Nice job on the tuneup race, dhaaga. I guess you should go with the common wisdom that time really doesn't matter in cross-country.
My "10-mile" race this morning was pretty messed up but ended up being a good experience. It started at 6:30 am (you'd better start a longish race early in Fresno in mid-May) and I had to drive 70 minutes to the start so I woke up at 4 am. Not great even for a good morning person. I felt fine driving to the race, but got there to discover the restrooms in Woodward Park were locked and no porta-potties in sight. The volunteers kept promising someone would show up to unlock the restrooms but no one did, and I REALLY needed one, and not just to pee (which I would've just done in some out-of-the-way place. Finally a truck drove up towing a trailer containing three porta-potties, which the driver unloaded promptly. Whew. It was now 6:12 and I could do a short warmup and run.
There were only 30 people total in the "10-miler". I spent most of the first half tracking a woman who looked like she could be in my age group. She looked like a trail runner (hat, vest full of pockets, efficient looking short stride) and she seemed to know what she was doing, running the tangents on the roads where no one else was. The course was one big counterclockwise loop around the park, an out-and-back to the north, and a finishing shorter clockwise loop around the park. At the turn-around she called me by name and I recognized her as someone I'd often raced against 10-20 years ago but hadn't seen in ages. Five years younger, and in my 10-year age group. So I went after her, caught her about two miles from the finish, tried to pass with authority, and kept pouring it on. I beat her by about 30 seconds and did win my age group (4th out of 19 women overall). That was fun.
My official time was 83:20. I cannot run anywhere close to that for 10 miles anymore. I don't race with a watch but several people with GPS watches told me they got 9 miles. After a while the race director announced that the turn-around had been in the wrong place and the distance was 9 miles. That was consistent with the time I ran. He also announced that because of the mistake, all finishers would get a coupon for 50% off a subsequent race. They had a pancake breakfast afterward, and my age-group award was a bonsai tree kit! That was a lot of swag for a race that had a special reduced price for children and seniors--only $38.
I'm planning the season's first hike in the Sierras tomorrow, a few days of easy running, and then my local Memorial Day 5K on Saturday.
Happy running to all!