A last-minute Run on the Bayou 10k

On Saturday morning, I woke up to a gray, chilly day, temperatures still in the 40s; in short, perfect race weather. My marathon was the next week, but I grabbed some coffee, went downstairs, and discovered the Run on the Bayou 10k in nearby Westwego. I threw on clothes, grabbed my Garmin, and drove across the Huey P. Long bridge to race.
As it turns out, the race is in lovely Bayou Segnette park. I found it easily, parked, and registered (just $30 even on race day!). There were plenty of bathrooms, and I had enough to time to work in a warm up of a little over a mile. My knee has been bothering me, so I put a strap on to support the pes anserine tendon, and did my Myrtles before I started. It was a small race, and the course was really perfect - flat as a pancake, and mostly really pretty and really easy to run. There is a loop through an RV park that was slightly less scenic and a little treacherous thanks to a few errant RV drivers, but mostly it was along woods and a pretty bayou. I was sort of near the front at first, and after being passed by a gentleman in a hooded sweatshirt in mile 2, I hung behind him for most of the race. Although I was a little far behind, he was like a hook, and kept me moving! I saw at a turn-around that I was first female, and the second and third were far behind.

The cold weather was amazing, and I felt like I wasn't working terribly hard, but I had no speed at all. Just nothing. Also, my Garmin is trash. It's a 620, and I blamed crowded courses for its significant problems on my two recent marathons. But this was a small 10k, and that thing was off by almost a quarter of a mile! That really threw my pace calculations off, and I was distressed at the finish to see that my "keep it under 6:40" plan was not even close. I am most annoyed at this. What's the point of having a Garmin if I can't get some idea of pace?!

For once I remembered to actually lift my arms out of my own way at a finish.,,

Anyway. After the winner finished, the lead bike came back to get me, so I finished part of the last mile with a biker again. I could totally get used to this. I finished in 41:38 Garmin (the race does gun time for overall so it's no doubt quite a bit longer; I started well back to avoid sprinting out with the 5kers). It was a fun last minute little race, a rust-buster for next week, and again, a good omen! You know how I like to do well at a race the week before a marathon!