Shamrock Shuffle 2013: Spectating and Seeing Lots of Chicago Running Bloggers

I run the Boston Marathon in a week. So as much as I wanted to run the Shamrock Shuffle this morning, I decided that my final taper should not include an 8k race. I want to arrive in Boston in one piece! So, I opted to just spectate the Shamrock Shuffle this year.

I did part of my morning run from my house to Fullerton Ave. Once there, I jumped on the Red Line train (full of runners) all the way to Jackson Blvd. Once in the Loop, I continued my run for about 2 more miles. Then, I parked myself in a nice spot on mile four of the Shamrock Shuffle course and waited for the runners to start pouring by.

Once the leaders started running by, I took a few HD videos which are now on youtube. I noticed there were three "Brooks Hanson" runners in the lead pack. (BTW I'm using their training method for the Boston Marathon, so I was glad to see them leading!)

Shamrock Shuffle Leaders near mile four

Anyway, I took videos for the first 15 minutes or so of the race. I was able to get screen grabs from my videos of several running bloggers:

First I saw Britt (aka Chicago Runner Girl)

Next up was John Garcia (aka Running News Guy)

Close behind was Amanda from Too Tall Fritz

Then Mo from I Heart Pikermis

Then Bob Richards from The Chicago Run Times

Then Maggie from MagMileRunner

Then Xaarlin came flying by...

Then Amanda from Get to Goal

You can see Britt starting around 8:44 in this video of the leaders:

John Garcia at 0:32, Mo at 1:51 and Xaarlin at 2:26 in this video:

You can see Bob Richards at 0:37,Maggie at 0:53, a "Joggler" at 2:16, and Amanda at 3:56:

Let me know if you're in a video and I can make sure I mention you, too! Anyway, I also got some various pics of runners before I headed to take the L home:

Green Guy

A young kid from the "B" corral who was hauling

A different kind of green guy

???

My neighbors Kirk and Sandi

More runners

The crowds hitting mile 4

It seemed like a great day for a race with the mild temps and the sun shining.  As I was leaving and descending the steps to go catch the Red Line, there were runners who had finished the race, waiting for trains and there were also runners runners ascending the stairs who were still making their way to start the race! I guess it must take over about an hour to get all of the corrals moving?  In summary, spectating the race was great and it really got me pumped for running in Boston next week!

**Update Sunday night**

Eric from ThisHobbitRuns found himself in video #3 at the 5:44 mark. See screen grab:

Eric from ThisHobbitRuns