Bosque Boogie 10K Race Report

There were two local races being held today. One is a road race promising fast times, the other an off-road adventure promising scenic views. I chose the latter and signed up for the 10K distance. It's worth mentioning that I haven't run an official 10K in over two years. And I've never been good at figuring out how to pace myself for this distance, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

The race started behind a shopping center. We ran on road for a short distance. Then onto twisty single track for roughly 2 miles. The bulk of the remainder was on dirt levee road that was loose and uneven, but straight. It finished on a very short hard surface again.

Highlights: It *was* beautiful. And I had a few fans waiting for me near the turn around point. Husband surprised me by bringing the dogs out! I did stop for a moment to give him my long sleeve shirt so that I didn't have to run with it tied around my waist. That was helpful. And shortly afterwards, I found myself running with a lady who was keeping my same pace at that point. We started talking during the final mile and finished together.

I think this graph from my Garmin tells the pacing story better than simply looking at mile splits.

Three observations:

#1 - I started off too fast. I know better, but I did it anyway. I believe this is mainly due to my inexperience with this distance. I wasn't really sure what my 10K pace felt like.

#2 - The single track section was much more *difficult* than I imagined it would be. I enjoyed it for the first mile, then I was ready for it to be over. I definitely need to practice running on single track if I'm going to do more of these types of races.

#3 - Once we got out on the dirt levee road, I fell into a pace that I was able to (mostly) hold onto for the rest of the race. I'm pleased with that.

The official results have me at 1:03:15, 10:11 average pace. That's less than a minute off (aka slower than) my personal best 10K time which was a road race, so I am thrilled with this finish time given the race surface. I believe that I have a personal best 10K inside me just waiting for the perfect race to make itself known. ;-)

All in all, a great way to spend an autumn morning. I realize that I am truly blessed to be able to run right now. I hope whatever you all did this weekend was equally wonderful.

Edited to add - Official results are posted and I'm happy to see that I finished 11 of 23 F45-49. It is *nice* to be solidly middle of the pack these days. :-)