Another place that I have been to before. My friends and I first heard about this on our bike lap around the city. We were in Smiths pub that’s up in Gastown (would like to do a run there in the future) and we asked the bartender to recommend another Irish Pub and he said to go to the Shamrock, which is the other side of the island by English Bay. After that visit I decided I had to do a run there given it is also right near Stanley Park, so here we are.
The Run
The run was on the shorter side, as I was trying to churn out a few since I was only going to be up in Vancouver for two days this time. Didn’t quite get enough room to get in the groove of really enjoying the run, which I have found for me the runners high tend to hit around mile 3 where I can feel like I can just go forever. Anything under that is a bit of a battle. I ran along the beach starting just before the Burrard Bridge, down along the water all the way dipping in to Stanley Park and looping back around to the front door of the Shamrock. It ended up being exactly 2 miles, with a total time of 20:26, so the average pace was actually on the slower side, especially for such a short run. Clocking in at a 10:13 mile. Also, only 29 feet of elevation gain. Weather was brilliant though so no complaints there.
The Pub
The bar is great, having been there already I knew that going in though. The outside is very unassuming, it looks a bit run-down and wouldn’t really catch my eye as a place to go without having had the recommendation. The inside is incredible though, very cool décor with very traditional Irish pub feeling decorations lining the walls. I always really like the street signs from all over Ireland. The first time I went was on a Sunday, and apparently, they have a thing that is known around town as “Shamrock Sunday” where the place is pretty popping. They also have a live band playing Irish music often, which has people up and dancing their own jig, which is quite entertaining. It had me tapping my foot a bit under the table. Nodding my head a little too. Clapping every so often. Like just about every Irish pub in Vancouver, they have Murphys on tap as well, which I love every time as I have never seen it in Seattle. The bartender was also pumped to pour us baby Guinness shots which is always fun. Overall, the environment in here is great and in a very cool location, right by the popular beach at English Bay which is an area I really like. Great place for a pint of Guinness or Murphys.
So, the two of these together is a bit tricky cause the run was a fairly unsuccessful one and the pub is up there in my mind’s rankings, but that’s the nature of the business.
RATING: 7.4