Shamrock Shuffle 2011

And just a few weeks after our most recent race, we had another one!  Last Saturday, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Brenda, Jake (his first!), Julie and I ran the Shamrock Shuffle 5K in Smithfield, just north of Logan.  We were sorry Amber and Cami weren't able to join us as planned.  This one has a sort of significance for me and Julie, since we ran it together two years ago when we were still dating long-distance, the day after she flew into town, so this is our third year running it.  It's a very inexpensive race (of course even cheaper if you wear green!--Who cares if they don't match?), but we always have a good time doing it.  The course is great, fairly level after the first quarter mile or so, and since it's basically a big square loop around field lands, you can see the finish line pretty much the entire time (which can be a good thing OR a bad thing).  It was also MUCH less cold than either of the previous years.

Here you can see I have captured Julie actually setting foot across the finish line.

 

 

I placed 2nd in my age group (looking forward to a time coming very shortly when I'll suddenly be the youngest in a new division...) at 21:26, and Mom, Dad and Grandma also placed.

I opted to show this picture rather than the one Julie took of me walking away from her when I was scratching my bum.  Don't you like my man-capris?

Julie was THIS CLOSE to the top ten in her age group!  I thought this was a great accomplishment worth sharing.

Then, in an unprecedented feat, every single one of us won something in the raffle.  Every single one!  It was so amazing I even had to reiterate and bold that sentence.  So, between us all, we had a few passes to the local bowling alley and roller skating rink, root beer with a t-shirt to the local gym attached, Sprite with two festive green mugs and a butterfly kite.  It was epic, I tell you.

 

A fun time was had by all.  We had a delicious dinner the night before, courtesy of Grandma and Mom, and it's always great to visit Grandma.   Hopefully next year those interested will be able to join in the fun!