Lost Dutchman 10k - 2/15/2009 by Lisa Ngai
The Lost Dutchman actually has five different race lengths available: a full marathon, 1/2 marathon, 10k, 8k trail run, and 2 mile fun run. The 10k started at 8:00am, and I had an hour long drive to get to Apache Junction so I left the house around 6:15. By the time I got to the park where the race was starting and finishing, cars were parking way out along the street. I turned my Garmin on during the walk back to the car and it was about 3/4 of a mile from the car to the park. So I used the walk as my warm-up. Then I checked my bag, used the restroom, stretched and it was time to start.
The course for the 10k was an out and back with a couple turns at the beginning then a long straight stretch. Based on the race brochure, I was expecting a flat course, and I guess for the most part it was. There were a few small slopes that I wasn’t expecting, but nothing that really gave me much trouble. I tried to keep jogging through the two water stations that I stopped at. I was able to get down a few gulps of water, but also spilled a lot of water over myself. I’m still working on how to drink and run. We were running into the wind on the way out and with the wind on the way back which was nice. I was feeling pretty good for the last couple miles except that I started to get the weird tingly feeling in my left foot again.
I discovered four pet peeves during the race:
1. People who sing out loud to their music, especially when they can’t really carry a tune and don’t know all the lyrics.
2. People who wear their music so loud that I can hear it. (Not as bad as number 1, but still rather annoying.)
3. People who wear a running watch that continually beeps at odd times. I don’t mind alerts for time or distance, but I’m guessing this was more of a pace alert.
4. People who ask others on the course what time it is. If it’s that important, just get your own darn watch!
Medals were awarded to the first 300 finishers in the 10k. (Also to all marathon and half finishers and the first 300 of the 8k.) Because of the out and back and the hills, I could see a lot of people in front of me. I was pretty worried but luckily placed high enough to receive a very nice medal. I like the cutout details along the top. Also, it’s hard to see in the graphic, but there are gold sparkles in the pot of gold and on the cactus. They had unofficial results posted at the finish area. My time was 1:01:16 which is just under a 10 minute pace. Not a PR, but one of the fastest runs I’ve had recently.
One really neat thing I saw at the finish area was that they seemed to be printing custom finisher shirts. There were about six different sets of graphics/text and you could choose what you wanted on the front and the back of the shirt. The post-race refreshments were decent and there was plenty of water. I grabbed a bag of chips, pretzels, two orange wedges and 1/2 a breakfast burrito. There was also granola which I skipped. Overall I thought the race was very well organized and if the dates are right I’d be open to participating again next year.
The Lost Dutchman actually has five different race lengths available: a full marathon, 1/2 marathon, 10k, 8k trail run, and 2 mile fun run. The 10k started at 8:00am, and I had an hour long drive to get to Apache Junction so I left the house around 6:15. By the time I got to the park where the race was starting and finishing, cars were parking way out along the street. I turned my Garmin on during the walk back to the car and it was about 3/4 of a mile from the car to the park. So I used the walk as my warm-up. Then I checked my bag, used the restroom, stretched and it was time to start.
The course for the 10k was an out and back with a couple turns at the beginning then a long straight stretch. Based on the race brochure, I was expecting a flat course, and I guess for the most part it was. There were a few small slopes that I wasn’t expecting, but nothing that really gave me much trouble. I tried to keep jogging through the two water stations that I stopped at. I was able to get down a few gulps of water, but also spilled a lot of water over myself. I’m still working on how to drink and run. We were running into the wind on the way out and with the wind on the way back which was nice. I was feeling pretty good for the last couple miles except that I started to get the weird tingly feeling in my left foot again.
I discovered four pet peeves during the race:
1. People who sing out loud to their music, especially when they can’t really carry a tune and don’t know all the lyrics.
2. People who wear their music so loud that I can hear it. (Not as bad as number 1, but still rather annoying.)
3. People who wear a running watch that continually beeps at odd times. I don’t mind alerts for time or distance, but I’m guessing this was more of a pace alert.
4. People who ask others on the course what time it is. If it’s that important, just get your own darn watch!
Medals were awarded to the first 300 finishers in the 10k. (Also to all marathon and half finishers and the first 300 of the 8k.) Because of the out and back and the hills, I could see a lot of people in front of me. I was pretty worried but luckily placed high enough to receive a very nice medal. I like the cutout details along the top. Also, it’s hard to see in the graphic, but there are gold sparkles in the pot of gold and on the cactus. They had unofficial results posted at the finish area. My time was 1:01:16 which is just under a 10 minute pace. Not a PR, but one of the fastest runs I’ve had recently.
One really neat thing I saw at the finish area was that they seemed to be printing custom finisher shirts. There were about six different sets of graphics/text and you could choose what you wanted on the front and the back of the shirt. The post-race refreshments were decent and there was plenty of water. I grabbed a bag of chips, pretzels, two orange wedges and 1/2 a breakfast burrito. There was also granola which I skipped. Overall I thought the race was very well organized and if the dates are right I’d be open to participating again next year.
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