From: xenman (xenman@sprynet.nospaam.com)
Subject: Portland's Shamrock Run
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 19:44:13 GMT

I travelled from Seattle to Portland on Saturday to race in the 8K Shamrock Run.
For me this is a qualifying race for a "Senior Seed" in the Bloomsday Race in
Spokane on May 2nd.  I've gotten to old and slow to qualify for a second seed.
Why Portland instead of Spokane for the qualifying race?  I can't afford the
possibility of getting stuck east of the mountains during avalanche season.  And
yes, Seatle had a race on Sunday too, but it's not a standard distance and it's
too short.

The Shamrock run is really a series of races, a 5K race, an 8K race, a 15K race,
3.5 mile walk, and the Leprechaun Leap.  All races start and finish downtown 
at the waterfront park.  The 5K started and finished first.  Next the walk was
started.  Then the 15K started, followed by the start of the 8K. By looking at
last years results the 8K was the most popular and the only one with a wave
start.

I was a bit surprised by the small size of the first wave, supposedly for people
running 7 minute miles and faster.  I've been in wave starts before and most
of the people in the first wave can't run fast enough to qualify for it.  At the
start, as expected, there were a bunch of goofballs that started at the front
but couldn't keep up the pace.  They even took short cuts that cut off
several blocks.

The first mile was relatively flat, with a small rise and small fall.  I came
through the mark just as I had planned.  Just lucky I guess. The next
two miles were a long up hill.  In fact the hill didn't end until 2 minutes
after the 3 mile mark.  My second and third mile were identical, about
30 seconds each slower than the first mile.  I was definitely holding
back for the final down hill and since I seemed to be holding my own
in the pack I felt that I wasn't going too slow.  Shortly after the top of
the hill I started to significantly pick up the pace.  I spotted a couple of
people about 40 - 50 yards up that were with me at the 1 mile mark
and went after them. The downhill portion from 3.25 mile to the 4 mile
mark was really steeper than I would have liked.  I've learned to run
down hills well by just letting go and relaxing.  The last .75 mile was
pretty flat.  My legs were feeling like lead and I felt like stopping.  I
came to about 15 yards behind the two runners I was targeting, but
could never get any closer.  When we reached the flat with the
finish line in view, probably .75 miles away, they started to pull away.
Two guys I passed in the 4th mile passed me back, but no one
else caught me in the last mile.

My finishing time was in the range I expected, but I was hoping to
finish about 30 seconds faster.  My splits, according to my watch,
were:
	1st mile:  6:38
	2nd mile:  7:11 (13:49)
	3rd mile:  7:11 (21:00)
	4th mile:  6:21 (27:22)
	5th mile:  6:20 (33:42)  (actually 0.97 mile)
My official time will probably be 5-8  seconds slower to account for the
time to get accross the starting line and other errors.

The qualifying standard for the Bloomsday senior seed is 53:00 for a 12K.
I think I should probably qualify, but the margin wasn't that large, so it's
not a sure thing.