2016 Shamrock’n Half Marathon

It’s nice, sunny, dry, and in the 70s here today. But it wasn’t Sunday for the 2016 Shamrock’n Half Marathon! My sister and I drove to Raley Field together very early in the dark, cold, wind, and rain to meet friends and our shoes got drenched just dashing through the flooded parking lot. Somehow, even with the time change and me running on a lack of sleep and cold, I was in a good mood and ready for the race to start at 7:45 am which was really like 6:45 am.

It was in the 40s, very windy and raining pretty hard with off and on downpours, not easy running conditions to dress for! I read a bunch of running in the rain articles the day before and decided on a running hat to keep the water out of my eyes, one long sleeve moisture wicking running top layer, a cheap plastic rain poncho to keep until it became uncomfortably hot with compression running capris.

It was a little chilly to start, but was fine after the first mile or two and I’m glad I didn’t have a lot of wet layers to peel off during the run. The poncho got too hot around mile 5, but was nice to shield from the cold and rain at the start and for the first few miles while warming up.

It was not a PR race and I knew it was not going to be in strong winds and wet pavement. But it wasn’t too shabby either.

It pretty much rained during the entire race with occasional hard downpours.

And look how full the Sacramento river was after a week of heavy rain! All those trees and docks are under water and the water level was close to the bridge.

Ponchos were popular for this race, I was entertained by the differences in attire among runners – some dressing very skimpy with small running shorts and a tank top while others were bundled in lots of layers.

I was so happy to get to the finish line! The last few miles were brutal up on the river levee exposed to the strong crosswinds and rain and my completely soaked shoes and socks were starting to get to me. But it was worth it because I was only about 2 minutes behind my average half time and I’ve never run that far in that kind of weather.

I had about 20 minutes to kill before hubby showed up and the rest of our group crossed and ended up sipping the free beer in the stadium ladies room with a bunch of other women because it was the only warm area not exposed to the wind. Thankfully hubby brought a huge rain jacket!

After changing into warm and dry clothes at the stadium, we headed to Pho Vegan Asian Cuisine because a huge plate of hot noodles sounded like the perfect post-race lunch!

I made this plate disappear fast, it hit the spot.

And hubby had a delicious peanut stir fry with rice.

Since it kept raining all day and was windy and chilly, it was nice to relax in front of the fireplace and dry my shoes!

What’s the worst conditions you’ve ever run in?