FWRC Labor Day 15K Run

I figured I would do an organized run and push myself to go a longer distance than I normally would.   I'm pretty sure the last time I did this race was back in 2003 when I was training for my first marathon.  My goal was to try to run the whole thing, and I estimated I would run about 10:15 pace. 


Garmin mileage: 13.45 miles
Garmin mile splits: 9:19, 9:38, 9:48, 9:57, 10:01, 10:18, 10:14, 10:10, 10:43, 9:48 pace on the last 0.45 miles
Official Time: 1:34:36
Place: 14th in the 30-34 age group


Obviously I went out a little too fast.  I was hurting after around mile 6, and the hurt kicked in even more at the 8-mile marker.  I'm happy that the splits on miles 7 and 8 were faster than mile 6, because that wasn't easy!  My brain kept trying to sweet talk me into a walk break, but my heart won out and I had some guts.  I ran the whole thing (minus a few walking steps during walk breaks so I wouldn't swallow a bunch of air).  This race was HOT and HUMID... but that's what I got for running a race in early September in Texas! 


The lesson I learned from El Scorcho was to take some medicine for my acid reflux.  I took a pill yesterday, one when Lucy woke me up at 4:30 this morning to eat breakfast, and another before I left for the run.  That worked out great, and my tummy and associated tummy parts cooperated.  I only ate an apple before the run and I had a gel around mile 4.  I was hungry for the gel, and I should have eaten a bit more.  I drank an SOS before the run, and I think the electrolytes help.  If I do this run again, I will probably bring my own water bottle, because the water stops weren't as frequent as I thought they would be.  But I LOVED the ice cold towels near the turn-around point (mile 6ish).  Those were heaven on earth. 


When GusGus saw that the medal was the size of a quarter, he screamed: