the next month.
It usually takes me 12 months to lose the holiday weight.
I was good for about 24 hours after I wrote this...
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