Great Pumpkin Chase 10K 2010 6- Race Report

This morning I ran a 10K.  I didn't really think I'd do all that well.  My legs felt pretty good, but I was coughing like crazy.  My training doesn't start until Tuesday for this next cycle, but the 10K I did today was kind of a big deal.  It was the first 10k I did five years ago. I'd been trying to do it again since then, but something would always get in the way.

In 2005, when I did this one, I got to about 4 miles before I had to start taking walk breaks, alternated with jogging slowly.  I had to walk most of the last mile or so of the course, and it was warm, and everyone else was finished.  They'd already given out the awards, and people were leaving, while I was still out on the course.  I can't find the results from that race, but it was about 90 minutes into the race when Baboo came out to run in with me, for a finishing time somewhere close to 1:45 or so.

But that was 2005.  This is 2010.

So. This morning, I figured that I'd probably come in between there between 1:06 (my 10K PR) and 1:15.  I have a cough, and ran nearly 5 miles miles yesterday, and there was that thing I did last weekend.

This race is held in the valley in the Country Club neighborhood.  I love late fall and winter races, because they start later.  :-).  This one nearly starts at 9 am.  The guy that puts on this race is the same guy that does the Cherry Garcia race, and the Chunky Monkey race.

It's nearly perfectly flat except for a brief rise as you run up onto the bike path.  You run 2 miles through the neighborhood bordering Kit Carson Park, then out onto the Bosque bike path for an out-and-back, and then repeat the whole thing.

There's a 5k that takes off about 5 minutes later, so that everyone can have the wonderful experience of having fast runners blow by them at some point during the race.  Afterwards, there's a kid's K.  It's a good race.  Cool T-shirt.  Adorable kids in costumes running around, on a beautiful fall day.

I started out a 9am in crisp weather with a single hand-held bottle.  It was about 50 degrees, and I was wearing a long sleeve wicking shirt, a short sleeve wicking shirt over that, a pair of CW-X tights, and ran at what I felt was a reasonable pace.

I'm not lying about the flatness.

I looked down at my Garmin and saw that my pace was somewhere around 9:30.  "That won't last," I thought.  "No way I'm going to last more than a mile at this pace."

My first three miles were about 9:30 or so, and my last three miles were around 10:15 or so, because I was starting to cough more and wheeze a little.  No drama, nobody I was trying to pass, just a nice run on a beautiful day.

The only thing unusual that happened was that a woman I know, Tove, blew by me like I was standing still.  What made that so unusual is that Tove was running the 5K, which started 5 minutes after the 10K, and Tove is 60.  I so want to be like Tove when I'm 60.

I got a new PR! And if that wasn't enough, I was surprised to find out that I was 2nd in my age group.

Then afterwards, I tried not to throw up or pee from the force of the coughing fit I had when I stopped running.

Then, I ate some bread (why no pumpkin bread, I'm wondering.  Or pie?  I'm just sayin')  by one of the sponsors (Great Harvest Bread Co.,) and watched the kid's K.  They were adorable.

 All-in-all, a beautiful way to spend a beautiful fall Sunday morning.  

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