Wild Hare 10K Race Report
11/20/2010
Warda, Texas

Short version:
I had a lot of fun running all out at the race. I tried to keep up with Elizabeth Comer (who's faster than I am) on the first half of the race, passed her at the aid station where she stopped to get her cramps worked on, and then pushed hard the last two miles into a finish at 54 minutes. I had no idea what place I was in in the race because we were in with 25K runners from the beginning, but when I finished, Joe congratulated me on pushing hard and then handed me the third place award (a little ant). I was pretty thrilled! Elizabeth won the women's race, and for the last mile, I was pushing really hard to stay ahead of her - I finished only ten seconds ahead!

Lead up to the race:

I kept my plans for the Wild Hare race in Warda a little close, not telling too many people I was planning on racing the 10K on Saturday. Most of my Austin trail running friends were in the 25K, 50K, or 50 mile races - usually Joe Prusatis and Tejas Trails doesn't put on very many short distance trail races. I'd just done the Rockledge Rumble 50K the weekend before, and Cheri was doing the 50 mile race, so I didn't want to any of the longer distances.

This would be the fourth 10K I'd entered in the last three months - the Capt Karls SHOE 10K trail race (1:03), Country Roads 10K in San Marcos (road) (0:54), Sea World 10K in San Antonio (road) (0:52) were my other three. So I've been taking my times in the 10K down as I work on speed and running strong. I had hopes of beating an hour in the Wild Hare 10K - I pushed hard at the Bend, but that was probably a tougher course, and I was undertrained for speed.

The day before the race, I was out marking the course with Joe, Guy, and Ryan, so I got to see exactly what the 10K would be doing, where the landmarks are, and where the turns were. I'd run and marked course before at Warda, and I really know the course pretty well. Ultra runners being what they are, they asked me if I had my drop bags ready for the 10K and if I was worried about the cut-off :)