If it’s not Scottish it’s crap.

I’m too sexy for this kilt. Too sexy for this kilt. Too sexy…

March 16th the eve of St. Patrick’s Day where fools become Irish and the Irish become annoyed. Even though I am not Irish, but love to run I had circled St. Malachi race on the calendar at the beginning of the year as one I had to run. I’ve heard it was a fun race and frankly a post run beer opportunity is something I don’t want to miss. A few weeks before the race in another one of those fun light bulb moments I thought wouldn’t it be fun to wear a kilt. I quickly began to search for a kilt especially one that would be light in material and not traditional wool. They are expensive! Luckily there’s eBay which is where I found a light fabric model that was easy on the wallet. I had even investigated in sewing one with tartan print tech fabric, but time was running out. I was set. I got my kilt. I just wanted to have fun and just get some laughs.

While the course is not my favorite it’s still quite scenic to be running through downtown over the mighty Cuyahoga and up to the lakefront around Browns Stadium. The hill along Browns Stadium is rough and this from a guy that loves hills. I train on lots of hills all of the time, but this hill just gets my goat for whatever reason. The weather report leading up to race day did not look very promising. Waking up and looking outside it certainly lived up to the report even though I did not expect as much snow that was on the ground. It was big flakes. Got the kilt on and headed out the door. It was snowing hard. Temperature wasn’t too bad. I took the train downtown so I could get a mile warmup run in to St. Malachi Church. I was also running with friend from the Cleveland Running Co. group which also took the train. Usually heading towards downtown the snow lightens up and is completely different than the east side. It got heavier this time. It was crazy. Running across the Superior Bridge was the omen of how crappy the course would be. It was a slushy slick mess. The snow stopped and then sleet came. Then rain. Then little hail like pellets. Then snow again. Some form of moisture just kept coming down. It was crazy.

Wearing the kilt was fun. I wasn’t cold too much because the wind wasn’t bad at all. I got lots of stares and laughs from other that were just as festive in their attire, but there was only one other gent wearing a kilt. Odd. His was a true wool Scottish kilt which was great. The 5 Hour Energy people had a booth and requested a picture which I gladly obliged. There were a lot of people. Lots. I was looking forward to meeting people, but it was difficult to navigate through the crowds who were all trying to seek shelter pre-race.

There were 2 races, a 2 miler and the 5 miler which I competed in. The race was to start at 9:45 and began with a bagpiper. Nice touch. It took awhile to get moving and the roads were one sloppy slushy mess. You were soaked immediately. The worst part was the turnaround lane through Burke Lakefront Airport. It never got salted and was just a mess. My feet were so wet and cold, but I moved on. Once you got through the turnaround it was great to see all of the people behind you. There were 3,310 runners to be exact. What a turnout. My final climb up the Superior Bridge was strong which was part of the last half mile. I turned it up thanks to hill training me thinks. I passed at least 10 runners on the last stretch. It felt great, but with how wet and cold I was happy it was over. I claimed another PR for 5 mile race. I improved by 3 minutes over my previous 5 miler. Very satisfied with the results. Hope this is a precursor to the upcoming 25k in May.

Afterwards headed to the bars close by for a pint (or two) and yes still wearing the kilt. Overall a great day.

The full 2013 St. Malachi Race Results.

The 5 mile course.

Photos from the race (Facebook).