Fort Worth Labor Day 15K Race Report.

FORT WORTH LABOR DAY RUN, 15K

Time: 1:07:53
Pace: 7:15
Place; 41st overall (286 men)
Age: 6th in my age group (out of 48 men)

I sort of planned this trip at the last minute (two weeks ago) because my parents were having a Labor Day get-together on Sunday and all my old friends from Fort Worth were having a party Saturday and running the annual Labor Day run on Monday.

I debated whether or not to run the race at all. My legs were still kind of achy from Saturday's 24-miler and I wanted them to be ready for Tuesday's speedwork at the track back in Austin. The Fort Worth Race is a 5k with a 15k companion. Most of the participants run the 5K.

I figured if I'd run, I'd run the 15k - I'd try to kill a 5K in race conditions, but I figured I could use the 15K as a way to get the mileage in.

Of course, I almost didn't make it to the race. I ate barbque and drank beer at my parents until 10 then stayed up at my brother's house playing pool until after midnight. When my alarm went off at 5:30, I turned it off and only awoke again an hour later because a friend texted me wondering about parking at the race.

Eeeesh. It was 6:30. The race started at 7:30. I hadnt got dressed. I hadnt gone to the bathroom. I hadnt eaten any breakfast. Well, I made time for 1 and 2, but eating would have to wait until after the race. I hopped in my car and sped during the entire 35-minute drive from Cedar Hill to Fort Worth, lining up just as they began the National Anthem.

Didn't know how my legs would feel so decided to use the first mile as a warm-up, then run each mile some 15 to 20 seconds slower than my 10k pace. There were times during the first half of the race, after my legs had warmed up, that I'd look at my Garmin and see that I was averaging sub 7-minute-mile for a particular mile. I knew that was too fast, so I forced myself to slow down. Slow down. Slow down. Slow down. That's what I kept saying to myself. I didn't want to over-tax myself and didn't want to have to work too hard at the end.

I didn't want to do any kind of running that would make me breath hard.

There were a few little rolling hills, but nothing like Austin. So, I was pretty much able to keep the same pace the entire time after the first mile. (I was also slower than pace on Mile 7 because that mile included water and hills.

Here are the splits. (Yes, it was a PR, but that's because I hadn't run a 15K since the summer of 2005).

1 - 7:30
2 - 7:11
3 - 7:12
4 - 7:07
5 - 7:16
6 - 7:08
7 - 7:29
8 - 7:05
9 - 7:12
.4 - 2:38

I'm happy about the time I ran despite having dead legs. And the good thing is: I am not going to do the speedwork with Team Rogue Tuesday morning. I'll go off on my own and do a 6 to 8 mile recovery run.