Westport St Patty's Day 4 Mile Run Race Report

Saturday March 10 was the Wesport St. Patty's Day 4 Mile Run, held in the famous Westport area of Kansas City.  The course started and finished in Westport, and was HEAVILY themed for St. Patty's Day!  There were tons of ladies dressed in tutus, leprechauns, and some people that were really hungover from the BIG XII Tournament in KC...

Due to some nagging IT band issues, I chose to run the race with my girlfriend Rachel, who was told to keep me under control!  Although she was incredibly hesitant, she ultimately agreed to me running with her.  But not that she really had a choice... :)

Pre-race:
For the 10:00am start, we got to sleep in a bit, which was a first for me on race day.  We were up at 7:30, had some oatmeal, coffee, and a banana (typical breakfast), and were out the door.

We arrived at the race site around 8:45am, which apparently was insanely early.  I had never done the race before, but knew that they were expecting close to 4,000 participants, so I figured getting there early would be a good idea.  We were there before they had the inflatable start and finish lines up... But our parking spot was the bomb dot com!

Hey, it's up!

The weather was amazing.  Temps were in the 50s to 60s for the morning, and not a cloud in the sky.  Rachel and I walked around a bit to warm up, and hit the portajohns, a race day must!

Portapotty Corner!!!

About 25 minutes before the start of the race, the line was crazy long.  Like 150 people deep.  But it went surprisingly quick, and we were in and out in about 10 minutes.  That's some pretty quick service!

As time was getting close to 10:00am, we found the 9:00/mile start area, and we settled in.  Rach's mom and Sis/Bro in law (my carbo-loading coach) found us right before the start and wished us luck!

At 10:00am, the gun went off, a bunch of quick guys took off, and we began moving 15 seconds later!

Race:
The course itself had a few rolling hills throughout.  We started in Westport, heading south for a bit, then headed back north.  During Mile 1, there was a decent incline stretch were people were breathing hard.  This was also about the time when we passed a herd of moms pushing their kids in strollers, who apparently started at the very front of the race.  WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!?!  This was also the first time of the day where I saw someone throwing up.  Less than 1 mile into the race.  Yup, hungover...

Mile 2 was fairly uneventful.  As I typically do during races, I spaced out and don't remember much.  Other than my IT band was starting to tighten up.  Poop....

Mile 3 we started heading back to the start.  I was feeling okay at this point, just focusing on my running mechanics and not trying to drop Rach... haha.  We did see some paparrazi out on the course. I made sure to point them out to Rach!

Real candid shot, right?

Mile 4:  This was by far the best mile of the day!  It was all down hill, getting close to the finish, and there was an "unofficial" aid station handing out beers and jello shots!  I got down 1 beer and 2 green jello shots before seeing the finish line!  They were surprisingly easier to stomach then gels!

As we approached the finish, Rach turned on the jets and blew by me!  She's so great!!!

Just finished! We lost... :(

Results:
Mark Burghart, 25
Total Time:  38:30
Pace:  9:38/mile

Pics:

Oh so stoic...

AND there's this.  I think I had to pee...

Overall
After the race, we headed to grab some post-race grub.  The organizers had a good amount of rolls, bananas, yogurt, chocolate milk, and water (although there was a guy SCREAMING "ONLY ONE WATER EACH!!!) Afterwards, we skipped getting the race results (see the results section here for reasons why...) and headed out for some much deserved lunch!  BURGERS! Yes!

Overall, I had a great time, despite being really bummed about holding back.  I was hoping to shoot for a sub 30 minute race, but I guess I can settle for a sub 39 minute race without aggravating my leg!  I had a lot of fun running with Rachel, who didn't stop once despite zero training (She's studying for her boards exam coming up!!!).  Again, she never stops amazing me!

I also thought the organizers did a great job keeping the 4,000 runners happy!  It was a great event, one that I plan on doing again. Next time, though, I will find a little more GREEN to wear!

Thanks for reading!