First of all, I forgot my watch. What kind of rookie runner forgets their watch? Consequently, I do not have mile splits to regale you with on this occasion. I was glad to see a nice big digital clock at the finish line so I could see my time.
This run did not start until 9 a.m. It was very obvious at 8 a.m. that a 9 a.m. start time was going to be to late. It was already plenty warm by 8 a.m. I would have preferred an 8 a.m. start personally. I am not sure why they scheduled such a late start.
Before the race started there was a group of Native Americans singing and then one of them gave blessing on the race. The blessing appeared to consist of a burning substance in some sort of sea shell or conch, producing smoke, held by a tribe member. Then with a feather he motioned to the smoke in the four cardinal points of the compass. No verbal words were spoken at that time.
The first mile or so was all up hill and I knew that most of the people in front of me started out way, way to fast, as is typical for running neophytes. I did my best to be patient and reminded myself that most of them would come back to me. A few of them actually kept up the pace into the second mile which surprised me. After the second mile though they were dropping like flies. It was a very beautiful area to run in, although the title "trail run" is a little misleading. I would describe it more as a ranch road or a dirt road. At no point did we run on an actual trail.
My goal was to negative split. So, for the first three miles I did not push the pace to hard. I just tried to maintain a good steady pace without tiring myself out. At mile three I tried to pick it up a little bit and in the next mile I was able to pass a group of about four or so that I had been working on for the last two miles. They were all spread about be about 15-25 yards. As I passed each one I made some comment or another as is customary. "Looking good Mr. Loco" I said to one, because his shirt had the word loco on it. "You are doing great beard man" I said to another as I passed him. He looked younger and like he had spent a long time growing his beard out that I am sure he was proud of. As we were going uphill I said to one guy, "we just passed the 3 mile mark so it's all down here from here right?" These comments serve various purposes. It lightens the mood and builds camaraderie. There is also a pscychological gamesmanship undertone to them. If some guy comes up behind you and is all happy and chipper, and you are struggling to keep his pace, he has the mental edge on you. If you can match his demeanor and his pace then you are right there with him/her mentally and that pass they are trying to complete won't be so easy. I also tried to make my comments vociferous so that the person in front knew I was coming. They knew they were next to get passed.
Right after mile four I caught sight of a male and female runner with matching red shirts on up ahead of me. I was not sure if I had it in me to catch them or not. The female was taking long bouncy steps like steps like she was not a true runner. Maybe and aerobics or yoga instructor or something out for a weekend run to diversify the training a tad. Not the shorter more efficient gait of a true distance runner. They were both keeping a good pace though. I was at the top of a hill and they were at the bottom and the male runner of the pair turned around to wave at me. I waved at him just as a joke thinking he was waving to someone else. Then he motioned down to the road and yelled that there was a snake there. As I approached his location I expected to see nothing as the snake should have been in the grass by now. However I did see what he was talking about. It was a rattle snake coiled up in the middle of the road. I grabbed a big rock to throw at its head. At the last second, I thought that there might be some city folk in the race that would turn me in for animal cruelty or something for killing a snake, so I just threw it right next to its head. It did not move or make a sound, so I think someone ahead of me killed it. Just to be safe I waved and yelled to the people behind me about the snake.
I would go back and forth about passing the red t-shirt couple. "I can do it" and then "it is to hard, I don't want to put myself through the paid to catch and pass them." And then, "just keep up this pace and see if it gets me any closer" etc etc etc. On the uphills I tried to swing my arms a lot to try and help my legs and on the downhills I would open up my stride and let the hill take me. I was difficult but my pace was slowly reeling them in. Eventually I was able to pass them at about mile five and three quarters or so. I was desperately looking for that sixth mile marker because I was getting completely worn out. The last point 2 of the 6.2 miles was a very steep up hill with about 30 meters of down hill. I finished in 47.19 for an average of 7.37 minutes per mile pace. I was first in my age group and 8th place overall. I was surprise at the comparison of 8th overall and 1st in age group because normally my age group is the most competetive and has the most entrants. I met my goal have having a pace less than 8 minutes per mile, and it was fun to run a 10K and one not on city streets. I would like to do some more trails runs.
Below are pictures of the front and back of the age group medal and then the finishers medal.
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