Race Log: Hotcake Hustle 10K

Deck the Trails may have been my first race, but the Hotcake Hustle 10K was my first real race. The Hotcake Hustle was much bigger (though all the racers still started at the same time) and it was a 10K instead of a 5K. I had run 6 miles before, but not often. It was chilly that morning, but not terrible for early January. The race was on the road and was a double loop of the 5K course, so at least you know what to expect the second go around. The second the gun fired and I crossed the start line, I pushed play on my running app and realized that I hadn't enabled GPS (shoot!!), so I ran the first .2 miles looking at my phone trying to get everything set up. My first two miles were faster than I was expecting, around an 8:45, and at that time that made me a little panicky, thinking that I would fizzle out by the end of the race. I tried to slow down but also let the hills get to me. There was a bridge in the middle of the course with a hill on each side and we ran it twice. My pace fluctuated from an 8:30 to a 9:45. I was all over the board and felt wiped out. My only goal for the race was to finish in less than one hour. I had never run a 10K before and thought that was a fair enough goal. I finished in 58:35 and was almost immediately disappointed. I felt like I could have run faster but was also having a lot of knee pain. I finished more than 3 minutes behind my friend, she came in 8th and I came in 17th out of 58 in my age bracket. At that time she and I had never run together because her speed intimidated me ; ) But I did it! First 10K under my belt and ready for more!