Result: 1:01:56, 6:39 average, 2nd female, 16th overall
This was a race that I had heard about for the first time last year, when one of my club members, Christy, trained specifically for it by running the hilly 9 mile Hinckley course over and over again. I decided to go with this race instead of the St. Malachi 5 miler, since I wanted to work on Saturday morning and also, a 15k fits more into marathon training than a 5 miler. I did an 8 repeat yasso workout on Tuesday at about 2:50, a three mile tempo run on Friday at a 6:18 average and I put in 71 miles for the week. Definitely did not go into this tapered. In the days leading up to it, I felt heavy and tired. But I should be tired, I'm in marathon training!
The race has a late start (noon), which is a good thing on a windy, chilly March day. I warmed up for 4 miles because I was planning on getting my long run in as well. I didn't succeed in getting warm and I felt dead tired. After doing some run outs at the starting line, I did get excited and felt a little lighter on my feet. There were quite a few running buddies running the 15k with me and I saw most of them before the race started and cheered some of them in.
The race started to the tune of bagpipes (horrible instrument) and in true Renee road racing form, I took off like a bat out of hell despite multiple warnings from everyone that I talked to, not to do just that. Mile 1 was 5:54 and this includes a bit of a hill. After that it was crazy amounts of downhill and some flat. I went through the 5k in a ridiculous 18:56. At least I know I can run a sub 19:00 5k right? I settled down a bit in the following mile and even clicked my watch to show my current pace with a strict self-command to not run faster than 6:30 for a few miles. Mile 4 was 6:25 and couple of guys passed me. Right past mile 4 came the "the hill" that I had heard about. The grade was very steep and the road winding, so I couldn't see when it ended. I stutter stepped a few times to get up it and questioned how I was going to make my legs work for the next 5 miles. At the top of the hill was a huge cheering section and one lady shouted to me "hurry up, there's another girl on your heels!" I knew that the winning time from last year was by a lady who is very fast (low 17s 5k) and if she was in the race, I probably couldn't win it. I hadn't seen her at the starting line though. Sure enough, she caught me at about mile 4.5 and passed me moving very well and certainly not struggling to keep from walking. I made a goal to try and keep her in sight for as long as possible and also to catch the guy up ahead who was running in the middle of the open road with headphones on.
Mile 5 was 7:33. Mile 6 was 6:54 and I was encouraged to see that I had dipped back under 7:00. I started to feel pretty good at about 7 miles, even though the hills were relentless. I felt like there was no flat from mile 4 to the finish. I was either going up a steep or gradual hill, or coming down. The last three miles were in the 6:40s and finally I passed the headphone guy. At one point he almost got hit by a car because he couldn't hear it coming up behind him and he was running in the middle of the road. There was a cool turn-around add-on for the course where I could see all the people behind me. I saw that there were three women all bunched together running in the high 6s, so about three minutes behind me. I kept trying to get water at the water stops but after months of not taking water in during workouts due to the cold, my stomach was rejecting it. I'm very glad I didn't try to take a gu.
After coming up one final, gradual hill, I hit the 9 mile marker and started on a slight downhill to the finish. I convinced myself to hurt for just a little while longer and kicked it in at about 5:50 pace for the last 0.4. At least my Garmin had 0.4, though a 15k should only be 9.3. I talked to the female winner for a few minutes after I finished and then I went out to cheer in a couple of running buddies. Everyone seemed to be running really solid times for such a hilly 15k.
This is a fun race and I will for sure run it again. Now that I know what the course is like first-hand, I'd like to think I would race it wiser on the second go, but knowing myself, that isn't assured. This was a really solid average pace for me, even not taking the hills into consideration. I was especially encouraged that I was on the verge of bonking in mile 5 but was able to get it together and feel stronger in the last few miles. My quads are pretty beat up from the downhills and I might be too sore to do my track workout on schedule tomorrow morning, but I have to consider that the 15k was a good workout in itself.
Results: http://www.summitathletic.com/sites/default/files/docs/results/2015%20Shamrock%2015k%20Overall%20-%20Version%201.pdf
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