Shamrock and Shamroll

Jeez Louise, time flies by. Already the Ides of April and I've yet to deliver my first blog of 2010. Better late than never, I suppose. So here it goes, the recap of the Yuengling Shamrock (Half) Marathon 2010!

I traveled to Virginia Beach, VA to run my 5th race in my quest for 50 half marathons in 50 states. I have a friend attending Grad School over yonder, so we decided to meet up and enjoy the Shamrock (Half) Marathon atmosphere together. One thing about this running friend should be noted. We don't only run...we run in costume!

And what would be more fitting than dressing up as leprechauns for the Shamrock (Half) Marathon? I dare say, nothing. We both wore big hats, I donned a red beard, she wore pointy ears, I painted my shoes GREEN, she painted her laces and T-shirt: "I'm running a Guinness (beer) world record!"

We were dressed to impress, and impress we did. We lined up in the first corral, surprised to be the only ones in costume. I mean, man, these people looked serious! Running singlets, too-short-shorts, steely-eyed looks of determination. For some reason, fast times don't always mesh with costumes. Go figure. And although we were here to have fun, we also had a goal time. Somewhere in between 1:45 and 1:50 lay my friend's hopeful PR, and I was here to push her (hopefully NOT literally).

The course was nice and relaxed, mostly an out-and-back straight shot through neighborhoods. There was a really soothing section where we ran through First Landing State Park. The towering forest trees guided us forward, and kept our mind off the distance. We also saw some little motivational signs posted on the side of the road. I think they had been placed by the Hash Harriers we had seen the previous day, running through the town dressed in drag. :)

I passed up the beer station at mile 5. But I did manage to bring myself to imbibe at the second stop, around mile 11. People loved our leprechaun get-ups, yelling our names and shouting, "Love the hat! Love the beard! Go Leprechauns!"

We were some fast leprechauns, too. We finished with a nice kick down the Virginia Beach boardwalk, side-by-side in 1:46:39. Go team! Next year, we're looking at running the Mardi Gras Half Marathon. Better start planning my running costume now...this should be a good one.