The Maze - 10K

This morning I walked my first ever trail event - the Maze 10K organized by a group called Rogue Running. They had it at a beautiful park in North Austin (which is you know, like driving up to Dallas). I woke up at 5:45, had my customary pre-race breakfast- a banana and a cup of warm milk, and I took the extra time to add a pinch of turmeric to my warm milk, which is the ancient Indian secret to fighting throat infections (I've been sick since Tuesday evening). I fed the dogs early and left home at 6:15 to get packet pickup in order.

When I reached the Walnut Creek park, it was chill! I picked up my packet and decided to wait in my car for the remaining 45 mins till the start of the 10K race. At 7:15, I made my last potty stop and lined up at the back of the line. I jogged the first 1/2 mile or so because I was worried I would get left behind and lost if I walked. But once I saw how well the trail was marked, I fell to my usual walking pace, only jogging down downhills to prevent my head from over thinking the chances of falling.

The trail had three creek crossings out of which my shoes were soaked in the first one, unharmed in the second, and had wet spots after the third. From mile 4 to somewhere around mile 5, I played tag with one man who was doing run/walk intervals. He commented I was doing pretty well (since I was laughing and chatting every time we passed) and when I said "thank you" and walked on, he said "Well, thank you for being a good rabbit - I've been following your pace so far". Hey - maybe there is a job open for a 15:00 pacer. I finished the race (I use that term loosely since I wasn't racing) in 1 hour and 30 minutes, coming in barely under a 15 minute mile. My road pace was 14:14 for the half marathon, so this slowdown was expected, and in fact less embarrassing than I anticipated :)

It was a beautiful trail with wildflowers still in bloom. Cool weather. No crazy lines at porta-potties. And I  carried all the water I needed. Finishing this event made me wish I hadn't canceled my plans of doing a trail half-marathon two weeks from now. If I had kept with the plan despite losing training partners, I could have had 2 more hours of trail fun.

These NB shoes held up well and gave me enough traction when wet, but stayed light enough that it didn't matter they were wet. The sole is marginally thicker than my Merrel's, but it was a good fit for this trail.

The front facing camera of the iPhone really sucks, but here I am, with my post-race cheerful face. I kept noticing how upbeat I was all the time. Walking makes me happy.

The rest of the day has been mellow. I walked the dogs right after a post-race breakfast, showered, tried to nap and ended up reading instead.