Well, the Shamrock Marathon is now history and it's one I will remember for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the weather. It was COLD!! I had been looking at the long range forecasts for weeks and had pretty much figured that we were looking at temperatures in the mid-40's, which proved to be the case. The big question mark had been the chance of rain. The weather gurus had gone back and forth all week, first predicting rain, then backing off and then predicting it again. In the end, it came close to raining, but (with the exception of a few drops) it did not rain during the race. The wind was another matter. From the time I got out of my car in the parking deck on Sunday morning, I knew we were in for wind. In fact, I added some gear to help deal with the wind chill. The wind was particularly brutal along the Boardwalk between Miles 10.5 and 11.5 and coming back through Fort Story between Miles 20 and 22.
The other memorable thing about the 2013 Shamrock Marathon was a nice PR. I was able to slice 15 minutes off my time from the Richmond Marathon in November of last year. I set my goal of running average 10 minute miles and managed to have all of my mile splits under 10 minutes for a finish at 4:20:18. Not bad given the unfavorable conditions.
The Shamrock Marathon course is mostly a flat course with a couple of exceptions. The most notable is during the first half where you go out and back over the Rudee Inlet Bridge. This amounts to a freeway overpass, so not a terrible hill to contend with and, fortunately, is during the first half of the race when you are better able to deal with it. The other "hill" occurs during the second half of the race between Miles 16 and 19 as you approach the West Gate to Fort Story. However, this is a pretty gradual hill and you don't really feel it. The photo of me is Mile 18 going up that "hill."
As I mentioned, the real obstacle this year was the cold wind off the Ocean. Now, anyone who has been to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront know that the wind blows most of the time. On marathon morning, it was blowing particularly hard and combined with the temperatures in the low 40's made for a chilling experience. While I geared up, I saw plenty of runners in tank tops and shorts and I couldn't help but think - what do they know that I don't? I'm still not sure.
When the race was done, I was not only tired but bone-chilling cold. I picked up my swag and headed for a warm car. No post would be complete without a tip of the hat to the J&A Racing folks. They put on great races and, with the exception of the weather, this year's Shamrock was another success. They really have their act down and they do it right.
Not so long ago, it seemed like Shamrock was a distant point on the horizon. No longer. This is the weekend. We have had some beautiful weather this week, but it looks as though we may be in for some less than ideal race weather. The forecast for Saturday is mid-60's with a chance of showers in the afternoon, so the kids doing the Final Mile (including my daughter) and the 8K'ers should be okay. Things get a bit more dicey come Sunday with highs only in the upper 40's and a better chance of showers. One of the things I have learned about running races is that you can't change the weather, so there is no reason to obsess about it. Just dress appropriately, show up and run.
Our Cornerstone Striders running group in Suffolk is going to have a pretty good showing for Shamrock. At last count, we had 22 people doing at least one of the Shamrock races. I think the majority are doing the half marathon and only two or three of us are doing the full. Not a bad turnout. I think for 2012, we only had less than 10. Everyone has trained hard and I hope to hear about some new PR's at Shamrock!
The Fitness Expo is today and tomorrow, so I will probably go by there today and pickup race packets for myself and my daughter. I hope that everyone participating has a great race and an enjoyable weekend.
When I first started running, I didn't give a whole lot of thought to my times or to my pace. Running was about finishing a certain distance, regardless of the time required. At some point, however, pace became more important to me. It became the standard by which I measured myself against other runners. It also allowed me to judge my compatability with running friends.
When you run with other people, one of the first questions they ask is "so what pace do you run at?" If you don't know the answer to that question, it is likely because you are new to running and have not given it much thought. Pace is, literally, the speed at which you run a mile. Your pace can vary depending on the length of a particular race. For example, my pace in the 2013 Virginia Is For Lovers 14K was about 8:16 minutes per mile. For most people, that's a pretty fast pace and it translated into a nice new PR beating my 2012 time by a whopping 22 minutes. On the other hand, my marathon pace in Richmond was almost 2 minutes per mile slower and was designed to allow me to finish the 26.2 mile course. In short, you adjust your pace to suit your running objective.
When you run with a group, you may want to adjust your pace to allow you to keep up with the group. Most running groups have members that run at a wide variety of paces, so it is not hard to pair off with a compatible runner. I have also found that running with others, who have a faster pace, can also help you increase your pace. My Garmin helps me adjust my pace to finish my races successfully and with the occasional PR. Now that I know what pace is, I like it!
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