Last weekend, I ran my 2nd even formal 10k - the Race for Open Space trail 10k. My husband also decided to run this one, his first!, and I was excited to have another fun running experience together. We were both interested to see just how much of a 'trail' path this was going to be. Luckily, it was a good mix of a variety of terrains - including sidewalk! haha - so it worked well.
The Race also had a 5k and a Half race. The Half started at 7:30am that morning, while the 5k and 10k started together at 8am. We got there just before 7:30am as we still needed to get our bibs (it was my first time not picking up my bib in advanced, but luckily it wasn't as stressful as I thought) and saw the start of the Half. It was a great morning for a race, as it was a little cool, but with the sun coming up the high was due in the 70s. I went back and forth about wearing long sleeves, but am happy I kept it to my tank.
After we got our bibs and goodie back we walked back to our car to put our goodies away and attach our bibs. We got to the starting line about 10 minutes before the start time, and just mingled until the announcer started making some comments. Apparently last year it snowed for the race (oh Colorado) so they were pleased it didn't scare people from coming back this year. We were off pretty much on time and away we went!
The hubs and I were running our own races, so while we were together for a few minutes I eventually fell behind him and could see him for quite awhile as I went at my own pace. The trails weren't overly crowded, and for the most part it was a very serene and pretty run.
They had the 10kers run out farther, so shortly after mile 1 we split up from the 5kers. We ultimately had a turn around at 2.5 miles and then went back on the 5k trail to head to the finish. For the first 3/3.5 miles I stayed pretty much with the same crew of people while I was run/walking others were either keeping a steady slow pace or were in the same boat as me. At the turn around I did pass the hubs and we gave a wave to each other haha it was cute. I should also note they had quite a few water/Gatorade stops at the first few mile markers (1 which was used both ways).
Once I kinda fell behind the crew I was with I started really running my own race as the runners were really spread out at this point. It was a majorly large race (compared to the last 10k I ran) so it was a smaller pool of people, and obviously the 5kers were already quite head of me. If it weren't for my Garmin, I would've missed some of the mile markers as they um weren't there. lol I was also now getting PASSED by half marathoners who were already on their way back to the finish line as well - yikes! Well, good for them, not so great for my slow ass. ;)
There was quite a large hill to climb back up from (which was all downhill on mile 1) and I walked quite a bit up that, just because. At the top of that though, I HAD to stop to snap a pic of the prairie dogs! I couldn't believe it! So that slowed me down too. ;)
I was kind of confused about where the actual finish was - I ran back past where we started and we were continue back down that road, and eventually veered back off that road, but I was so disoriented in terms of where I thought we were going to finish. This cause me to have a rough last mileish, because I hate not knowing where I'm going. The last half mile was quite quaint though, as it was along water and shaded and if I wasn't so focused to finish I would've snapped some pics.
When I finally crossed that finish line, I didn't have the time I wanted but I did end up PRing with an official time of 1:16:35.
Considering my lack of training going into this, the fact that I beat my time from last Fall (even if just by a smidge) was great. It's not the 10 minute mile I was hoping for (ha!) but considering my impromptu walk/run intervals, I remained pretty consistent.
The hubs crushed it with an official time of 1:07:58! I couldn't be prouder! Hopefully I can get there eventually...my lungs just really struggle here. I'm hoping to run a sea level 10k at some point for my Dopey Challenge corral placement to give me some time of a leg up.
Overall, I would definitely run this race again. This run is actually part of a race series, which I may consider doing next year. The hubs, however, has decided he will now only run races were he gets a finisher medal (who is he!? lol) as for this race you only received a medal if you ran the Half or placed in your age group...so I don't know if he'll do it again except for the half. haha
What are your thoughts on finisher medals?
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