UA KELLY St. Patrick's Day Shamrock 5k 2016 Race Recap

This is my second year running this race.  (Here's my review of last year's race.)  I signed up again knowing full well I was likely to have a PR since my finishing time was 37:28.  I was fighting a nasty cold at the time so I knew I could beat the time.

Packet pickup was a breeze at Charm City Run's new location in Columbia.  It was a gorgeous day so they had the front doors open to get your bib and safety pins, and go back outside to get your shirt.  I was DEFINITELY impressed with it this year!  (Last year's was nice...but this one is even better!)

Front

Back

My bib!

As usual, in the days leading up to the race I watched the weather super closely.  All week the forecasts called for rain, at different times and amounts.  That being said, my outfit changed several times--short sleeves, long sleeves, shirt under a zippered shirt for layers, shorts, long windbreaker pants, etc.  You get the idea.  By the time race day arrived I had quite a pile going of the possibilities.  I ended up settling on a short sleeved shirt, knee length shorts and a long sleeved shirt.  Then naturally by the time we got to the starting area, that changed again.  I packed my rain jacket and baseball cap from the Nike half marathon in a bag that my husband held onto for me.  I was so glad I did this, because shortly after we parked in the garage it had started raining.  So I put on my hat and rain jacket and naturally it had stopped by the time we got to the starting area.  

Balloons at the starting area

The starting area as usual was super crowded, and with people weaving through the crowd got a little irritating when you don't have any elbow room.  (Then there was the person next to me who kept trying to stretch his quads and kept kicking me in the process.  And the girl in front of me who kept messing with her ponytail and every time she did I got a face full of hair.  Gross!)  But to be honest, this is all the kind of thing to be expected in large crowds like this.  After getting kicked a couple times I followed somebody to a less dense area so I could be slightly more comfortable until gun time.  

Not much space to take a good pre-race selfie.  (Sorry for the bad quality, it was raining so I took it through a plastic baggie that I used to protect my phone.)

In addition to this being my first race of the year, it was also my first race with my new Garmin Forerunner 230 with heart rate monitor. One of the interesting things about using a heart rate monitor for the race was I had a visual representation of last minute nerves right before the gun went off.  Normally at rest my heart rate on a scale of 1-5 hovers around 1.  Moments before the gun went off it jumped to 2.2 which showed that not only was I a little extra nervous, but my heart was putting the same effort as it would on an easy jog.  

During the race itself, I kept a close eye out for potholes.  Thankfully there seemed to be fewer than last year, but the few I saw were pretty bad.  I also remembered when doing last minute research on what to do during races in the rain to avoid stepping on anything metal (grates, manhole covers, etc.) and any road markings.  For the most part, this was easy to do although there was one point where I stepped on one without thinking about it.  I heard the squeak of my sneakers and managed to keep my balance and keep going.  

Going into the race, I was determined that this would be my sub-30 minute 5k.  And I got REALLY close!  My chip time ended up being 30:55 with a pace of 9:58.  I'm definitely happy with the time but there's still a little twinge of disappointment since if I had skipped one walk break I would've hit my goal.  

Post-race I met up with my husband and we went over to get in line for Miss Shirley's Cafe.  (Definitely nice post-race, but not worth the 45 minute wait since people were trying to wait out the rain.)  Since we had time to kill, I ran back over to the post-race celebration to get my banana.  After about ten minutes of trying to get to the table with post-race snacks I ended up getting stuck by the pile of bananas.  Knowing how frustrated I was with this part of it, I started grabbing bananas and offering them to people around me who were very thankful for it.  (If I couldn't go anywhere, I might as well spread the wealth, right?)  Soon afterwards I grabbed a granola bar and bag of pretzels and headed back towards the restaurant to meet up with my husband again.  

The finish line before the race!

Overall, I would probably do this race again.  Yes, it was crowded but what do you expect for a race that sells out every year?  (This year there were 4,560 finishers!)  It's also early on in the year when everybody is trying to get that first race in before a lot of the longer distance races.  (Seriously, running a shorter distance race before a longer one is fantastic for pre-race jitters!  And with this one starting at 1:15pm you can even sleep in a little bit.  What's not to like about that?!)  The course is also awesome--the first mile is a mostly gentle downhill slope then the rest is basically flat.  (Be sure to look up at least for a moment during the downhill because it is SO cool to see the sea of green ahead of you.)  The course is also fun since it goes through the Inner Harbor and past the National Aquarium.  

Did you run this race?  What do you think about it?  I'd also love to hear about other St. Patrick's Day races!