Race 7 of 40 - Corktown 5k

Next up - the always a blast Corktown 5k. This is an annual race which takes place in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit and coincides with the annual Detroit St Patrick's Day Parade.

A bit of a history lesson - Corktown is Detroit's oldest neighborhood, founded mainly by Irish immigrants from the County of Cork. Corktown was also the home of old Tiger Stadium *sadness*

The Corktown race is really more just about dressing up and having fun than pretty much any other race. There is no possibilty of too many pieces of flair for Corktown! I ran with Ashleigh and Becky - we got dressed up in our St Patrick's Day best! Tiaras, beads, scarves, bow ties, you name it! Ashleigh and Becky both wore tu-tu's, I was Irish Wonder Woman. And I gotta say, as cool as Irish Wonder Woman is, I did have a little bit of tu-tu envy. So Wonder Woman and tu-tu girls completed the 5k and were rewarded with finishers' medals at the end. A finishers medal has got to the best swag there is!

Funny story - during the race, a random guy fell in step with me and said, "What do you think, Diana, should we team up?" At first, I just chuckled politely, wondering why the heck this guy was talking to me during a race, then I glanced over and saw he was wearing a Green Lantern shirt. So I yelled, "Wooooo Irish Justice League!!!" Then we fist bumped and he ran off. Turns out Irish Green Lantern is faster than Irish Wonder Woman. Who knew? Just further proof that runners are, for the most part, a very friendly bunch.

Corktown is definitely one of the bigger events; I didn't hear final numbers, but I know they were expecting roughly 10,000 participants!! That's crazy huge!  And with the St Patrick's Day parade following the race, the entire neighborhood becomes just a big party. So we met some friends at Nemo's and celebrated/recovered with a few pints of Guinness. All in all, a fantastic day! The weather was warmer, the sun was out, we ran a great race, got medals, had a blast. Not really much more to ask for!

This was the first of four race weekends in a row. This coming Sunday is the Shamrock n Roll in downtown Plymouth, my first 10k of the year. After that, the Run du Nain Rouge 5k in Detroit on March 24. Then the April Fool's 10k up in Clarkston on March 30. This will then complete my first quarter goal of 10 races. Now I just have to do this three more times! :)

THEN - the weekend after that is Tigers' Opening Day!!! Can't wait for that!!! There will be no races run during Tigers' Opening Weekend!

I have races the following three weekends, ending with the Let's Move Festival of Races, which will be my first half marathon of 2013. I'm REALLY excited (and nervous) about that one!