I started the road race season in Chicago today with many thousands of my running acquaintances – finishing the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8k race. This year marks my fifth time running the Shamrock Shuffle. Even though the run takes place every year a few weeks past St. Patrick’s Day, most people are still decked out in their best green running gear.

More than 23,000 runners finished the Shamrock Shuffle this year. I was in wave 2 for the race, which didn’t start until 9am. Best idea. I was freezing waiting for the race to start {it was 32 degrees this morning}, but warmed up quickly once we got going. For the elite runners, Alexi Pappas won the female title for the second year in a row, and Stephen Sambu the men’s title.

I took the race easy this year, as my mileage is still getting back to “normal” numbers after the winter season. I ran the race solo in 52:50 {coming in 13,550th place} and enjoyed my Spring music to keep the pace steady.

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After the race I stopped at Peet’s Coffee & Tea on Michigan Avenue for an almond milk latte {my absolute favorite}, then met up with K at Baker Miller in Lincoln Square for brunch. I don’t know what it is about Peet’s Coffee, but I’m obsessed. Their espresso is so smooth and flavorful.

I have mentioned Baker Miller on this blog before – it’s a bakery that only uses local whole grains, ground and milled by the proprietors. For the main dish, I had the vegan “meg” sandwich – cumin smoked carrots, harissa pecan sauce, collard greens, and avocado on sourdough bread. Even though K and I try to avoid sugar most of the time, we couldn’t resist a brunch dessert by sharing Baker Miller’s whole wheat cinnamon roll. SO good.

The rest of last week’s workouts included:

Tuesday, 3/29: Ran 4 miles
Thursday, 3/31: Ran 3.75 miles
Friday: 1 hour yoga class
Saturday: active rest – walked over 20,000 steps!
Sunday: Shamrock Shuffle 8k – 5 miles

Now it’s time to relax. For more on the Shamrock Shuffle, check out my 2015 race recap on the NBC Chicago Stride blog.

How was your weekend?