Shamrock Run

Today was the 30th anniversary of the Shamrock Run in Portland. Today was Rachel's and my first time in the run. I signed up for the 5K Run and Rachel for the 5K Stride.

We had agreed to meet, as we did for our last race, at the Sunset Transit Center and ride the MAX to the race start. When I arrived at Sunset (10 minutes late at 6:55am) Rachel had already purchased our tickets. Good thing too, since there was a huge line and one broken ticket machine! 7:05 found us Eastbound on the train and sitting by a heater. We were spared the rain but not the cold.

Since I had picked up my race packet and T-shirt the day before at Lincoln High School, all I needed to do was find the Port-a-potty line and wait for the start. Rachel stopped by will-call and got her bib. The 5K started at 8:05 and the Stride at 8:20, but on different courses. We
snapped photos of each other and shivered while we waited for my start. I have never run this particular course in Portland before and soon realized that it was basically the reverse of the Race for the Cure. In other words, the course goes UP Broadway..................all the way up to Harrison! WOW! Then is when I realized why there were very few other "gray-hairs" on the course. This was truly a younger person's race.

I finished significantly before Rachel was due to complete her walk and went to claim my bowl of clam chowder included in the price of the run. Something hot felt very good in the cold, misty air and my soaking wet running shirt. The beer looked good too, but I was way too cold to imbibe. You know I was cold to turn down a free beer!

I anticipated that Rachel would finish between 9:25 and 9:30am. I made my way to her finish line and immediately spotted her 20' from me. My watch said 9:27am. Good guess! I snapped her photo and we made our way back to the MAX stop, boarded the train and were back a Sunset Transit before 10:00am. What a way to travel in the city!

Our next race/walk is April 6th: The Race for the Roses. More photos then.