Our first 5k... together

Only in Portland do 35,000 {YES, thirty-five THOUSAND}people get up to run in the rain.  Ben and I signed up for the Shamrock Run in Portland months ago with a team from Crossfit Excellence.  The run had a 15k, 8k and 5k option.  I was so excited I was able to talk Ben into running with me {he claims he doesn't love running} so we opted for the 5k option.  

When we woke up it was raining {of course} and I kept telling myself, thank goodness it's just 3 miles.  I can run 3 miles in the rain.... I think.... who knows since I am such a spoiled runner who opts for a treadmill at any sign of inclement weather.  Good thing Ben remembered to grab our rain fly's at the last minute.  We would have been miserable without them!

We made our way through the traffic of wet green leprechauns making their way to the start line and hid out in the dry car as long as we could.

Our entire team wore these awesome matching shirts that the gym made for us.  Unfortunately, we had to put our rain gear over them to protect our sweet selves from melting so the world didn't get to enjoy them as much as they should have.  

I realize I cut half of Ben's head off in the above picture, but honestly it was SO PACKED that I could not back up far enough from him to get a picture of his shirt and his head.  Since their were 40 billion people there and 16,000 {YES, sixteen THOUSAND} 5k runners the run started a bit late and we found shelter under one of the freeway bridges. I thought we were clever until I realized half of the other runners had the same idea....

Apparently my rain jacket doesn't protect my shoulders from the rain.  Or maybe there was just so much rain falling on my jacket that it got tired of protecting and decided to soak through.  Thank goodness for the shelter of the bridge while we waited!

And then the run started and there were so many people that Ben and I decided it was more of a plyometrics workout from dodging thousands of people to try and get to the finish line.  The picture below is about a half mile in.  If you have run an organized race before you know usually the start to first quarter mile can be crowded as everyone settles in to find their spot and pace in the race.  Not in this race/party.... it was this packed the ENTIRE 3 miles.  It was a good thing Ben is really tall and I was wearing a bright purple jacket cause we we trying to get through people as fast as we could while still keeping an eye on each other.  

I will now share with you a blurry picture to show you how FAST we were running.  And I apparently really wanted you to know I was chewing blue gym.

We finished our plyometrics race with a little less than 10 minute miles.  We were not jazzed with our time, but quickly figured out that most of those thousands of people were there to dress up in green and get free drinks and not to run an ultra fast race.  Regardless, the Portland Shamrock Run is a hoot and we had fun running our first 5k together!  I am crossing my fingers that someday Ben will sign up for another race with me.