Well that was a surprise (Devils Chase RR)

So, I ran the Devils Chase yesterday (10/29/2011).  It's a 6.66 mile race in Salem, MA.  I had looked forward to running it ever since I saw it advertised in the goodie bag for my first ever 5K (which was a Halloween race last year).  It just seemed like a fun concept.

I was supposed to run it with my cousin, but unfortunately her job took precedence.  She's a field hockey coach (and an excellent one at that!), and her team had the last regular season game on that day.  It was a game that had been postponed from another day due to all the rain we had this fall.  Boo weather!   Her team won 7-0, and they are in tournament, which means I am hoping to go see one of their games this coming week!

Oh, right - this post is about the race.  Back to that.  First off - love the shirt they had.  It's a really cool red long-sleeve technical shirt, with the Devils Chase logo down around the right hip.  I got a unisex small, which is kind of long (as usual).  Red is not usually my color, but I love this one.

For the actual race, conditions were chilly.  I drove over to the race and was able to park extremely close to the start line.  That was a good thing, because after a quick port-a-potty trip I decided to spend 1/2 of the remaining 20 minutes before race start sitting in my car.  Cold!  ~36 when the race started.

I was a bit underdressed for the weather, although it wasn't exceedingly bad.  I had full-on leggings, shorts, technical shirt, hat, and gloves.  My upper body was chilly for most of the race, but hey - better that than hot!  Gloves came off about halfway through - my hands get sweaty fast.

 The race was crowded for the first couple miles, and I could not believe they started us straight up a hill.  Really - the start line is right at the bottom of a hill.  The course was good (but hilly).  The funniest part for me was that we ran around this little park about 1.5 miles in, and while we were running there was a guy there servicing the port-a-potties.  I had to jump over the hose that he had to clean them out!  Luckily it wasn't connected because knowing me I would have tripped/slid in mud, and gone careening into it.  Eww.

Not a lot of spectators, but the folks who were working the course were fun and dressed up.  I missed the Thriller dance re-enactment.  As I went by, they said that they had done the dance 7 times that day, and were taking a break.  Understandable.

The important part of this post is - I had a goal...and I ripped it apart.  I'm a turtle/penguin/whatever you want to call a slower runner, so my goal was modest - 10:30 minute average pace, 1:10:xx finish.  I ended with 1:07:xx, 10:07 average.  Holy cow!  And to be honest - I think I could have done a little better.  This was the first run where I pushed myself.  I knew I had more in the tank than I thought I did - c'mon, I've been doing 13 mile runs, I can do an awesome 6.66! - so I just told myself to keep going.   It was the first 10K (or close to 10K) that I've done without walking.  Mental barrier broken!

I feel like this was one of my best races.  Mostly because it was a mental breakthrough.  I don't think I'll do it again next year (too many other options out there!), but I definitely can see doing another race by the same organizers.  I also can't wait to do my next race - and push myself again!