Shamrock Run

Well this last Sunday was the 35th running of the Shamrock Run, not a marathon or half, but a number of different length runs in Portland. A 15K was the longest run, with 8K, 5K and kid runs/walk as well. This is one of the largest, by total number, running events on the West Coast. I ran this event with a friend, someone I could use to pace with, and did the 15K.

The one big unknown was the weather. Portland could have rain or snow or hail on a March morning. But the race day brought sunny skies, though it was cold and I was not too thrilled to step out at 6 am and find the temperature in the 30’s. But we drove down and made our way to the starting area, did a little stretching and loosened up.

The 15K had an estimated 9000 runners and we wanted to get in the front, so we positioned ourselves so we would be in the front group. This helps because the first mile is crowed and it is hard to get a stride started. At 10 minutes till they let us on the course and we got in position, we were about 30 yards to the start and this was a good place to be.

The idea was to start in groups so it wouldn’t get too crowed, but that didn’t happen. As they counted down, I could hear a train horn, the course crosses the tracks at two places and I hoped the train would stay on the other side of the river.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….

Finish medals. Only Portland would have beer openers

Horn sounded and the runners started.  We slowly walked about 10 yards before we could start to run and we were across the line. We had timing chips on our shoes so our actual time would be tracked. The first 100 yards was a lot of moving around slow talking runners and trying to get into a clear area. We crossed the tracks and got going, I could hear the train and then I heard the crossing gates…. The train was coming and the runners would have to stop. I can’t believe the organizers didn’t check with the train schedule. I was worried that the train was a freight train and it would across our path, so I tried to speed up so we could beat it across if need be.

I was glad to see it was an Amtrak train and was stopping at the train station so we would have a clear path.  The next section was through downtown and flat, which helped my time. Open streets and easy to get a good pace going. A couple of turns and we started the climb. For half the course we would go up, the first section was a shallow incline but there were a couple of good climbs to come. As we past the 3 mile mark, the incline increased, at the 4 mile mark we were on the first big hill, a long two mile climb. This really slowed me down but I still was doing OK.

We made the top and started down, then the second climb. More slowly this time, made the top and now I was happy. We were at the 6 mile mark and it was all down hill from here.  3 more miles of down hill running and the speed was back up. I was feeling OK, my pace partner had pulled in front on the hill so I could only chase her. I figured this would happen.

I was trying not to be passed and I kept the pace going. Past the 7 mile mark, 2 more miles… I could do it, pick up the pace, still down hill. 8 mile mark, almost there, I could see where the finish was and was still going strong. Coming up to the 9 mile mark…..

STOP!!!!

What???

A traffic police officer was stopping the runners to let cars by…

What??

We were in sight of the finish, were speeding up to make the last quarter mile, strong finish…. But no, we stopped. Everyone was complaining, the car drivers were slowly crossing, I could feel my legs getting tight.

Some runners tried to cross, ran out in front of the cars.

Traffic stopped, the cop was waving cars on but they weren’t moving.

I ran around a car and kept on going.

Finish in sight!!!

Strong last 100 yards and across the line…

1 hour and 19 minutes. 8 and a half minute mile pace.  Should have been a couple of minutes sooner, but I was happy. I turned in the chip, got my medal and met my friend. She finished 4 minutes a head of me, she was happy too with her pace. We wanted to get going and get a coffee, it was still only 39 degrees. People were drinking beer already, no way. Coffee was what we wanted and that was where we went.

Till next year…