Lord Hill 10k Trail Race

After struggling against that challenging Seattle area competition in the Silver Lake 2-Mile Swim and Meet of the Miles Picnic (see below), I decide to find a small, local running race to assuage my ego.  I spot a Half-Marathon and 10k trail race at the nearby Lord Hill Regional Park.  After a bit of pondering I choose the 10k, figuring a half-marathon is a bit far in my new trail shoes and on my 50-kilometers per week of training (and the half-marathon costs $10 more).  

Both distances start together and for the first 4k I find myself in a pack of four guys with a college kid out ahead of us..  The new trail shoes feel great - I run the steep rocky downhill sections much more aggressively - lifting my elbows and leaning forward.  Still I find myself laboring on the up-hills, and stressing at the thought that to be competitive I really need to get around the 4 guys when the trail widens and go after the college kid.  

  

Then, to my amazement, at the 4k mark every other runner around me splits off to do the half-marathon.  I am totally and completely alone in first place.  If I was in a more competitive mood I would have been disappointed (or perhaps even ignored my event registration decision and gone after the other 5 runners).  But at this moment I was just delighted.  I felt burst of energy and surged along a mostly smooth flat stretch of trail to an aid station turn-around at 6k.  On this short out-and-back I could see I had a good 2-minute lead over second place.  When I begin to tire on some brutal roller coaster terrain over the last third of the course I repeatedly twist my head to see if there is anyone closing in on me.  I don't see any one and think "Oh good, I can slow down - who cares about my time as long as I win".

I win the race by 3 minutes.  I cover the hilly trail course in 45:20.  I even win some nice Rudy Project sunglasses.

The top half-marathon guys come in around 1:45.  I try to talk to them and ask them how their races played out.  But they see me with all my prizes and glory and adoring fans and they walk away, their faces contorted with scorn, contempt, and jealousy.   It is somewhat understandable that they look down on us pedestrian runners who only completed 10 kilometers.  As for me, I find myself extrapolating my 10k pace and wondering how I would have finished if I had run the half-marathon.