After making the decision to step back from distance running for a bit to focus on the 10K distance, last Saturday I laced up and lined up at the starting line of the Zooma Texas Lost Pines 10K. I didn't know what to expect from my first race of 2019, my first 10K in a long time and the first 10K I was actually running for time, but the Zooma Texas Lost Pines 10K was just what I needed to reinvigorate my love of running.
The Night Before
Even though I wasn't running a long distance, I knew I wanted to race this race, and that still requires some solid carbs. Pizza night was on tap, and my favorite gluten-free pizza recipe didn't disappoint. I also got to reacquaint myself with Flat Nicole, who hasn't made an appearance since the Rock'n'Roll San Antonio Half Marathon last December.
By 10pm, I was in bed having nightmares about missing my alarm dreaming of race day.
The Morning Of
My alarm went off at 5:10am. I got dressed as quietly as I could so as not to wake anyone, made a piece of gluten-free toast with almond butter and was on the road by 5:30.
The drive to Bastrop took about an hour, but it was easy-peasy. I didn't have a problem finding parking and followed a few other runners to the starting area. I was immediately impressed by Fisherman's Park. It was so pretty in the dew of the morning.
When I registered for the race, I got a deal that included race day packet pick up. I found the booth and got my bib and drawstring swag bag, which was filled with a long sleeve tech t and a cute wine glass. Since I still had 45 minutes until the start of the race, I dropped it off at my car before heading back to the park to find the restrooms.
The park had a little restroom hut, a nice perk over porta potties! Once the obligatory pre-race pee was out of the way, I just hung out by the starting line.
After a slight delay due to weather, the Mayor of Bastrop welcomed us to her town, some local Camp Gladiator trainers took us through a warm up and the race was on its way!
The 10K and half marathoners all start together, and while there weren't pacers for the 10K, the half marathon did have a few. I didn't have a clear time goal in my head; all I knew was that I wanted to see what I could do. I decided to try to keep the 1:45 half marathon pacer in my sights until the course split. It turns out, the 1:45 pacer was the fastest pace group they had, so I found myself at the front of the pack from the get-go, which wasn't something I was used to!
I had heard the course was pretty flat, but we were faced with a short but steep hill right at the beginning. It was a bit slippery due to rain and mud from earlier in the day, but once we got up that first hill, the roads were fine, give or take a few pot holes that had to be avoided.
The pack leaders and 1:45 pace group started to pull away a bit, but I found my groove and kept them in my sights. Before we even hit mile 1, I realized that if I could keep this pace, I might actually have a shot at my first age group award!
That motivated me to keep going when things started to get tough. I'm a distance runner, I don't usually push my pace for an entire race, but here I was, pushing. The warmth of the day and the humidity were killer, but I put on some upbeat tunes and kept at it, using the possibility of a AG award as my fuel. The entire race, only one person passed me! That was pretty cool feeling.
That said, I did face a few challenges along the course both mentally and physically. Because the Zooma Texas Lost Pines 10K is a small race in a small town run on open roads (meaning the course is open to traffic), there wasn't really any crowd support. There were a few cows cheering us on around mile 2, though! There were also a few points along the course where things weren't marked particularly well in terms of where 10K runners should go vs. half marathoners. When I hit mile 5, I saw a bunch of runners cutting through a road I (and the runners in front of me) didn't run through, and half a mile later, I had to ask the police officer patrolling the course which way 10Kers were supposed to go. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I believe some of the half marathoners unknowingly cut the course resulting in some too-fast finish times.
Anyway, once the police officer directed me which way to turn, I was in the home stretch! A bunch of the people that had been in front of me turned to complete the half, and there wasn't anyone behind me. I was alone, in the zone and gunning for the finish line.
As I made my way back to Fisherman's Park, I could see the finish line ahead. The time ticker showed what I knew to be true, a new 10K PR (by almost 4 minutes)! I turned my music off in anticipation of music blasting at the finish, but they didn't really have everything set up yet. I crossed to the cheers of the few runners who had crossed before me. And when I say few, I mean few. I found out later that I came in 6th place overall!! HOLY MOLY!! I felt awesome.
I was a little disappointed that there weren't jams pumping at the finish line when I got there. There actually wasn't even anyone handing out medals. I ended up going over the medal rack and getting myself one (a little anti climactic), but the medal is awesome!
I did, however, run into Larry Castillo, the photographer I met at The Running Event last November, and he snapped this great pic:
I grabbed an orange and some water and did some stretching while the Zooma Texas Lost Pines 10K finish area started to really get going. Soon I heard an announcement that the post-race party was ready just up a hill from the finish line, so I made my way up there. They had breakfast tacos, pastries, mimosas (all included with your race entry), as well as a few sponsor shops and a live band.
I made my way to the results tent and held my breath as I waited to see if I got the age group award I thought I might get. I typed in my name and there it was:
Second in my age group and 6th overall! I was so excited! I've never won an age group award before. I couldn't wait for the award ceremony.
Due to all the confusion around the half marathon course, the award ceremony kept getting pushed back. It was originally supposed to be at 8:45am, but I don't think it actually went down until 9:45am. Fortunately, the post race party kept me entertained while I waited.
Finally, the ceremony got underway and I proudly picked up my award!
I've been drinking coffee out of this mug every morning since, because coffee makes me feel like the winner that I am.
While the race did face a few issues with organization and the course, I have to say I really enjoyed this race (and not just because I snagged myself a shiny new PR). It's been a while since I ran a small, local race, and while it's tough to not have crowd support, I find I really enjoy them. I like not having to deal with crowded race starts. I like knowing that when the field is smaller, I push myself more. Plus, Zooma offers free race photos! So that just earned it about 5,000 points in my book.
Overall Pros of the Texas Zooma Lost Pines 10K
- day-of packet pickup
- smaller field means more opportunity to place
- fun race swag
- great post-race party
- killer medal
- FREE RACE PHOTOS!
Overall Cons of the Texas Zooma Lost Pines 10K
- little to no crowd support
- course not well marked for half marathon split
- finish line should have been pumping before the first person even crosses
Let's Chat:
Do you prefer big or small races?
Freeracephotos,yesoryes?!
