Race Report: 2016 Under Armour Kelly St. Patrick's Day Shamrock 5K

I hate this race.  Every year, I blog about how much I hate this race.  The crowds, the lack of pace signs, too-long beer lines at the postrace party, the crowds.

And every year, I come back to this race, mostly for the post - race celebration we always have at a local pub.

I've put down some good times here.  26:14 in 2010, our first crack at it, was my best.  Tapered to a 30 minute finish in 2011 a week before my first marathon, and came back strong with a 26:42 in 2012 while recovering (so I thought) from what turned out to be my compartment syndrome.  This year, I ran a 32:55 and said afterwards that "I ran the shit out of that race".  That’s not one of my best 5K times by any means, but it's quite a but faster than I've been in training this year, when I've pretty consistently been a 12 - minute miler.

It helped that most of the first mile is downhill, and the last mile mostly flat.  There's some hills in the second mile and beginning of the third (coming back up Key Highway toward Light St.) but I felt strong...or at least "not weaker" on the hills.  Thanks, Mt. Wolf.

I did have the feeling at about halfway that I was running this faster than I should have and wouldn't be able to finish without a walk break or two, but the cool weather helped me hang in to the end.

I'm very happy with a time that I would have been pissed about 4 or 5 years ago, but that's something I can work on.  I would like to get myself back under 30 minutes in the 5K this year, but I need to balance that with an overall focus on base mileage and long runs for a possible marathon attempt in the fall.

Whether or not that happens, I'm pretty sure you'll see me at the start of this race next March.

PROS:
Fast course, great crowd support, the crowd of green-clad runners heading down Charles St. is a cool sight, you can watch the parade afterward, and sometimes the Oriole Bird is in the parade.

CONS:
Crowded course, lack of pace signs, the name of the race is annoyingly long and I can't call it "Shamrock 5K" when so many people are familiar with the Shamrock races in VA Beach the next weekend.

Race Report: 2013 Kelly St. Patrick's Day Shamrock 5K

Every year, I say how much I dislike this race. And every year, I run it again.   Yesterday, as Chris and I were running down a very crowded Charles Street at the beginning of the race, I told her "I hate this race" and as I was coming back from the turnaround on Key Highway I was thinking, "Maybe next year I'll just skip the race and show up for the after-party."

Because it's really the after-party that keeps bringing me back to this one.  The race is what it is:  a big, crowded, chaotic, and vaguely Irish-themed race with beer at the end.  The positives are the incredible view of a sea of green-clad runners going downhill on Charles Street following the start and the pints of Guiness that I have at the James Joyce after the race.  In between is a hot, crowded, chaotic mess.

It's hot, because the 1:15pm start time leaves me running in temperatures 20+ degrees warmer than I'm used to and it's crowded and chaotic because there's 5,000 participants and no pace signs or corrals whatsoever.  There's a ton of people who take very sudden walk breaks in the middle of the road or run or walk it in a group 3 or 4 people wide, requiring me to cut and weave like Brian Westbrook. I admit, I'm probably being way too much of an overcompetitive asshole here.  Everyone else just has fun with this race; I should too.

Especially since I'm way too out of shape to be an overcompetitive asshole.  In 2012, my first crack at this race, I ran a 26:14 and was slightly disappointed in it. Oh, how jaded I was. In 2011, I was tapering for the Shamrock Marathon the following week and took it nice and easy on my way to a 30:15.  26:42 last year, which I was pretty happy with as I recovered.  This year, 31:24, my PW.  Even at the York Jingle Bell in December, when I needed a few walk breaks to make it around the hilly course, I finished in 31:10.

But, I survived.  I ran the whole thing.  I've just got to get my calf and shin problems straightened out or the Sole of the City 10K in April is going to be the death of me. 

Race Report: 2012 Kelly St. Patrick's Day Shamrock 5K

I kicked off the 2012 racing season with a third attempt at the Kelly St. Patrick's Day Shamrock 5K at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. This is now just one of three races that I have three or more attempts at. (The other two are the Harrisburg Mile and the Chocolate Miracle 5K in Hershey, where I haven't toed the line since '09.) In 2010, I ran a disappointing at the time 26:14 that looks much better with the benefit of hindsight, and last year, while tapering for the marathon, I cruised to a 30:15.

This year, I'd been undecided what my strategy for this race would be. I'm not in PR shape yet, and that's the bottom line. Even on my comeback runs in which I don't feel like crap, I just haven't had the speed over 3.1 miles that I had in 2010 and 2011. And this week, I've mostly felt like crap.

Even though I ran 5 miles yesterday, during which my legs felt like lead and I was sucking wind like a guy who'd never run before, I woke up this morning feeling excellent, Spring Forward be damned. There's no marathon for me next week, as anyone who has read this blog over the past two months is well-aware by now, so there was no reason not go for broke.

Our party of six walked from the Inner Harbor to the starting point at the intersection of Charles & Mulberry, and after a few minutes of chatting, we lined up. This 5K has about 4,000 participants, and the block is packed. I lined up a little over half of the way back.

My starting position proved to haunt me, as I was unable to really take advantage of the downhill start. Throughout the whole race I was weaving through the crowded feel, max effort the whole way. I hit the holes like Brian Westbrook, and on an unseasonably warm day, gorgeous for any purpose except running a 5K at max effort (and it wasn't that it was actually HOT -- it was in the low 60s -- just 30 degrees warmer than my run yesterday) I ran to a 26:49. Over my whole career of 5Ks, that's rather unimpressive, but after the way 2012 has gone so far, OMG!, I will take it.

