On Sunday March 24th, I ran the 2019 Shamrock Shuffle 8k.  It was my second time running the race, last time was 2016 (recap of that year here).  In the years between, I dove hard into the ultramarathon realm, and am now coming back to road.  After my injury last summer, I have spent the winter regaining my speed.  The 2019 Shamrock Shuffle was a good test of my fitness, and made me realize I am not too far off my peak fitness.

The 2019 Shamrock Shuffle 8k was a goal race of mine.  I know, I know, going from a goal race of a 50k last April, to an 8k goal race this year is quite the leap.  The reason it was a goal race was because it was the last day I could qualify to remain on the Nike Windrunners.  A do or die kind of race.

Training has been going… mediocre.  I already felt like I was in a “road speed hole” from ultra marathon training. Add in my injury this summer that took me away from running for quite some time, and I had some work to do.  The team learned about the new qualification times around Thanksgiving, right when I was starting to do speed workouts again.  The news shocked and worried me.

Track practices with the team have been a challenge.  However, after a rocky November, December and January, I felt like things started to click in February and early March.  On the other hand, I continued to struggle on tempo runs. I decided to roll this 8k training into marathon training.  “I might as well run a marathon,” is something I tend to say a lot to myself.  The Milwaukee Marathon on April 6th was the best fit.  The Shamrock Shuffle would fall in the taper phase when I would be fit and recovering, and I could celebrate and recover out in Boston to cheer for the Boston Marathon.

Race day morning, I met the team in the hospitality tent.  It’s a heated tent, with breakfast, gear check and our own bathrooms.  The weather could not have been more perfect on race day.  High in the low 40s, cloudy, barely any wind.  The threat of rain held off.   Together we headed out for a warm up before getting into the corrals.

There I met Jeremy.  We were both in corral A, and he graciously offered to run with me.  Again…. well, make that again again.  He truly is the best friend.  My plan was to take the first mile easy, go easy on the turns (there are lots in miles 2 and 3) and then start to hammer it just before the 5k mark.  Like when I ran the Chicago Marathon, I used my cheer squads to mentally chunk out the race.  My brother and his girlfriend would be just after the first mile, EDGE would be near the 5k and November Project would be near mile 4.

My ultimate goal, besides the qualify, was to push myself into the mental “pain cave.”  In the 5ks I did leading up to this race, I leaned away from the difficulty.  This time, I was hoping to get to the razor’s edge and hold myself there.

First mile we eased into things.  I spotted my brother and his girlfriend shortly after mile 1 and that was a good cue to start picking up the pace.  We crossed the 5k mark in 20:05, which was faster than my three 5k races from December and January.  Seeing the time boosted my confidence.

However, I slowed considerably in mile 3, all the while Jeremy peppering me with encouragement.  I exhaled, and focused on the “what” of running.  Lift, land, lever. Lift, land, lever.  Elbows back.  Lean forward.  And the “why.”  My team.  My community.  Incredible friends like Jeremy.  The injured Becca who couldn’t run.  The love of the sport.

All that helped me push back to the razor edge; I barely remember passing the November Project cheer station and making it onto Michigan Ave.  Although I was progressively getting faster, going up “Mt. Roosevelt” set me back.  It felt like running through the stretches of sand I experienced in the ECS 50k.  Jeremy was yelling to go, go, go, and I pushed towards the finish line.

But I came up short.  32:34.  Not enough to qualify.

Jeremy and I hugged it out in the finish line.  I am eternally grateful for him.  We stood in the finisher shoot for a few minutes as some of my other teammates and friends finished. I didn’t want to go back to the hospitality tent and see the team just yet.  My brother and his girlfriend found us for pictures, I chatted with other finishers, and eventually I made my way to gear check.  As the results finalized, I did see some good news.  My team had divided into a Windrunners Red and Windrunners Blue team, and my Blue team ended up placing first in the female division.

Overall thoughts.  I was disappointed initially, and still am.  BUT I know that teams extend beyond paper and the relationships we’ve had will continue.  With my marathon next weekend, I’ll take the rest of April to recover and decide where I want to go from there.  There’s a chance I can re-qualify and join up again for the summer, or I can choose to move on to something else.  Still not sure what I want to do. Part of me wants to continue and run the time because I know that I can, but the other part is curious as to what other adventures are out there.  We shall see.

Did you run the 2019 Shamrock Shuffle? Let’s stay in touch!  Follow me on Instagram or Facebook for more food/fitness related posts. 

Happy running,

Becca

Linking with Fairytales and Fitness for Friday Fitness and Deborah and Kim for the Rundown.