"Racing" season has begun - Shamrock Shuffle 8K this morning

"Racing" season begins today.  I saying "racing" because what I do is not really racing.  I participate.

Anyhow, today is the first race of 2011 for me.  This morning I'll be running in the Shamrock Shuffle 8K in downtown Chicago.  There are supposed to be 30,000 runners.  That's the main reason I signed up for this run.  I wanted to experience a big race.

My goal for today is very easy: finish without running in 60 minutes or less.  That's totally doable.  I can run 5 miles in 60 minutes.  I've done it this year in training.  If there is a challenge today it will be maintaining a good pace.  I may start slower because of the crowds and I may prematurely speed up and try to run too fast because of the faster runners in the crowd.

I'm taking my ipod but I'm going to keep it off for the first 1/2 to 1 mile.  I'll turn it on a bit later.  I will posts my reactions and some pics shortly after the race!

Now it's time to get ready and then it's off to the race (sort of)!