I travelled from Seattle to Portland on Saturday to race in
the 8K Shamrock Run. For me this is a qualifying race for a
"Senior Seed" in the Bloomsday Race in Spokane on May 2nd.
I've gotten to old and slow to qualify for a second seed.
Why Portland instead of Spokane for the qualifying race? I
can't afford the possibility of getting stuck east of the
mountains during avalanche season. And yes, Seatle had a
race on Sunday too, but it's not a standard distance and
it's too short.
The Shamrock run is really a series of races, a 5K race, an
8K race, a 15K race,
3.5 mile walk, and the Leprechaun Leap. All races start and
finish downtown at the waterfront park. The 5K started and
finished first. Next the walk was started. Then the 15K
started, followed by the start of the 8K. By looking at
last years results the 8K was the most popular and the
only one with a wave start.
I was a bit surprised by the small size of the first wave,
supposedly for people running 7 minute miles and faster.
I've been in wave starts before and most of the people in
the first wave can't run fast enough to qualify for it. At
the start, as expected, there were a bunch of goofballs that
started at the front but couldn't keep up the pace. They
even took short cuts that cut off several blocks.
The first mile was relatively flat, with a small rise and
small fall. I came through the mark just as I had planned.
Just lucky I guess. The next two miles were a long up hill.
In fact the hill didn't end until 2 minutes after the 3 mile
mark. My second and third mile were identical, about 30
seconds each slower than the first mile. I was definitely
holding back for the final down hill and since I seemed to
be holding my own in the pack I felt that I wasn't going too
slow. Shortly after the top of the hill I started to
significantly pick up the pace. I spotted a couple of people
about 40 - 50 yards up that were with me at the 1 mile mark
and went after them. The downhill portion from 3.25 mile to
the 4 mile mark was really steeper than I would have liked.
I've learned to run down hills well by just letting go and
relaxing. The last .75 mile was pretty flat. My legs were
feeling like lead and I felt like stopping. I came to about
15 yards behind the two runners I was targeting, but could
never get any closer. When we reached the flat with the
finish line in view, probably .75 miles away, they started
to pull away. Two guys I passed in the 4th mile passed me
back, but no one else caught me in the last mile.
My finishing time was in the range I expected, but I was
hoping to finish about 30 seconds faster. My splits,
according to my watch, were: 1st mile: 6:38 2nd mile: 7:11
(13:49) 3rd mile: 7:11 (21:00) 4th mile: 6:21 (27:22) 5th
mile: 6:20 (33:42) (actually 0.97 mile) My official time
will probably be 5-8 seconds slower to account for the time
to get accross the starting line and other errors.
The qualifying standard for the Bloomsday senior seed is
53:00 for a 12K. I think I should probably qualify, but the
margin wasn't that large, so it's not a sure thing.