Oh My Gish: Shamrock Half Marathon

This is a ~~little~~ month late, however I went to delete pictures off my phone (don't worry, I have backup!) and I realized I never did a little write up about our trip. It really was a nice little weekend trip. I looked forward to it and enjoyed looking back on it, even though I did have to run 13.1 miles somewhere in there!

We left Saturday morning in a caravan with our friends Amanda and Ryan and first stopped at Bass Pro where we picked up this sweet hat for Abby:

She's also wearing pink camo overalls.

Then we trucked down to VA Beach, stopped at the expo to pick up our stuff, checked in at our hotels, and then went out to Olive Garden for dinner. Our friend, Mike, also joined us!

Perusing the OG kids menu

Amanda's salad. Just for her.

Sunday morning Abby woke us up at her usual time (~5am) so I was up in plenty of time for the 7am start. It also helped that our hotel was RIGHT by the start line. It was so convenient and worth the extra $$$ to stay right there. Mike met me at the hotel and we walked to the start line together. Ryan was also running but we didn't see him at the start. It was a little chilly but warmer than in years past so I wasn't too upset.

My outfit laid out the night before. I decided to do pink since everyone else was wearing green for St. Patty's day

The race went okay. I admittedly did not train as much as I needed to and I knew it was going to be a slow race for me. My legs were tight and I was a little fatigued but I knew I could finish and I just kept trucking. I knew Joey was going to be up near the finish with Abby and he was really excited about the sign that Abby had made "all by herself" and he wouldn't tell me what it said. Apparently it was a huge hit with other runners. They were right outside our hotel which was around mile 12.5 and I booked it to the finish from there!

Even though it wasn't my best, I'm pretty happy with how I did considering I didn't exactly run 10 miles (or anything close to it) in training and I had a baby in August ;).

Sent this to Joey as a joke when he asked for a progress update (the marathon course partially runs along with the half)

The lead marathon runner passing me at mile ~12. He had about 13 more miles to go (the rest of the course I just ran).

Side note: I would really like to be done with half marathons given the fact that I'm not going to have the time to really train to get a respectable time ever again. But then I went to our "medal wall" and counted my half marathon medals. Wouldn't you know I have 9!?!?! So I guess I'm doing one more...uggh.

Anyway, we met up with everyone on the beach (Ryan had finished an entire hour before me. Sigh.), took pictures, and decided to forego the smelly beer tent and head back to shower/hang out in the hotel and have some adult beverages. After that we went to a beach front restaurant and later, a Gordon Biersch before it was time for Abby and I to hit the hay and the boys went out and partied a little bit.

Monday morning we woke up and shipped out. It was fun to have a little getaway weekend, to be by the beach (our hotel room looked out over the ocean) and to be with friends. If you are ever considering this race, I HIGHLY recommend it. There is a full, half, and an 8K. This racing company is awesome and their events are well organized. The courses are flat and the swag is top notch!