2014 SHAMROCK REFLECTIONS

Shamrock 2012 after the 5k. I was so innocent! Laurel and Amanda did almost five miles. FIVE MILES!

I hesitate to call the 2014 version of the Shamrock Run 15k my most successful race to date, just because completing the Portland Marathon last October meant so much to me and I exceeded my expectations there as well. However, in terms of everything just falling into place and feeling like it was my day, nothing really beats the Shamrock Run last Sunday. It was really the perfect race for me.

On Monday, the day after, I ended up getting talked into running the seven mile "rollercoaster" at PRC (although most everyone else was now running the flat Fanno Creek Trail because it's light outside). Although my legs felt worn, I did that at 9:30/mile without much effort. Felt kind of good actually. Compare that to last year, where running seven miles the next day was super painful and my ankle felt all fucked up. Not only am I much faster, but I can recover much quicker. A solid year of marathon training will do that to you I guess.

It did make me want to do another 5k and 10k to see how much I have improved in those distances as well. I think I can get my 5k below 21:00 and my 10k below 44:00. I'd like to see how much of my Shamrock time was the perfect race and how much of it was repeatable improvement. The problem is I have the Vancouver Marathon in six weeks now and I really don't want to screw up anything in preparation for that. So maybe I should shoot to do those races after Vancouver before I have to start training for Portland again.

Next thing I have to look forward to is Ragnar SoCal with my team Strangers to Sole Mates. Should be lots of fun... can't wait! That is only two weeks away now!