Corktown St. Patricks Day 4 Mile Race

I love that feeling you get from running a race. I ran in the Corktown St. Patricks Day 4 Mile race this past Sunday. The weather was a bit chilly, and the wind was in full force but that didnt stop all the people coming out. Im not sure of the final count but Im sure there was well over 2000 runners. I do have to say the event was very disorganized. I registered at Total Running beforehand, but still stood in line for 40 minutes to get my chip the morning of the race. And from what I hear they ran out of chips and tshirts. The line of people registering that morning were actually done before those that preregistered.

Anyhoo, the sun left for the race which was a bummer. But as soon as we started running I warmed up. When I crossed the start line I noticed there wasnt a pad, so apparently the chip was only timed at your end time. Well I was 3/4 of the way back in the pack, but if I would of known that the start wasnt timed I may have tried to get closer to the front. I did wear my stop watch, so started it up as soon as I crossed the start line. I used my good ol stop watch in my last 4 mile race because we didnt have chips.

The route was a nice route, it ran through downtown Detroit. We started at old Tigers Stadium, looped around Campus Martius, than ran by Comerica Park (one of my favorite spots), and looped back and we ended at an old Michigan Central train station. Everyone was decked out in their St. Pattys gear, they were pretty entertaining. Along with everyone along the route. There was a parade shortly after the race so the streets were packed.

I kept a pace of 10 minute for each mile, and was pretty pleased with that. Every mile was marked so I kept checking my time with my stop watch. It was a pretty nice run, very comfortable. I found my zone and my feet just glided :) I wasnt sure how that would go due to the drinking I partaked in the night before. lol I did run into a few mishaps - around mile 3 the wind started to blow in my face, so that wasnt to much fun. And I had some side stitches I had to work though. Damn those things are a bitch. I thought I was over those things by now! But I kept on trucking along. I crossed the finish line at 41:37, but my faithful ol stop watch said 39:49 which was more accurate. Which means I shaved 51 seconds off my last 4 mile race time! I was pretty stoked :)

And you have to love a race that passes out beer at the end ;) This race was definitely the motivation I needed. Especially since Im hitting my halfway mark in my training. Its pretty amazing how I compare my first 5k, to this race. I have come so far, and it feels pretty awesome :) Next up is my 10k on April 5th, Im excited for it!