Shamrock 'n' Race 5K Recap

I think I have said it before and I'm sure I will say it again, but I love doing Try Events races.  They really do think of everything, and with the Shamrock 'n' Race 5K that I did on March 16th they did it again!  The weather forecast was not looking all that great on Saturday night when I was getting ready for bed, so in anticipation of the worst, I packed a dry bag to take with me so I would have dry clothes to change into after the race.

I'm very glad that I thought to do so.  The only think I forgot was the dry shoes, so that will be the first thing to go in my bag the next timeout.

When we got up Sunday morning the rain was bouncing off the roof, it was literally pouring rain.  My awesome husband got up at the crack of dawn to drive me out to the race and I'm glad he did.  I don't normally mind driving in the rain, but it was raining so hard you could barely see in front of the car.  More than once on the way to the race, I wondered who was this crazy lady to go out in weather like this.    But I did it!  An hour after leaving home we arrived at the race site, the rain had slowed to just a few drops here and there and I thought, that maybe, just maybe mother nature would give us a break.

Relived that the rain had stopped when we arrived at the parking lot.

Well mother nature decided to just tease us.  I made my way over to the start line where I saw my friend Gillian, she was doing the 7 miler and we had the chance to catch up for a few minutes before warm up started and she headed closer to the start line while I hung back.  I always start the races by walking a little distance first so I want to stay out of people's way.  Just as the start horn started, the rain began again.

It didn't matter though, away we went and it was great to have the wonderful volunteers cheering us on as we headed down onto the trail, 5k's going to the left, the 7 milers, relay and 1/2 marathoner's to the right.  I had set up my Garmin to do my running/walking intervals and I did really good.  I was keeping a pretty good pace and I was able to keep most of the people in sight for a change, which was nice.  When I ended up passing and being passed by the same couple of people as we made our way to the turn around point,  I was so happy. 

On the way back I started to feel not quite so good.  My stomach was acting up and I actually thought that I may get sick, so I slowed down to a fast walk for a few intervals before my stomach started to steady out and I started running again.  I have to say, I was quite relieved when I came across the bridge, around the corner and was able to see the white tents in the distance.

Puddles on the path, but the tents at the finish line are in sight.

I managed to pick up the pace a little bit, the only thing standing between me and the finish line now were some big puddles and about a kilometer of trail to get there.  Up until this point I had pretty much managed to keep my feet dry by dodging the puddles but it had been raining so hard that there was no way to avoid the puddles any longer.  I looked at the puddle coming at me, saw there was no way around it and decided to let my inner child splash right on through.  My feet may have gotten soaked, and it was freezing cold, but it was a lot of fun!

The volunteers were at the top of the trail that lead to the finish line cheering us on, and between them and the music playing at the finish line it gave me the get up and go to finish off by running in to the finish line instead of doing the intervals.  My legs were burning by the time I got to the finish line, but I was super proud of myself.  I heard the announcer saying, "Welcome back Katie, and look, she's smiling, that's what we like to see."  I felt so good at that moment in time.  I crossed the finish line, had my timing chip clipped off by a volunteer and received my medal, all while catching my breath and grinning from ear to ear.  My smile grew even more when I saw that I had completed the race in 53:13.  When I did this same route back in October, it took me 56minutes, and that was on a dry day.

Finished and ready to get dry!

There was a lot going on at the finish line, there was the food tent with the Pancake breakfast happening and several vendor tents to browse through, but I was cold, soaked and my stomach was not feeling the greatest.   I headed back to the car, where awesome husband was warming up the car.   My clothes were for the most part dry so I didn't need to go to the change rooms to change.  I just peeled off my soaked socks, shoes and jacket.

Race 3 of 14 is completed, with a new best time for a 5K.   I'm ready to take on the BMO 8K coming up in May.