To start, running 5 miles is further than I usually go but I have run 10 miles before so I wasn't scared. Early Saturday my girlfriend Stephanie called and said she was out, she hurt her back really bad. Not a good way to start but she wished me well and I headed off to the race.
I arrived around 1 hour before the start and just basically hung out till the 3PM start. Once the gun sounded I slowly made it to the line, it took almost 45 seconds. Well I guess a win is out the door, no worries, I'm a slow poke anyway. Today I was feeling okay but I kept it on the slow side and I'm glad I did, this was a hilly course. Luckily none the hills were real long except for around mile 4 and I ran up most of them, which is good for me. I save my occasional walking to the flats. Other than the hills, this race was uneventful for me, except for almost getting run over by a speedster coming the other way at the first water table. Eventually, I made it to the home stretch and ran that 1/3 mile at a good clip and finished in 55 minutes. I was pretty happy with myself and finished close to my planned time.
The interesting part about this race was the people. For sure most wore green, many wore kilts, some even had beer cans hanging out in front of them. I guess they needed something to chase. No worries there, if you were of age there was a free beer waiting for you at the finish provided by Tir Na Nog. The best costume was the person dressed a leprechaun and another person as the pot of gold with a rainbow between them, they somehow ran the race that way. Yes, I beat them by 30 minutes or so lol. Back to that beer for a second, it sure had more effect than I thought, guess it was the exhaustion.
Overall, this was fun race and I'll see you at this race next year.
http://www.rungreen8k.com/
Here is a picture of me (852) in the final stretch, I think I'm the only person that sweats.
Next up is the Cooper River Bridge Run.
