After signing up for this race twice before and not making it to the start line, I had some business to take care of this year! It wasn't the best timing with a 10 am flight to DC on Sunday morning, but I made it work. I took a nap from 5:00-9:30 on Saturday evening, ate an almond butter sandwich and a banana for dinner, and got to the park at 11:00 to run my first El Scorcho 25K (that's 15.5 miles) at midnight. My BFF, Stacy, was nice enough to come support me and suffer through some boredom. This was a 5K course, so I ran 5 loops while the folks crazy enough to run the 50K ran 10 loops. My original goal for this race was to run the whole distance, but I knew that was pretty unrealistic as the race drew nearer and my longest run was about 6.5 miles. After mile 7, I began to take walk breaks, and the walk breaks became longer and more frequent (as you can tell by my splits). I started off nice and easy and I actually didn't feel super fatigued. The biggest issue I encountered was acid reflux. I was a dummy and forgot to take some medicine beforehand. I was able to stomach one gel at the 10K mark, but that's all I could handle. At least that is an easy fix and a lesson I will remember for future races. Also I didn't have a running buddy, and I wish I had brought my iPod. Lastly, I would consider wearing a fuel belt next time. There were three water stations during the last mile of the loop, and I was thirsty during the first 2/3 of the loop and probably overcompensated once I got a hold of that sweet, sweet nectar... ice water!
Results:
Chip Time: 3:01:43
Gender Place: 64 of 160 (3:19:28 average)
Overall Place: 155 of 303
Hooray to Stacy for taking a good photo of me running (that takes talent!)
After I crossed the finish line and started laughing at my misery
Lucy modeling my medal
Mile splits from my Garmin:
Mile 1 - 10:12
Mile 2 - 10:05
Mile 3 - 10:32
Mile 4 - 10:14
Mile 5 - 10:27
Mile 6 - 10:54
Mile 7 - 10:43
Mile 8 - 11:22
Mile 9 - 11:48
Mile 10 - 11:39
Mile 11 - 12:44
Mile 12 - 13:09
Mile 13 - 13:18
Mile 14 - 13:58
Mile 15 - 14:13
Last 0.53 - 11:53 pace
