Shamrock Shuffle

The Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K is the known race in Chicago for the start to Spring, which also means the kick off to running season in the Windy city. My friends and I were discussing maybe they should think of changing the name since it was held almost a month after St. Patrick’s Day-maybe something to do with Spring or even Easter is closer to the race that St. Patty’s day?!?

One thing that is awesome about this race is how smooth the packet pick-up process is. They have so many people working at the Health & Fitness expo that it takes no time to grab them. My friend Stacy and I decided to make the trek to Navy Pier (me on foot, her on bike) on Friday. We even got food samples from Naked juice to Qdoba rice and chips. Plus I got some sight-seeing in and took some pictures along the way.

Had to pass the 25 minute walk time somehow.

Race day was on Sunday and we had almost perfect weather! I could have went for a tad bit warmer while waiting in the Corral, but when I got running it was perfect. Even Accuweather thought it was excellent for outdoor fitness.

I was in Corral C, which meant I was actually running with people who run close to my pace. This was a HUGE benefit this year because I wasn’t constantly dodging people trying to get around them, last year I was in a later corral. This year there were more than 33,000 runners in the race so corrals are important for spacing out the runners.

Doesn’t my green headband make me look so festive?! Stacy and I picked those up free at the expo. Although my hair is flying everywhere making me look like a crazy person here.

Can I tell you I have one great supporter (and I guess an amazing boyfriend too)! David woke up earlier than he does for work on a Sunday to come support me. Yay! He even wore green to show his shamrock  support.

Stacy and Kendal are my fellow running buddies, even though they live in the city and I’m in the burbs. We do a lot of races together and I don’t think Stacy and I go a day without reminiscing about working out. Our goal was to beat last year’s time and we all crushed it!

Here are my stats from the race.

I beat my Shamrock Shuffle time from last year by 3:41. 7:42 miles with a time of 38:15, not too shabby! That time defiantly game me a reason to celebrate.

Do you have a Spring race locally you do each year to start off running season?

How do you celebrate when you set a PR?