St. Patrick's Day Parade Run Recap

I had a pretty fun weekend with Shane in town, and let me just cut to the chase seeing this post is going to be pretty long...

Friday after work, got in 3 miles with Shane. Was raining and slightly windy. Kept the pace honest, legs were really tired and tried to just relax as much as possible. Picked up some beer for postrace festivities, then relaxed at home. Went out for a little bit at night, attempted to get a good night's sleep. Finally St. Pat's was here!

Race Morning

Woke up kind of early, drank a ton of water and ate a light breakfast. Checked the weather conditions outside, and was discouraged to see the misty rain. Did a light jog outside just to loosen up, then went and picked up Shane and Crystal. Drove downtown which I thought was early, saw parking was already filling up because of the mass throng of people that were gathering, so parked in Barrel's spot at her place since she was out of town. Walked to the Big River tent, got situated.

At the Start

Talked to a few of my teammates there, did light stretching and tried to loosen up. Legs felt heavy and tired, which was kind of alarming. Warmed up with the group, did a couple miles downtown through parts of the course. Felt a lot better after the warm up and certainly looser. Did some drills and some strides, got changed up and headed towards the start with Shane and Crystal. Lost them in the mass chaos around the area, so was trying to find anybody I could line up next to. Got up somewhat towards the front, but it was pretty much mayhem over there. It was pretty much a staggered start, and top finishers from last year had different colored bibs to differentiate themselves and start up front. Well, people didn't really adhere to that, as evidenced by the lady with the stroller lining up right behind the elites, and others just like that. So I fought my way up as closer as I could get, which was still far back. Prepared for battle...

Mile by Mile Report

Mile 1 - The gun went off, and away we went! Jostled for position, spent unnecessary energy trying to get up there with some of the faster runners. The new route has us going through the buildings downtown, so was a pretty cool sight - reminded me a little of the Chicago start, but obviously a much smaller scale. Saw a couple teammates, then Shane and Crystal, and tapped Shane to know I was there. Passed them, saw Candace so tried to work my way up there. By the time we hit Market, I was away from the crowd and established position. Was going way too fast and I knew it, so tried to slow down. The dreaded Market Street hill was approaching... [Mile 1: 5:31]

Mile 2 - Hit the hill, shortened my stride and started the long climb. Really controlled pace at this point, and wasn't trying to be stupid. It was pretty windy, and wasn't the easiest conditions to run in. Caught and passed a few people on the hill and was still trying to catch Candace. Was working decent, and finally the hill crested out and slight downhill before making a turn. Started to get gapped on the turn, one of the girls on my team caught me so talked to her trying to figure out her pace and whatnot. Well, she takes off, and I tried to keep up with her but knew that would ultimately be a bad mistake, so let her go. Hit that nasty, sneaky hill on Olive, caught back up to a couple guys, but then they gapped me again. [Mile 2: 6:22]

Mile 3 - Felt ok at this point, got the hardest points of the way, and zoomed down Olive. Tried to let gravity dictate my pace, but was losing ground on the people ahead of me. There are a few hills here and there, tried to work back up but was always 20-30 feet behind. Could see downtown approaching, so tried to keep focus and keep going. [Mile 3: 6:12]

Mile 4 - Was discouraged to see my 3rd mile split, and thought I lost some valuable time. Kept working, hit downtown but was losing ground on Candace. Tried to be more aggressive, but everyone was picking it up. Was really glad at this point that I had familiarized myself with the course, as I had not killed myself and felt ok. Needed to really suck it up and hit the home stretch hard. Heard my split, was almost 20 seconds faster than last year so was pleased. [Mile 4 - 6:07]

Mile 5 - Here we go, how bad do I want this? Picked it up, everyone started going faster. Was passed by 2 guys I had passed before, was scared to death to look back to see if anyone was working off me. Picked it up even faster, could see the turn around point in the far distance. Started my kick around 6th St., not too far from Broadway which we would run the last quarter. Really made the mistake of not monitoring my time to make sure I was making enough ground. Turned onto Broadway, was pretty tired and trying to fight. Could see Candace, but didn't have enough juice to catch her. Was windy, had trouble breathing. Saw the finish line, and knew it would be close. Tried to take it to the next gear, didn't have it. [Mile 5 - 6:03]

Peter Kim M30
Clock Time: 30:41
Chip Time: 30:35
Overall Place: 48/11,941
Gender Place: 43/?
Division Place: 12/?
Pace: 6:07/Mile

Final Thoughts

Pretty bummed out I missed by PR by a freaking 2 seconds. I just ran that last mile so stupid. I felt pretty strong on the race and went out too fast, but recovered enough to run decent in the mid miles. Had thoughts of breaking 30 minutes going in, but knew it would be tough since I hadn't worked enough hills. Just disappointed in myself. Waited for Crystal and Shane to finish - Crystal zoomed in at 32:00 flat, dropped a very impressive P.R. and won 4th in her age group!!! Shane finished not too long after her in a very solid 32:53, and all of us headed off to the postrace celebration.

Had a few beers there with the Big River folk, talked to a ton of people post race. Big River ended up with quite the showing - Ryan Bak and Julie Lossos won the men and women races, Ben was 2nd, Brian Lyons was 4th, and Adam MacDowell was 5th. Margaret Lyons was 2nd or 3rd female overall (the one that passed me on the 3rd mile that I was talking to), so a very impressive showing by the Big River Running Team - congrats to all!!!!!

Big group lunch afterwards, crashed out hardcore for a while and hung out at Pat and Crystal's for game night that evening. Sunday morning, woke up for early mass, did a group long run. Was pretty much the same weather conditions - windy, drizzly, crappy. Mike came over, and Pat did a few miles with us as well. We wanted to get in 15 (3/1 run), so did our normal out and back through Glen Carbon. Met up with our friend Andy (also running Boston) who jumped in a few miles with us and was pretty fun to have a decent group out there. Nothing crazy to note on the run, legs were pretty tired and heavy almost the entire run. Coming back, Shane took a hard fall when he tripped over his shoe laces - this was at mile 9, and it was a pretty nasty spill but luckily he instinctively rolled and spread out the impact. Had a nasty gash on his knee, but he was fine to go so we kept going. Around the 10th mile, started to pick up the pace. Was still harboring angry thoughts about yesterday's crappy finish, so told Mike and Shane I was going to push the pace. Mike picked it up with me, Shane and Crystal slightly behind, and we blazed through the last few miles. Felt ok, but legs were done. Had to work very hard the last mile, Mike was pretty strong out there. He is in great shape, and will run a great marathon in a few weeks. Total mileage: 15 miles - splits were: 8:43, 8:47, 8:35, 8:22, 8:24, 8:13, 8:16, 8:21, 8:13, 8:09, 7:49, 6:56, 7:08, 6:40, 6:41.

So my winter speed work is officially done, going to transition to a lot of marathon speed work here on out and really working the hills for Boston. Pretty happy with my results, am starting to get into better shape and have had 2 solid races so far, so I couldn't ask for more!

Shane, Crystal, and I postrace

Group Shot


Crystal - 76th overall, 4th in her age group!!!!