*RECAP* St. Patrick's Day 5k... Or Rather 3-Miler

Can one celebrate St. Patrick's Day without a road race?

I pretty much did for years, but not the case since 2011. :) I love being able to add some green to my ensemble and enjoy a 5k with friends before celebrating St. Patrick's Day.

For this year's St. Patrick's Day race, some friends and I opted to run the St. Patrick's Day 5k in South Boston before the annual parade. The race would actually be on the parade route just a couple of hours before the parade itself would take place. The parade can get wild and crazy (as you can imagine) so we would be completing the race and getting out of Southie before the parade started. :)

The St. Patrick’s Day Road Race benefits the Edgerley Family South Boston Club’s Keystone Teen Leadership Program. 

Since this was the first time I took part in this race, I checked the website for race details and found out the course would most-likely be short the 3.1 miles needed to officially be a 5k race.

I was glad to have this information beforehand. It is disappointing when a race doesn't get the distance right. I mean just call it a St. Patrick's Day 3-Miler. I am sure people would rather that than be short of an official 5k.

We would be taking the race as a fun run with no time goals in mind, especially since the course was short.

The wife dropped Heather and I off at the race so we didn't have to bother with finding parking. 

It was a little chilly so we were thankful for the opportunity to hide in the Girls & Boys Club after picking up our bibs. 

We hit up the indoor bathrooms (yay for avoiding a port-o-potty ;)) and met up with some of our fellow Slumbrew Happy Soles.

That is one fine looking crew. Of course just after taking this photo the rest of our friends showed up so we had to take another once we made it out to the Start corral.

Photobombed by a green man... of course! :P

While waiting for the race to start my friend Lisa found me in the crowd. She was in the middle of her long run and using the 5k as part of it. :)

Finally it was 11am and time to get this race started. I was letting Heather determine our pace for the run. I just wanted to enjoy some friends company.

Oh hey Lisa! Let's get that mid-run selfie in before you take off. ;) 

As mentioned above, the course was an out and back including some rolling hills. :P I might have missed telling Heather about the hills before she signed up for the run. Oops! ;0)

You can see one of the hills in the distance. Sometimes its better to not know what's ahead. Am I right?

Even the puppies were getting in on the race action.

Folks were already lining up for the parade which meant we had plenty of drunken folks to cheer us on. :P

Mile 1: 10:59

One of my favorite parts of an out and back is being able to cheer on the rest of the participants, especially the leaders who were whizzing towards us. The guy who was in first had a handsome lead on the second place male. I then focused my attention on spotting the first few females. I'm always so inspired with EVERY participant of a race and scanning the crowd for any familiar faces.

It was finally OUR turn to hit the turnaround spot and head back.

Adios first half - we were on the home stretch. :O)

One thing about heading to the turn on a downhill meant as soon as we turned around we would be greeted with a lovely uphill. Funny how that works. :)

After tackling another incline, we were greeted by one of the cutest high-five stations I've ever seen. 

I know you are all jealous!

I just needed to make sure you all saw how much fun I was having. I also looked at this mid-run selfie and finally started seeing my recent weight loss. 

Mile 2: 10:55

As we were running along, thanking the cops for their time. I was also wishing them luck on the inside as they would have a long day with the parade and drunken parade goers. 

Folks were lining up to get into the already packed bars. I had to remind myself it wasn't an 8am race, but an 11am race. 

We made our final turns towards the Finish. It was around this time we had confirmation this race would not hit the 3.1 miles needed for a 5k.

I had a blast running with Heather and Kelly! :) We even ended up posting negative splits. HOLLAH!

Mile 3: 10:38

FINAL TIME: 32:22

Just after crossing the Finish Line, high-fiving each other and grabbing some water, we bumped into the rest of the Happy Soles, who we missed pre-race.

What a kickass looking group.

After more hugs and high-fives, Heather and I headed out to meet her husband to drive us home... after we stopped at Dunkins for coffee of course. :0)

Overall the race was a fun morning. The only downfall? The 5k not actually being a 5k. As I mentioned earlier, I wish they had just called it the St. Patrick's Day 3-miler. I still would've signed up. 

How do you feel when a race comes up short on distance?