Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Shamrock weekend March 20-22, 2015


I turn 40 this year. I've been deciding on how to truly celebrate it. I decided to do races in cities I've never been. I heard of Shamrock from other runners. Then I got an email from the race sponsor, J&A Racing, about doing something great in 2015. It talked about fundraising with LIVESTRONG for the shamrock race. I put down $50 and I started fundraising as part of my race registration. I was committed to race $500. As of the week before the race, I have raised $800. I mentioned to a few of my TIFL sisters that I was doing shamrock and they decided to do it as well. We made it a weekend. As I read more about the race I found out there is a dolphin challenge of running the 8K on Saturday and the half marathon on Sunday. I contacted LIVESTRONG about changing my registration from the half to the challenge. They advised once I make my fundraising goal, my registration would change.

I rode up to Virginia beach with Claudia and Tom Mello on Friday as Claudia and I were both doing the dolphin challenge. My fellow shamrock divas were only doing the 1/2.

Saturday morning came and I headed to the shuttle at the hotel at 6:30am. The 8K didn't start until 7:45am but I wasn't familiar with where everything was. Early bird gets the worm. I drop my gear bag off and head back to the race. I hear someone talking to me from one of the hotels. I'm thinking "do I know this person" turns out it is one of TIFL sisters from Charlote who I met at the Diva NMB race on the SAG wagon. She invites me back to her room to warm up because it's about 30ish degrees outside. Brr cold. I meet her other weekend roommates and Julie, another TIFL sister from Charlotte who I met on the SAG wagon. It might be true, I know a lot of people. You get around in this running/triathlon community. 

Jen and I head to the start line. We are in corral 16 which was like a mile back from the start. We run into Angel and Tiffany from TIFL charlotte and Claudia and Tom Mello. It didn't dawn on me that we wouldn't actually start at 7:45 until they started moving the corrals. We didn't hit the start line until 8:25. Angel Tiffany and I walk together. We are in no hurry. Angel and I are doing the half tomorrow. Tiffany is 17 weeks pregnant, she's not trying to do anything fast and furious either. We notice we have our own personal escort, VA Beach sheriff behind us. KEWL beans. We notice all the food places as we walk down Atlantic avenue. Not a lot of them are open which is a good thing because we probably would have made a detour. We make the first turn onto the end of the boardwalk and we are hit immediately with a headwind. The wind coming off the Atlantic Ocean is no joke. A lady walks up to us and tells us the SAG wagon told her "you need to catch up with the pacers". Isn't that something they called us the pacers. Do you know that same lady ended up passing us. Hilarious. We turn right at the end of the finish line chute. That sucks because you see the finishers headed to the party tent. We are back on Atlantic and there are people walking on the street with us and there's a car that tries to run us down. Dude yells out "there's a sidewalk" we yell back "we're in the race" IDIOTS. we pass a course monitor so apparently the streets are not open. We tell him about the car and he can't believe it. That confirms we were in the right. We make the turn onto the boardwalk and make the final stretch towards the finish. OMG it really feels like the last green mile it's so long. I can see the finish line but it just seems so far away. A lady comes up to us, she's one of the race officials. They are about to start one of the kids races. She's going to walk us I'm to the finish line. This chick means business. "Make room we have 8K finishers coming through". We cross the finish line holding hands, Angel, Tiffany and I. My feet are screaming at me. All I want is my flip flops from my gear bag. 8K is done in 01:53:13 which beats my St Paddys Run Green 8K time from 2 weeks ago and that makes it a PR ladies and gentlemen. 1 race down, 1 to go.

SHAMROCK HALF MARATHON
As every runner knows you don't sleep well the night before a race. I kept tossing and turning all night long thinking about my race day game plan. 5am wake up call wakes us up along with everyone's cell phone alarm ringing. The shamrock divas are waking up and getting our race day gear on. Our plan is to head down to the shuttle at 6 and get to the race with plenty of time before race start. I go back and forth on wearing my TIFL hoodie because the forecast shows its in the 40s. I opt to wear the hoodie. We head to the lobby to catch the shuttle. The lobby is full of fellow runners who are waiting for the shuttle. I must give kudos to Wyndham because they have the shuttle system very organized. We are onboard the minivan AKA the shuttle. It takes us literally less than 5 minutes to get to our drop off spot which is 1 block from the race start. 

This is Mary's first 1/2 so we are super excited for her. We snap pre race pics by the start line. Then we head to the gear drop which is literally a mile away because we are in corral 12 the last one. We made a strategic decision to pack all our stuff in Mary's gear bag because she's the fastest off all of us and will be at the finish line first. 

