Labor Day Run Around

The Saturday of Labor Day weekend, I ran my yearly tune-up for Reach the Beach, the Charleston Distance Run. The 15-mile course is pretty flat and fast, save for the 1000+ foot climb in a little over a mile and the subsequent 1000+ foot descent in the next mile and half. With high 70 degrees and high humidity at race start time this year, it proved to be a pretty difficult 15 miles.

Nonetheless, I ran my pace and finished quite well, in 1 hour, 53 and half minutes - good enough for 61 place overall out of 550+ runners.

I ran a consistent 7:30 minute / mile for the first 3 miles, 7:40 for the fourth mile as that started the brutal climb up Capital Punishment Hill. From there, my pace fell off a bit on the uphill as expected. I crossed 7 miles on the downhill at 54 minutes and hit 8 miles crossing the bridge into the last flat 7 miles at 1 hour, 1 minute (7:38 pace).

I ran the next few miles pretty inconsistently - a 7 minute mile followed by an 8 minute mile followed by a few 7 and change miles. The heat - now well into the 90's, made it difficult to find a comfortable pace. With 2 miles left, I dropped down to 7:05 - 7:10 pace and finished strong.

Other than the oppressive heat, it didn't cause me any issues - I stayed hydrated taking water at every aid station and ate consistently. Recovery was pretty easy too - 6 miles the next morning with no issues.

I'm certainly ready for RTB, and a week later, the Vermont 50.