Westport 4 Miler

Sometimes it's hard to write a race report about a race you've done multiple times, so I'll make this short.

Me & Michelle pre-race - clearly super excited!

This weekend I did the 36th Annual Westport St Patrick's Day 4 Miler.  It was my 3rd time doing this event.  It's such a fun race!  There is always a sea of green and people in costumes.  I think it's cool that it's been going on so long.  It's truly a Kansas City tradition.  It draws in about 3,000 people into the cool artsy area of Westport.  There are tons of unique shops and lots of bars and pubs.  Most people usually hang out after the race and fill the bars.  Nothing like drinking at 10:30 or 11:00 on a Sunday morning.  There is also always an "unofficial" aid station at about mile 3.5 that hands out green beer and this year they also had green jello shots.  I did not partake...can't do that while running!

The race didn't start until 10, but Michelle and I still needed to pick up packets and parking can be crazy so we left at 7:30.  We had packets in hand by 8:30 and some time to kill.  We just chilled in the car til about 9:30.  It was a BEAUTIFUL morning.  It was right at 55 degrees and the sun was shining.  It was truly a perfect race day.

I didn't look up my 2013 time before the race...I should have.  If I had known I was so close to my time I might have tried just a little bit harder.  I was 8 seconds slower this year.  However, my paces were a bit more consistent (except mile 3 - though consistent year over year).  I always forget just how hilly this race is.  I guess it's not super hilly, but for 4 miles, which is basically just over a 5K pace it's a tough course.  Just like last year I died in mile 3, but it's a long slow climb.  Again, if I had looked at my time prior to the race I might have been able to at least match my 2013 time, but I don't know.  The race pretty well took it out of me.

For the first time ever you were supposed to get a medal for this race.  Unfortunately, the medals were made overseas and apparently there was a bomb threat.  Now all the medals, among other things are sitting in a warehouse until they have been reviewed and approved for shipment to the US.  So eventually, I'll get one of these. 

My future medal

After the race I found Michelle and we headed home.  She  had to get home right away for another event so we didn't get to hang out for the festivities after.  It ended up working out for me because it was supposed to be my long run day.  So, after a hard run I came home and ran 4 more miles.  I had originally wanted to do 6 but with the 10 am race start it was just getting too late.  It was probably good because that 4 miles was the hardest thing I had done in a long time!  Wow!  It's amazing how hard it is to run after a hard effort.

Are you doing or did you do a St Patty's Day race this weekend?

You also get free race pictures!

 

On an unrelated note, my 4 weeks on a Ketogenic Diet are up.  I will write another blog post about that in the next day or two.  But I've decided to keep doing it for a little while longer.