I had heard about the Shamrock Run, even back when I lived in Chicago. It's one of the most famous Portland races, thus I had to try it out my first year in this city.

Leading up to the race, communication are not very good. It was a few days out, and I realized I hadn't received 1 race email with packet pick up details, start time info, etc. It wasn't a huge deal, I went to the website to find the info, but I did have to double check that i did indeed register because it was so odd to not get any emails from the race.

The expo was really nice. It was at the Oregon convention center, and we found street parking super easily. It was bigger than I expected - a ton of booths giving out free beer, snacks, or games. Grabbing your bib and shirt was a breeze too, and everyone was really nice and helpful.

On race day, we biked there, and it was hard to find a spot to lock up. If the race could, it would be nice to see additional bike storage brought in to encourage more bikers. There was also a gear check, but you couldn't check a bag. They had garbage bags to put your clothes in. Not a big deal, since I looked this up prior to race-day, but something that would have been good to email out the week before.

The announcer was calling pacers for the 15K to get into the corral. We waited a bit, probably a bit too long, and jumped in. The pacers were nowhere to be seen, and I had no idea where to line up. The corral also curved and there was 2 start lines so it was hard to tell if I was at the back or the front, which was pretty stressful. We started the race, and I was way too far back, I had to push through a ton of people the first mile or so. Def my fault for jumping into the corral so late, but also they could have done a better job marking the start.

The course was beautiful! It was hilly, and took you through an area of Portland I don't normally run through. There were a decent amount of volunteers and aid stations out there. I def wasn't used to grabbing a cup off the table (normally volunteers had them to me in previous races I've done), and I dropped most cups I tried to grab.

The finish was awesome! There was a huge post-race area with a live Irish band, free beer, free food. It was the first beautiful day in Portland in awhile too, which definitely helped the atmosphere.

Overall, I loved this race - great St. Patricks Day theme, great post-race celebration, and a really cheap registration price. There were a few hiccups or areas for improvements, but I'll def run this again!