Almost another perfect day for a spring race made for a pretty good race for me.  According to my race plan I was hoping to finish in 1:08 which would have been quite excellent.  I actually passed the halfway mark in 34 minutes (and change) but knew I was struggling so it was going to be tough.

I arrived pretty early and got my bib number and start time.  The first runners left the starting line at 8:30 and then every one else’s time was handicapped off of it in 1 minute intervals.  Based on their projections I started at 9:30 with the last runner starting before 9:40.  This gave me WAY too much time to sit around before the race started.  It is a low-key race but I still got pre-race nerves.  Not an ideal race if you have alot of anxiety.  I “gave” my wife the morning off so I didn’t really have anyone to talk with or to take wonderful pictures of me!

As I mentioned due to a bridge being redone on the Luce Line trail the traditional out and back course was modified.  They made up all of the missing miles at the beginning which was appreciated.  Though they added 3 180 degree turns which wasn’t cool.  They are planning on this only being a 1 year diversion so let’s hope that the construction stays on pace!

The Luce Line is a great place for a race because it is a limestone covered dirt trail (according to the DNR).  There is some shade off and on along the course and it is more scenic than many road races.  The course included 2 water stations which made for a total of 4 potential water stops (although the 4th was about 1/2 mile from the finish).  I took water 2x’s.  I maybe should have taken some more since it was sunny and a little warmer than we were used to mid-40’s.   The weather actually made for some difficult clothing decisions.  I didn’t pack 9 different choices like Joe but I had 3 shirt options to wear – long sleeve, short sleeve, or singlet.  I had trouble deciding and ended up wearing the short sleeve over the singlet.  This was a decent choice given some slight winds.

I was a little surprised by the elevation chart that my Garmin produced.  It resulted in a net elevation loss and most of the “hills” seemed like long slow grades not the sharper grades on the chart.  But it is close enough!  You can tell there are some inaccuracies because the elevation chart should be like a mirror.  This year’s turnaround point was at mile 6 so it should be a mirror on either side and it obviously isn’t. Hmmm.

In some sense the slow grades are harder than short quick hills.  They wear more on the quads.  I was impressed by the overall accuracy of the course measurement – especially given the changes this year.  My Garmin produced a 10.03 mile race which may be one of the closest measurements I’ve seen.

A few things of note during the race. Three of us started at my time and we went out a little quick but I stayed with them for the first 2 miles and never saw either of them again.  I “caught” the first runner between 4 and 5 miles and got passed for the first time at 6 miles.  I cramped up a little bit around mile 5 and it eventually went away.  I don’t really remember where the water stops were mileage wise but it seemed pretty reasonable.  By miles 7 and 8 I was starting to pass more participants which was a pretty nice feeling.  I tried to keep pushing the pace in the late miles – but wasn’t overly successful with that endeavor.

Here are my splits according to the marked miles:
6:48
6:42
6:44
6:59
7:10
7:07
7:20
7:07
7:22
7:06

Based on the results posted at Raceberry Jam I was 15th overall, 12th male, 2nd in my age division and an official finish time of 1:10:31.

For $5 you couldn’t have asked for a much better race. I would be willing to pay a few bucks extra to use a timing chip and potentially save the race director some post-race headaches, including faster post-race awards.

[tags] Fred  Kurz, 10 mile, Race Review, Wayzata [/tags]