I ran. I conquered.

The Chicago Shamrock Shuffle 8K is in the books.

I think this is a great start to my racing season.

I beat my old 8K time by nearly 10 minutes! Holy crap was I booking! My Garmin says 41 mins. and my stopwatch says 44. The difference in the Garmin probably has to do with me running through tunnels and losing signals.

Update: Official time is 00:44:23. A new personal best in the 8K.

I was fighting a stitch in my left side for the first 2 miles that got rather intense. It might of had something to do with the half bagel I swallowed just 10 minutes before the start. It cleared up after mile 2 with a healthy shot of Gatorade and water.

Despite the stitch, I felt amazing all the way through. It got cold out rather quickly at the finish, so I had my beer and headed out. The crowds were great. It was quite the experience starting with 20,000 other runners in my field. I even learned a few lessons that will help my other races this year.

Bring on the next one.

You can see a few of the photos on my Flickr page here.