It was over a minute faster than the 3.1 I ran last week at max effort, and I honestly think it was actually a better run than that. This field is so crowded, and I did so much weaving among other runners that I probably actually ran 3.5 (ok, maybe that's an exaggeration) and it was by far the warmest day I've run on since the comeback began. I don't think I could have PR'd today, but I think if I'd started myself further ahead in the pack, I could have been in the low 25s or the high 24s, which I would have been unabashedly thrilled with. I mean, it wasn't as good as Chris's race, in which she smashed her PR by over 2 minutes(!), but I'll take it and take it gladly. It was a worthy last race for the Supernova Sequence 4s and promising beginning to racing year 2012.


Event Review
This race is it what it is, and I accept that. It's supposedly a fast course, and I suspect it is for the elites, but for a middle-of-the-packer like me, the crowded field means I won't ever PR here. Hopefully, next year I'll be tapering at this time, but if I run this "for the money" again I'll really try to move up more in the crowd and see how much time I can shave off. But, it's a race with a fun atmosphere that has a scenic course (Yeah, of course you run out Key Highway and turn around, though!) that's an enjoyable way to kick off race season even though it's a race I'll probably never have one of my best times in.

The giveaway is really nice -- a Brooks long-sleeve technical shirt in neon green. It'll be a great shirt for running in the dark on cool spring and fall nights. I was just happy that they'd changed the design after identical shirt designs for the 2010 and 2011 race shirts.

After our experience last year, in which we waited in line for 15 minutes for our postrace beer and didn't move at all, we completely bailed on the official postrace party and headed straight for the James Joyce, where we toasted the start of what will hopefully be a fun and fast year of racing.

Obligatory Post

• The comeback trail is now within sight. February 10 (Saturday the 11th probably makes more logistical sense, though) was the arbitrary date on which I decided I was going to end my month off. Getting sick hurt, but I've been trying to do a decent job w/the cardio; I've done well in getting back into the groove in lifting (I probably lifted more in December and January than I did in all the rest of 2011) ; and I'm looking forward to getting back on the road.
  
  
• We've now signed up for the Kelly St. Patrick's Day 5K in Baltimore. It's on March 11, the day of Baltimore's St. Patrick's Day Parade, not St. Patrick's Day itself. The 5K is a fun race albeit one with some crowd control problems, so I'm hoping that the legs are ok and that I can get myself back in some semblance of racing shape by then. Chris will have this 5K, and then on the following weekend will run both the 8K and Half at Virginia Beach.

• Not that I am usually full of brilliant or hilarious ideas for posts, but I'm completely out of ideas right now. Therefore, I'm going to be running my first-ever contest here on the blog, with an actual giveaway from an actual sponsor. People have to be willing to make fun of themselves a little bit, but I hope it will be fun. Stay tuned.
  

Race Report: 2011 Kelly Shamrock 5K

I ran my first race of the year, the Kelly Shamrock 5K in Baltimore, today. I took it a little easy since I'm in taper mode, which makes for a weird race experience, and came in with a 30:15.

This is the second year we've run this race and there are a lot of things I love about it, and a few things that are frustrating. It's much bigger than any other 5K I've ever run; there were almost 4000 finishers this year and that is both part of the appeal and part of the frustration.

The race begins at the corner of Charles & Franklin in downtown Baltimore, and begins with a pretty steep downhill. Not only is this a nice, easy start to the race, seeing the green-clad crowd racing down Charles Street ahead of me is one of the neatest things I've ever seen as a runner. And since it's a St. Patrick's day race, there are lots of funny t-shirts and costumes.

The course, through downtown Baltimore and around the Inner Harbor, is very scenic and it has the obligatory u-turn on Key Highway that almost every Baltimore race seems to include.

It's a great, fun atmosphere, the crowd for the race is great since the race is the prelude to the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the t-shirt is nice, and in theory there's free beer.

That said, there are a few things that frustrate me about this race. Because of its huge size, it's very crowded on the course and there are a lot of people who aren't prepared to run the whole thing. And let me be very, very clear -- THAT'S OK! But, I wish that more run/walkers would be careful to not suddenly slow to a walk right in the middle of the road. I had to make a highlight reel's worth of Brian Westbrook type cutback moves to avoid a collision.

Similarly, there's never been a race that needs pace signs at the start as badly as this one does, there's no order at all to who starts where, which contributes to the crowding as faster people get caught behind less fast runners or walkers. To be fair, I probably should have started a bit further up in the pack since I usually finish right in the middle of the pack at most races, rather than as close to the back as I did.

Lastly, although "Free Beer" is a rare gift that must be appreciated and treasured, the post-race party has outgrown its venue (Power Plant Live) in my opinion. This year, we couldn't even get in because it was so packed. I'm not sure what can be done about that, it's the price an event pays for success.

Despite my gripes, this is probably a race that I'll run every year as long as I can. It was a beautiful day, and Chris and I met up with a friend from collage and some of her teammates in the Baltimore Dragon Boat Club (they're looking for team members if you like to row and live in the Baltimore area! Don't think of the little dragon-shaped paddleboats at Inner Harbor, this is more like crew) and had an excellent post-race party of our own at the James Joyce Irish Pub -- that's right, everyone's favorite incomprehensible Irish author is now a bar.



Overall, it was a fun first race of 2011, and hopefully helps set the stage for a good race next week in Virginia Beach.

(Don't freak out...don't freak out...don't freak out....)