What a race. El Scorcho is an Ultra event in Fort Worth with 25K & 50K options that is run at midnight, I obviously chose the 25K. The race is all run in Trinity Park and consists of running loops that each measure 3.1 miles. I have had a stinky week. I traveled Tuesday - Thursday and had major stomach issues that didn't resolve until Friday and a headache that was on the verge of a migrain that would not go away and bothered me right up until the start of the race. I am sure both are stress related and while I really had zero expectations going into this race, I did have the following goals: 1. Have fun - I hate racing and I am really needing to learn to enjoy it 2. Stay positive - this was my downfall in Houston and I in looking back, did most of 2011 so I wanted to mentally be strong. 3. Run Progressive Splits - hopefully stay in the MP range. Right before the race started, I felt miserable - tired, hot, nauseated...but the gun went off and so did we. I ran this focusing on the loops, not the miles and the first half of the first loop was terrible. My calfs cramped, we had to run some on grass - you name it, I was miserable. At this point, I knew I would be seeing Jay and I needed to get my act together if I was going to survive. I started running half of each loop for members of my family and this helped and made it much more enjoyable. I also thought a lot about Dean Bullock and his battle and the courage I know he is fighting with and my Dad who battled cancer and how strong he is. I felt stronger and stronger as each loop went on, but never got any faster and MP was not happening. Did I hold back to much - maybe, but I also know I ran hard and had to fight along the way. Splits: 8:59, 8:36, 8:36 8:41, 8:36, 8:33 8:31, 8:22, 8:26 8:29, 8:26, 8:32, 8:33, 8:28, 8;28, 8:32 , last .5 7:48 I ended up finishing in the top 10 female finishers overall, which made me pretty dang happy. I finished about 20 min slower than the winner and 10 min slower than Wendy, who I run with at the store and this puts it in a little more perspective regarding time - They are both very fast, so while I couldn't get my pace where I wanted it - I am not sure it was realistic. It was very eye opening to how much work I have to do to get ready for MCM in October. Time to get busy.
| 