Oktoberfest 10K race

Fabulous race. The start was above a park so I did a few laps to warm up. It was definitely cold this morning. Frost on the ground and the sun not up yet at the start....brrr..

There were about 200 total runners. I saw a collection of various marathon and relay shirts. A few in the crowd were part of a 10K training group while others were experienced and had on their "game face". It looked to be a great race. I saw a few people in the race that were familiar and chatted with a couple that run on occasion with the Saturday group.

The first couple miles of the course were relatively flat with a slight downhill from miles 3 to 4.5 and then an incline the last mile and a half. The course ended in the park which had an extremely steep entrance.

My pace stayed pretty true between 7:30 and 7:15 pace throughout the whole course. By mile 5 I knew a PR was in sight. I just got to keep moving and give a little push at the end.

The first couple miles my hands were really cold and then my arms got cold. At mile 3 the sun got over the mountains and the houses and really warmed the area up. I debated wearing my jacket and I'm glad I chose to leave it at the start or I would have been too hot.

I finished the course in 45:39 which is more than 4 minutes faster than the 10K I ran in March. I must be doing something right to shave almost a minute off my pace. Alas, no raffle prize, but a medal and bragging rights. 1st in Age group, 15th overall.