Gear is dropped off. We join the lines for the porty pottie. What I have learned is you must carry hand sanitizer when you race because you might need your own. That's all I'm going to say about that. The ladies have decide that we are going to join corral 8. Since I have a serious case of FOMO(fear of missing out) I join in with them. Corral 8 is up about 7:20am. We walk to the start line and everyone except this chick takes off running. I set the Garmin and opt to just walk the first mile and let me legs warm up.

I'm listening to my shamrock race playlist on my phone and I'm just enjoying the first few miles. A few people pass by giving my high fives and fist bumps. MaryMolly from Raleigh who I know from being in the same running groups passes me. Angel from TIFL charlotte passes me and asks me if I'm ok. I'm a lost at mile 2 so I'm ok. Then I hit mile 2 and my bladder starts to YELL at me. I see a porty pottie over at a construction site. I made a pit stop. A lady yells "hey you all found her secret stop" pit stop is done. I get back on the course. One foot in front of the other, I'm headed towards mile 3 which is a major water stop. At this point Rocketeer by Far East Movement is playing I'm in a good zone. I start dancing and waving my arms like a plane. I'm hoping this good zone lasts. One foot in front of the other. I opt to decide to just keep walking, no interval running. Im on this long lonely road that looks like it's literally going nowhere and it curves to the left and there is an aid station with a band and they offer me a mimosa. I've never had an adult beverage while being on a race course. I only take a few sips and then throw it out. It warmed me up for a few minutes. I head into the entrance of Fort Story, a US naval base. I hit the 10K mark and I make sure I hit the timing mat. The volunteer laughs at me as I do it. I'm starting to feel a tender pain on my right foot. I'm thinking uh huh the toenail has broken off. I try to ignore it. Did I mention my feet started hurting about 2 miles back but I've gone numb to the pain. Im just walking and jamming to my music apparently too loud because I missed the lead vehicle telling me to get out of the way because apparently the lead male marathon finisher is coming through AKA the royal Prince. Yes I am hating because I am I'm the same race but I need to get out his way. Rant over. More marathoners are coming through. I'm really feeling like i should just call for a taxi or at least Lyft ride. Then I see this guy pass me on one of those bikes and I do a double take. This dude has no legs just arms and he's hauling tail down the course. I think to myself I seriously have no real reason to not finish since I have 2 good legs that are working. This buttercup sucked it up and kept on walking. I'm making my way out of the naval base and I've not noticed they have taken down the mile markers for the half but left up the ones for the full. I pass the coolest water stop on the planet. I see some of the kid volunteers have Popsicles. They ask me do I want one. Yes I do. I take a blue one and it's like the best thing I've ever had in my entire life. The sun is coming out. It's slowly getting warm. I pass our hotel for a second time. If I wasn't such a bling chick I would have just went back to the room but wait I don't have a key Mary and Sharon do. Oh well I have to make it to the finish. I pass marathoners who are heading on the course where I just left, poor things. I see 2 runners wearing NBMA(National Black Marathoners Association) shirt which is super cool. My boyfriend calls me and I tell him how tired I am and how my feet feel. He tells me to block it out and tell this race course I got it. I tell him to talk to me about anything to get my mind off the pain. He tells me he ate my box of caramel delight Girl Scout cookies. Yep that did it. Because I'm no longer thinking about the pain. I really don't care about the cookies. I just needed the distraction. He hangs up.chrisette michelle starts playing again and then my phone dies. Note to self do not stream your music from iCloud while doing a half marathon because it will 1)kill your battery and 2)suck up your data usage. Even the geek has lessons to learn. No music and the Garmin has died as well. It's just my mind and my breathing keeping me company. I make that curve past the Cavalier, stop by the last water stop and drink water and Gatorade. Head down Atlantic, make that last left turn that brings me to the boardwalk. If this isn't the longest part. I can see the finish line in the distance but it seems so far away. Out of nowhere an ANGEL appears. Her name is Angel. She's my TIFL sister from charlotte who has been my rock my sword and shield all weekend. She's already finished, came back out to find me and walk me in to the finish line. We post for the official race photos. We head into the last stretch of the finish line. People are cheering and I hear my name over the PA. I cross the finish line of my 2nd completed half marathon. All I want is my flip flops. Dolphin challenge is done. 18.1 miles I2 days. Put a fork in me because I am DONE