Shamrock Mile 2019 Race Recap

To say that this was the best day of the year wouldn't be an overstatement. I finally shook off all of the racing cobwebs that had accumulated over the last 200+ days and had a wonderful experience. The weather was picture-perfect, I got to meet three Olympians and hung out with friends before during and after. Plus, as a bonus, I got to race what is perhaps my favorite distance now - the mile, that heart-pounding, leg draining, adrenaline fueled slice of racing heaven!

Goal: 
I had been doing about two quarter mile sprints 2x a week and I could usually bring them all in under 5:20/mile pace, so I figured that I would try for a 5:25. That meant the following target splits:

1:25, 1:20, 1:20, 1:20

But realistically with the hairpin turns (and four uphills), I knew that it might be a stretch goal. 

Pre Race:
My wave (competitive masters) didn't start in Grant Park until 11:20, so I had plenty of time after waking up to prepare. After a short (1/2 mile) shakeout run, I ate an egg and some bacon, walked the pups, got my stuff together, grabbed a coffee and was out the door at about 10:15. I parked in Grant Park North garage, had some more coffee and a banana. After ascending the stairs, I was pretty much on the course, so it was a well-chosen parking lot! I wandered around wondering where everyone was:

Pre-race near the bag check. Just me and the Green Guys

Eventually I spotted Erica there and we chatted and got a pic.

Me and Erica pre-race

I also noticed the three Olympians (Deena Kastor, Alexi Pappas, and Carrie Tollefson) milling around before the start chatting with people. Eventually Mo appeared, she had come from the Shamrock Shuffle expo with the MRC. She was going to run the wave after mine. The recreational wave started and I watched them start and finish, some of the "Green Guys" ran in that wave.

Did I mention the weather was fantastic? There was hardly a cloud in the sky and it was around 45 degrees. I did another 1/2 mile warm-up before the the announcer called the competitive masters up and I got in our corral with the 37 other men and women. Suddenly Deena, Alexi and Carrie ran along our corral and gave us all motivational high-fives. Once the excitement died down, I was standing no more three feet away from Deena Kastor, so I asked her for a racing tip. She said, "run like hell" and I said I'd try! Anyway, the horn sounded and we were off!

The Race:
Mile 0.25: This may have been the hardest part of the race - an uphill to start running west on Jackson. There are railroad bridges in Grant Park, so everytime we headed west we went up then down a bridge and each time we turned around we had to go up and down the same bridge again. We made the hairpin turn and hit the 0.25 marker. Hit my goal pace nicely. 1:24.9 (5:40/mile)

Mile 0.50: Back up over the Jackson St. bridge and turned onto Columbus Drive for a nice straightaway. I was really trying my best, but fell a few seconds short of goal. 1:23.4 (5:30/mile)

1/2 Mile marker at Columbus and Congress looking uphill

Mile 0.75: Next up was a right on East Congress Parkway just west of Buckingham Fountain. Then we went up and down a bridge with another hairpin turnaround just to head back uphill. I was starting to hurt, but was biding my time for the downhill finish when I would try to catch some of the guys just ahead of me. 1:26.8 (5:43/mile)

Turnaround on Columbus over the RR bridge

3/4 Mile market coming back downhill after the turn

Mile 1.00:  I could see I was in about 6th place at the final marker before the finish. First place was way out of reach but 2nd through 5th were in my sights, just seconds ahead. All systems were redlining at this point, so I figured I would use up any reserves after the last turn downhill towards the finish line. I was going to kick "like hell". Unfortunately for me, all of the other guys had the same general idea, except they were speeding up earlier. I noticed them picking up the pace and separating from me, so I had to speed up just to keep up. Since I couldn't seem to gain any ground using a conventional speed up, I knew I needed to reach into a dark place to propel even faster despite my lungs screaming for mercy. I floored it as fast as I could disregarding any and all pain signals. I could finally feel that I had a chance of perhaps reeling in 3rd, 4th and 5th, but I was running out of time. In the last two strides of the race, I was only able to pass the 5th place guy who was absolutely flying. If the race had been another 20 yards I might have passed 4th and 3rd. Oh well, I kicked too late, but that was that! This may have been my fastest race finish ever because over last 10 seconds of the race, my Garmin hit 4:03/mile pace!  1:20.0 (5:20/mile)

Results:

Master Competitive Group: 5th out of 28

Official Time: 5:36

Analysis:
I was short of my goal by about 10 seconds, but using my finishing time from the Shamrock (the next day) I was actually in flat-minimal-turn 5:26 mile shape, so my guesstimate was pretty good. I just need to find a mile on a track or something!  Also, the Master's wave was anyone over 40, so there were plenty of young whippersnappers in my AG!

Post Race:
After watching Mo do awesome in the competitive wave, we got our pictures with the three legends.

As I was getting into the picture, Carrie Tollefson said to me, "I saw you at the finish, that was one wicked kick!" My heart started to soar. That's the first time an Olympian actually noticed and commented on my racing!

 Best. Day. Ever.

Deena, me, Alexi and Carrie

I hear they are going to hold the Mile again next year, despite the very low turnout this year. Here's hoping more people find out about it. I will be there!

Next up: Shamrock Shuffle!