Gut Pak Run

Here’s the dealio – I love to run. I love the feeling of accomplishment I get when I step foot over that finish line and think “Damn, I actually did it.” But sometimes, you just need a little more than a finish line to uh, whet your appetite.

Like, I don’t know, maybe running a mile, stopping to power house chow down a Frito pie on steroids and then running that mile back to the finish line.

Lucky for me, I’ve found that something more…

Hello, Gut Pak Run!

 

Baylor’s Freshman Class Council & the Baylor Triathlon Club put this on with the benefits proceeding Mission Waco. I think this may be the second year they’ve put this on. I didn’t participate last year because I could barely walk a mile at this time without feeling as if my lungs were going to explode, so I certainly wasn’t going to upset my stomach too.

But this past year has been good to me running wise and I figured if I can run 13 miles, then surely I can do this. Right?

Seemed like sound logic at the time.

Anyway, I don’t mind doing races alone, but this seemed like something you do with a friend. So, I called up my recent go-to running partner, Sunny (who I’ve helped convince to train for a 10k – it wasn’t hard, she’s one of those super well-driven go-getter type of people) and she immediately said “Heck yes I want in!” God, love her.

Since, she clocks 9 minute miles & I sooo do not we talked about our plan of attack on the way to the race. We agreed to do the first mile on our own time, eat [which means, she was able to actually enjoy her Gut Pak whereas I devoured mine not wanting to slow us down anymore] and do the last mile back together. Because I knew it was just a mile to Vitek’s from Baylor Campus (I’m not belittling anyone by saying ‘just a mile’ am I? I only say that because it’s how I get through my long runs/half-marathons. It’s just a mile. It’s just a mile. It has no reflection on you, I promise. You’re a fucking badass. Truth.), I tried to push myself hard to get there as fast as I could. I knew I wouldn’t win, but like with all my races my goal is to just not be last.

I’m such a high-achiever.

 

I think my fastest mile this past year has been like 11:54 – so I’ll definitely take the 11:47 for avg pace in the first mile. Since we had to sit down and eat our food, it’s kind of off for mile 2 and then I forgot [again] to cut the watch off as I hit the finish line. Oops. But you get the point.

My official time was 29:21 with an average pace of 12:46 per the results website.

We didn’t get to witness anyone throwing up but I’m about 95% positive that I literally ran over someone’s puke about a quarter mile in on the way back to the finish line. Sunny & I were chatting, laughing, talking about how it was starting to hit us and then bam, I look down and my feet are running through an burnt orangey mixture, much like the color of a Frito pie.

I seriously considered taking a picture for a split second to blog, but my better senses got a hold of me and I held off.

You’re welcome.

Overall, this was a really fun race. There were families with kids, people who walked & fun costumes. I think the guy who won was wearing Superman clothes? And I’m pretty sure I saw a guy in a bacon costume with his buddy who was an egg.

It has cheap registration ($20 for the small gut pak) with a super cute finisher t-shirt. We had to get back to the kiddos so we didn’t stick around long after we finished but they had music & snacks at the finish line (not that we would have eaten the snacks, I mean, hell we just tore up some Gut Pak’s.) And as we crossed the finish line someone on a microphone called out our names. Cheesy, but it totally rocked the finish line for me.

So, friends, gear up and start preparing because I’ll definitely be recruiting friends for this next year!

Until we run again!