Shamrock Weekend

What a difference a year makes...

So, last year in March, Brad and I were going to stay at the ocean front as we had for the past few years during February or March. It turned out that the Shamrock Sportsfest was going to be going on, too. So we volunteered to watch Hanah while Ryan and Tana ran the 1/2 marathon. My friend Michael was going to be running, too.

After the race, we went to the tent where they had beer, stew, and music. I had way more fun that I thought I would have. The excitement of cheering on the racers near the finish line and the camaraderie after the race were unbelievable.

The next week, I was at the gym and thought, maybe I'll run just to see if I could. I had only run the 1 mile fitness tests in high school and college...and I HATED it. Turns out I could go a few minutes on the treadmill before having to stop. I felt pretty good. I was talking to some friends at work who run and they tried to convince me to do a 5k...3.1 miles isn't very far, they said. Now that might be true, but to me, that felt like what a 1/2 marathon felt to them.

So I signed up for a race at the zoo in May and Tana ran with me. She hadn't been able to run the 1/2 marathon due to injury and was kind enough to stay with me during the race and we finished together. I was really, really sick during that race so was motivated to see what I could do next time.

I signed up for another race..this one in November and was able to shave around 3 minutes off my time. When I crossed the finish line, I was in tears...I couldn't believe it. So another 5k in December....and then Lisa was trying to convince me to do the 8k with her and Mike during this year's Shamrock.

So I didn't train much because I was simply exhausted from working on the move. Race day, I felt miserable...the stress and exhaustion had finally caught up with me. I went anyway....I was able to run 2.5 miles of the nearly 5 mile race. It actually wasn't so bad...not as bad as I thought. It would have been nice to have been healthy and see what I could have done...Maybe I'll brave one some time.....

So here are some pictures from this year's Shamrock...Our friend Danijel, and Mike, Lisa and I ran the 8k on Saturday...Then Tana, Ryan, Michael, our friend from high school, Korina, and a couple of Tana's friends ran the 1/2 on Sunday...and Korina's boyfriend Scott ran the full marathon on Sunday.

It was a great time and an awesome way to spend our last weekend in Virginia.

Here are finally a few pictures .... The rest are on shutterfly ... dellits.shutterfly.com or on Facebook.



Can you find the 4 of us waiting for the start?


Can you find us?


Me rounding to finish the last mile.


Outside our hotel room...You really have it rough when you stay out in Va Beach.