I ran the Monster Mash 10k at the Sam Houston Race Park in Houston on 10/6.

Short version:

It was freakin' cold for Houston and raining.

First 10k ever.

1:13:31

11:51 min per mile pace.

Long version:

If was freakin' cold for Houston and raining.  Seriously, it was the coldest weather we'd had yet and a little colder than normal for early Oct.  This was actually awesome!!!  It was about 50 degrees.  It was very windy because a storm was getting ready to hit, luckily, one without lightning.

I ran as a zombie with some other running friends that I've made since joining the running club here in Cypress.  Running with others has helped me more than anything else I ever could have done!  I planned for it to be a fun run and hopefully not too slow.  I was hoping I'd be somewhere down around 12:00 mm pace.

It was help at Sam Houston Race Park (the horse race track) and some nearby streets.  The 5k went around the track and then around one big block.  The 10k went further down to another street and back.  The 15k did the 10k loop twice (because it didn't do the track part but once).  The 1st 1.6 miles were on the actual horse race track.  ICK!!!!  Running on somewhat packed sand in a huge headwind (think some blowing sand!) is not easy!!!  Although it was a first effort 10k for me and much faster than I had expected, it certainly wasn't a PR course with that sand.  Around that track I go feeling like my feet were lead.  My first mile at 12:13 was my slowest mile as could be expected on the sand.  I was only a little faster on mile 2 and then the rain came!  It was coming down pretty hard.  I noticed that I was still over 12:00 mm and decided I needed to pick it up a little.  The rain helped with that.  The faster I run, the faster I'll be warm and dry!

I kicked it in (well, if you can say that a 12 mm pace is kicking it in...but considering I only first ran 5 miles in an hour in August, for me...it's kicking it in!) a little more every mile.  I ran mile 5 at 11:30 and mile 6 at 11:23.  During the last mile and the .2 there were a few people I actually passed and kept from passing me back.  I even "old chicked" a couple of guys.  They may have even been slightly younger than me.  Yay!!!  Go me!!!  I've not run many races and not sure that I ever passed anyone before.  That was pretty exciting for me!  I finished the last little .2 at 2:02 or a kicked in pace of 10:10!!!  Who knew?!?!?!  I think it was the cold rain, but maybe those Mondays at the track had something to do with it.    The race was fantastic and lots of fun!  I obviously could have been faster and need to learn how to trust myself a little more and start a little faster.  This is a recurring theme with me...the lack of confidence that I actually can do it and the fear that if I start too fast I won't be able to finish.  But I'm learning!

Now the not so good part of the race...It wasn't a cheap race.  I think it was $55 or $60 for the 10k including my registration being the Monday before the race.  I knew there was a possibility I might not get a shirt, but the website made it sound like there was a really good chance that I would.  Well, they ordered NO extras at all and all the 5k people finished first and took them.  The food was extremely cheap.  It was half a banana, a bagel, or a grocery store packaged muffin and a coke or Gatorade.  They also had a duathalon and a kid's mile run and a kid's duathalon.  They ran out of medals for the kid's duathalon.  Only the duathalons and the 15k were supposed to get medals.  Many of the 15k people said their medals broke.

So...great race for me!  I had fun and the rain probably helped me be faster.  But for the money, I'll probably pick another race next year.

Congrats on your first 10k! It sounds like you did it exactly right for your first. Passing people is the best! Sounds like the race was poorly organized though, that stinks.

sounds like you had some fun and ran a good race even with the bad weather and organization....congrats!

Congrats on your first 10K!

You paced yourself really well, you got to pass people at the end, and hey, it's an automatic PR since it's your first 10K, right?

I agree that you probably could have started a little faster, but sometimes you have to do quite a few races before you really 'get' what 5K effort feels like, what 10K effort feels like, etc... But now that you've done one it's great experience for next time!

Congrats on running your first 10k.  The weather was not great, but you hung in there.  Nice job kicking past the youngsters at the end.

If it was my first race and I knew it was going to rain, I probably would have stayed in bed. Hats off to you, well done, and the rest will be that much easier!

Thanks for the comments.  And Jack...it wasn't my first race, it was my first 10k.  I've done a 2 5ks and last year I did a HM.  But yeah...lots of yucky weather lately!