St Patty's Day 5 Mile Run

Saturday morning I woke up to pouring down rain. Not what I wanted to hear the morning of a 5 mile race. I was contemplating not going to the race.. Since moving from Washington to Idaho I have become a weather wimp :(

I had to remember to suck it up and out run the weather!

I knew I would regret it if I did. So I got up and started to put my outfit together.
Everything laid out the night before...

I decided to go neon with lots of shamrocks!

And after it was all put together...

I was going to wear my black headband with some shamrock stickers on it but I thought a hat would be a better choice with the rain. Luckily I had the perfect sticker for the hat.

When I got outside it had stopped raining.
Once I got to the race I was worried I would be cold in a skirt but it wasn't too bad. My hands were freezing more than anything. I didn't think to bring gloves and they usually warm up after a mile so I was just ready to run!

Cold legs but they warmed up when the race started.

Last year I ran the 5k but this year I wanted to run the 5 mile course. It was on the greenbelt so I'm very familiar with the course already. Both courses are flat expect for an arched bridge you cross.
The 5 mile race started at 10am before the 5k race (they had a kilted mile race that started right before the 5 mile race too as did the kids mile race). I didn't really have a finish time goal in mind. I wanted to have fun but also keep under 9 minute miles.

Once the race started I had to do a little bit of weaving since I didn't start right at the front but nothing bad. I put on my music and just settled into the run. At almost a mile in we loop around to the start area and the 5k started right after we did (they were on the road section we were on the greenbelt section) so it was fun seeing all the speedy people up front.
Mile one passed relatively quick. Split of 8:35. The pace felt good and not like I was going fast. Miles 2 and 3 were both 8:30 pace. I was feeling good and not like I was pushing the pace or out of breath but my mouth was dry for some reason and I was wanting some water. There was a water stop ahead so I grabbed some water and took a few sips and took off again. Mile 4 was 8:40 pace. I wanted to pick up the pace for the last mile and was slowly picking off people ahead of me. I was surprised at how good the pace was feeling cause I haven't been doing any type of speed work and most of my runs have been over 9 min miles. Right before we cross the bridge we merged with the 5k people so the bridge got a little packed but I tried not to slow down just weaved around people. I sprinted into the finish line with mile 5 at an 8:05 pace.

Garmin time was 42:25  8:28 overall pace
Official time was 42:32 8:30 overall pace
9th place out of 37 in my age group

They don't post overall results online so not sure how many people ran but I know they said about 1200 signed up, I don't think that many people showed up to run it though.

I had these lovelies waiting for me when I got home...

I was happy I got up to run this race and didn't wimp out cause of the weather. My shin held up fine. It seems the faster I run the better my shin feels during a run. It's a little sore still the day after but nothing too bad. It's not 100% better but I'm ready to up my mileage and hope it holds up fine. Maybe I just need to run all my miles fast?! :)

There was so many St. Patty's Day race reports and so many PR's it was fun reading them. I guess this officially starts the racing season!

I leave you with a picture of my little leprechaun...