Toughest 10K in Texas Race Report

I'm a pretty fair judge of the opposite sex,
And I ain't seen nothin that will touch them yet.
They may be from Waco or out in Lampasas,
But one thing about them, They all come from Texas.

If you're a country music fan, you'll recognize that as a verse from the Hank Williams, Jr. classic from the early 1980s, "Texas Women". And yes, there was one out in Lampasas. :)

There was also a tough course in Lampasas, but was it the toughest in Texas?

Hmmm ... I don't know for sure.

What I do know is that it was tougher than both of the Capital 10Ks that I've done (in '04 and '08). It was tougher than the Blue Bell Fun Run in Brenham and it was tougher than any 10K I've ever done in the greater Houston area.

Actually three of the courses from the 2004 HEB Texas 10K Challenge were pretty tough. The Tyler Azalea 10K, the Combat Medic 10K in San Antonio (held on Fort Sam Houston) and the Country Roads 10K in San Marcos.

I would peg the Country Roads 10K as the closest course to Saturday's race in Lampasas.

The race is part of the town's annual Spring Ho Festival. (I wonder if there is a Winter Ho-Ho Festival somewhere. Santa Claus, Indiana?)

The second mile had a good two-stage hill that was pretty tough before the fun ensued over the next two miles. When I got to the mile three marker, there were four (4) folks standing there cheering runners on. I said to them, "We don't have hills like this in Houston." :)

However, since the course started and finished on the Hancock Park Golf Course, what goes up must come down. Right?

I specifically remember coming up over a hill in mile 5, seeing the mile 5 marker and trying to barrel down hill to improve my time split. (I missed a little from getting under a 10-minute mile.)

However, I'm not sure if the course was completely accurate because my last two-tenths of a mile was woefully short on time. If I really moved that fast then I'm missing the boat somewhere else. :)

What's interesting when I do races like this is that the courses all blend together. The first mile, which runs down one of the main streets in Lampasas (heck, it might be the main street), reminded me a little of last year's Lander (Wy.) Half Marathon and partly close to the finish of the Run The Line Half Marathon in Texarkana earlier this spring.

The hills had a feel of the Helotes Half Marathon near San Antonio that I did in October 2004 - before I did my first marathon (Marine Corps Marathon).

Here are the splits:

Mile 1/2 --19:52.31
Mile 3 -- 10:31.99 (30:24.30)
Mile 4 -- 11:19.00 (41:43.30)
Mile 5 -- 10:14.60 (51:57.90)
Mile 6 -- 10:14.52 (1:02:12.42)
Last .2 -- 1:21.76 (1:03:34.18)

And the last thing that I didn't mention is that the temperature was 80 at the start of the race and rose to 85 by the time that I finished. Therefore, I can't complain too much.

The race day cost was $22. The t-shirt actually fit and is pretty good. Post-race fare was water and bananas, but what else do you really need?

Tomorrow? The Bat Run 5K in Austin.