On March 29th, in what might be described as an epic day for a "springtime" run in Chicago, Team DMC once again braved the elements for the 2009 Shamrock Shuffle, an 8K run in the city of Chicago with a course that weaves its way through downtown Chicago, starting and finishing in Grant Park.
Although there was a ton of excitement over who would be the top finisher (it was Emmanuel Korir of Lansing, MI who finished with a time of 24:18) there were two other contests that were much more widely followed (at least by the people of DMC):
- The real Corporate Challenge - Team DMC vs. Team Maddock Douglas - the engineers vs. the marketeers, the geeks vs. the creatives, the (oh, shoot, I'm not creative but otherwise I'd be able to come up with another one.) Well, both teams put on a valiant effort but Team DMC eeked out a win with an average time for our top 5 finishers of 41:37 vs. 49:45 for Maddock Douglas. We look forward to the pizza & beer party they owe us and also to a rematch.
- The main event - Mustache Mania. Nick Shea vs. Frank Riordan, the loser has to grow a mustache and keep it for 1 week. Although Nick is almost 12 years younger and at least 30 pounds lighter than I am, I figured with a little extra training as well as some legal pre-race doping (Frappuccino, Aleve and Red Bull) that I would prevail. And I almost did - my time was 42:08 vs. Nick's time of 41:45 - only off by 4.7 seconds/mile. There's always next time and I've heard that mustaches are making a comeback.
The picture below should be worth at least several hundred words.
For the record, the official Team DMC Times:
Jesse Batsche - 34:49
Eric Nielsen - 39:59
Nick Shea - 41:45
Cesar Pena - 41:59
Frank Riordan - 42:08
Kristie Simon - 42:16
Tim Jager - 45:09
Dan Freve - 48:11
Also, Jody Koplo participated without a race chip (and, for part of the race, to the delight of the ladies, without a shirt) and, even though he had to valet park the car he still unofficially finished with a respectable time.
Explore other fun stuff going on at DMC.