ShamRock 'N Roll 10k

Note to self: when sick and barely able to breathe .... running a 10k is not the best decision. A 5k maybe, yes even. A 10k ... it is doable but around mile 4 (at least for me) breathing may become a challenge. :o) ...but only the strong survive right?!

Erin and I ran the 6th annual ShamRock 'N Roll 10k to benefit the Junior League of Atlanta this past Sunday morning and both her and I were all sorts of a mess. Erin had quite the night at a wedding shower with lots of adult beverages and for the past 3 days I have been trying to get over a massive head cold. Needless to say we survived to talk about it and Erin once again rocked the road race and had to wait at the finish for me.

Honestly, I kind of have mixed reviews on the race... I would give it an 8 out of 10 (which is good). The course was fairly easy, we ran the same 5k loop twice. Which to me is fine, except I hate knowing when the big hills are coming up. There was only 1 really unfriendly hill (and if I was hill trained it probably wouldn't have been unfriendly) and it was heading up Northside back to 17th. I also did get passed by the motorcycle and the 10k winner .... rock on .... nothing tells you pick up the pace by someone finishing their 10k in a little over 30 minutes and you're back at the start getting ready for loop numero dos. Atlantic Station & the surrounding area is like a maze, they really could have varied up the course for the 10k'ers and still had us finish at the same end point as the 5k'ers. Honestly, I thought the course was not that bad. Atlantic Station is a fairly pretty area so it was nice to look at (...if that even matters to people) and for the most part the course was flat. It did have a downhill start and finish and I LOVE the word downhill and running downhill. :o) Don't we all. I was (and still am) confused by the timing chip. They did not have a designated start or thing to cross over to get your chip time, but they scanned your race number at the end, which made my official finishing time different than my actual finishing time. ....But I did not start the race when the gun went off so my time obviously is not accurate. Since there was no official start I had no idea where to start my Garmin, so I guessed. You would just think as a Peachtree Qualifier they would have a much better system in place. But, oh well. My Garmin read the race as 6.34 miles ... which is longer than the standard 6.22 .... but I blame it on the unofficial start and shaky finish. Atlanta's finest in some areas were less than stellar. I think they were having a hard time judging people's pace but wanted to keep the traffic moving. At times I wondered if I was going to be playing chicken with a Saturn, but luckily there was no car to human contact. It was a pet friendly race which is awesome, I love dogs, but I do not love dogs who are not controlled when racing. My dog is a total ass clown, I know to not bring him to races. Granted, I would say 8 out of 10 dogs were awesome running pals ... but I got by 2 puppies who did not know how to run with their owner. But hey .... they're puppies .... I 100% understand. The race shirt is awesome. Bright blue and funky. I got my size, but they were once again out the mediums so Erin had to settle for a smaller size. You would think with preregistration they would have some idea on how many shirts they needed. I really cannot wait to wear it. The "after party" was not so much ... most people cleared out real quick. But then again, I never stand around either. Honestly, what is most important is that I think everyone had fun. The race was well organized (despite running out of Medium shirts) and I really have no complaints.

On another note -- I have been having major calf cramping lately no matter how much I stretch and pull my calves. I had to stop just shy of the 3.2 mark to stretch them out one more time. And it is normally around the 3 mile mark that they start giving me problems. On most of my recent daily runs I have had to stretch out my calves at most intersections. It is just annoying. And I think the tight calves is causing my foot dozing off problem. Yes, my foot (mainly my right one) has been falling asleep and getting tingly mid run lately. It irks me and bothers me, but I think the tight calves are playing a major major part. But then again, I am not a doctor or a physical therapist so my tight calves and lazy sleepy feet could be completely unrelated.

Onto ING next Sunday. Oddly, I am not that thrilled about it. Lets hope my calves and feet don't give me too many problems. I would love to have a smooth and easy run but I suspect it will be tough. I have heard it is a rough course with lots of hills and the hills is what seems to trigger the issues. Oi. This shall be fun!! On top of it, I have a really bad chest and head cold that I just cannot seem to kick. Which makes breathing more difficult than it should be. I shall survive. If I don't PR - who cares. It is another 13.1 on my belt. 2 more than some people have!

On a side note: my thoughts go out to Mark Austry's family. He collapsed this Sunday after completing the Rock and Roll Dallas Half Marathon and sadly passed away. Take the time to tell your loved ones that you love them. Life really is too short.