El Scorcho 25K

This run snuck up on me...I have been more absorbed in swimming and biking and just consistently running than running for mileage. I have been keeping my mileage up but hadn't run more than 13 since the Patriot half on Memorial day.  I had a couple of 10-11 mile runs, but every other run was pretty short.  So when I realized, while on vacation, that I had 10 days until I ran a 15.5 mile race and hadn't run in two weeks due to vacation Bible school and a trip to Yellowstone, I might have had a slight panic attack.

The run was a 25k (50K for the super crazy friends like Lesley :-) ) at midnight in July in Fort Worth, Texas. Which usually means a super hot race, luckily the weather gods were smiling upon us this year and it wasn't too bad.  I don't know the exact temperature at the race, but it certainly wasn't 100 degrees like it could have been!  Thank goodness.

We started Saturday off right by carpooling over to Fort Worth with me, DK, and Fiona and dropped by packet pick up, checked into our hotel, and grabbing a bite to eat.  After that we hung out in the cool hotel room and giggled like a bunch of school girls and were joined by Lisa and her friend Michelle and later, right before the race, Karen (another crazy 50K'er and her husband).

About 10 o'clock we all headed out the door with coolers, chairs, blankets, running gear, etc and trudged up and over the hill and the .25 mile to the race start.  It was so dark we were already using our headlamps to get to the race!  Off we went...

Got there and met all our friends who had already set up camp right past the finish line.  So we just laid our blanket down, set up the chairs, and broke out the glowsticks!

My glowstick halo...

We waited around and hung out will all the frunners that were there! It was awesome to get to see everyone and visit before the race.  That was my favorite part!

At 12:01 off went the 50k'ers and then at 12:11 off we went.  It was a 3.1 mile loop and we were going to have to do the loop  5 times.  That meant running through the finish line 5 times before being done. I wasn't sure how I would feel about that mentally.  It actually turned out well.  I liked knowing exactly where we were and how much further to the next rest stop, hill, crossing, etc.  

First loop was pretty uneventful except for some severe stomach cramps.  Pit stop at the porta potties at the finish line and I was good.  For my friend DK, that was not the case.  Her stomach was acting up all night.  Luckily, we found the porta potties that were mid course and made several pit stops and she was able to hammer through 15.5 miles of running while feeling crappy (no pun intended...okay, maybe it was, but still...) I was so impressed as I watched her push through.  If it were me I am afraid to say I might have called it a night after loop 2 of feeling like she did, but she was a trooper.  Overall, I felt okay. My legs started aching really bad about mid-race.  They felt like it was the morning after the race, when in actuality I had about 10 more miles to run!  Between the two of us though, we made our way through 4 loops and caught up with my friend Royce on loop 5.  He kept us laughing and distracted from what in the hell we were doing at 3 o'clock on a Saturday night in the middle of a Fort Worth park.  :-)  We crossed the finish line all 3 together! It was awesome!

After finishing, we stayed  and hung out with all our friends at the finish line and watching some of the 50k'ers come through on their multiple loops.  They all looked so strong!

About 5:30 or so, we headed back to the hotel and passed out!  No bed has ever felt so good as that one did when I collapsed into it and didn't move until about noon!  Thank goodness we got a late checkout!

Overall, it was a great race!  Lots of friends that were cheering, lots of friends that were running!  I am totally doing this again next year!  Now I know what to expect and will definitely have a better game plan that includes resting on the day of the race instead of cleaning house and running errands! :-)