2,000 runners start St. Patrick's Day early at Shamrock 5K in Arlington Heights

Wearing green costumes and workout attire, nearly 2,000 runners started their St. Patrick's Day festivities a week early Saturday with the Shamrock 5K Beer Run in downtown Arlington Heights.

The annual run/walk featured five stops - one at each kilometer - where runners could fuel up with a 3 oz. cup of beer. Participants started their day drinking beer at Peggy Kinnane's Irish Pub before running the course around the downtown area.