A Cold And Windy Marathon - Shamrock 2013

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.