ShamRock N' Roll Race Report

Alright boys and girls, are you ready for a race report? Sunday morning I ran The Junior League Of Atlanta's ShamRock N' Roll 5k. First and foremost, let me tell you the awesome news... according to ye old Garmin, I PR'd, by a second but I PR'd nonetheless. Their results were not chip time, they went by clock time which sucks for me but I am claiming my PR. That is a rant in and of itself because they had the foam timing chips that are attached to your bib, and one would assume that they would be using chip time, but I digress. 

This was my first race without Karen, but I was going to run with another friend of mine, Brooke. Brooke is one of my dearest friends, I just love her. Also, I brought Patrick and Bella along for support and so Bella could enjoy the activities that they had for the kids. Let me just tell you, the kid cleaned up with regards to swag, when I saw them after the finish Patrick was acting as her swag mule. She thought she was super cool, and it made up for the fact that I didn't let her run this race with me. Anyways, back to the race details. The race was in town at Atlantic Station, so it was a 40-45 minute drive for us. I had made plans to leave around 7-7:15 to get there close to 8, giving us more than enough time to park, and for me to go through my pre race insanity rituals. We ended up leaving around 7:45, and made it to Atlantic Station right at 8:30. Once we found parking, my first prerogative was to get to the restroom as quickly as possible. Somehow, I was making my way to the restrooms when people were getting ready to warm up and line up. I ran into Brooke just outside the porta potties, this is becoming a theme with me, and I am not sure if I like it but I do find it comical. She went ahead to the start and I got in line for the potties, well, next thing I hear is the start and I still hadn't had a a chance to pee. I ran to the start and managed to get going. I didn't end up being able to run with Brooke because she had to drop out, one of her boys had to be taken to the ER, and her husband called her to meet them there. The little guy is fine now, but she definitely needed to be there with him. 

Off we went...

I started strong and with a plan, I was going to run 4/1 intervals and if it got to be too much I was going to drop it back to 3/2 intervals. I even wrote out S.T.T.P. (stick to the plan) on my hand in sharpie. I had my music going and I was lip syncing along, because I fully intended on enjoying myself as much as possible during this race. I looked like I had moved to Crazy Town, I was lip syncing, sort of dancing, and thanking the police officers and volunteers. We started on a downhill, so I knew that at some point we were going to have at least one hill, plus, this is Atlanta and hills are inevitable. I was chugging along, sticking to the plan and I think that the good attitude probably helped with the PR. More importantly, I knew that the faster I finished, the faster I could pee, and that was pretty darn important to me because the last thing I wanted was yellow socks. So, I have found my PR formula, having to pee and having the beginnings of strep throat. I was feeling a little off, but I thought it was just my allergies, then Monday morning after the race I woke up feeling like garbage. The good doctor was kind enough to tell me that I have strep throat... good times. 

We passed one of my favorite places... too bad it was closed
I would have pulled myself off the course to do a little shopping,
and possibly pee. 

Gorgeous morning!

I love Atlantic Station

Millennium Gate

Guess what?! I had a bad ass moment during the race. You know my whole blood = bad ass rule. Shortly after we started I felt something in my shoe, and I knew right away that my toe was bleeding. I looked down at my shoes a few times through out the race, I didn't want to stop unless I saw blood on the outside of the shoe. As long as it was contained, I assumed I was fine. I rocked it out, and pushed to the finish when I looked at the Garmin and saw the possibility of a PR. I was elated to cross that finish line knowing that I had PR'd even though it was only by one second. My first priority was finding a bathroom, then getting some water, a banana etc. Can we talk about the glorious feeling of going to the bathroom? Seriously... just glorious. Other mothers out there know what I am talking about. Too much bouncing = no fun with the bladder. As for the toe, when I checked it after the race, I couldn't find the cause of the cut, but there was a cut on one of my toes. It was so weird.

Didn't get any pictures of myself, or with the family because by the time I was done, they were ready to leave. They had done the rounds at the booths, like I said before Bella cleaned up with swag, had her face painted and bounced her little heart out in the bounce house. She and Patrick were ready for some breakfast.